Little Inferno (PC) (2012)

Overview: Burn objects to earn money to burn more objects. Burning certain objects unlock combos. Can you discover all 99 combos?
20140410:
Part 1 (2:01:59):
Starting the game up for the first time, I find the game was kept things minimal with respect to instructions and the game encourages the player to just endlessly try burning various items together.

The Action Doll and Wine await a fiery demise.

While you can go low on coins after buying items, you almost always recuperate the money spent. I, however, haven't done extensive experiments on this and it's possible that you definitely always recuperate the money spent. In any case, I would suggest you never care about losing the amount of money you have and that you will always have enough money to progress.

Finally, as far as I know, letters and/or items from letters are never needed for the combos and can be burned freely. [20140418: there might be one exception, though I'm not sure. Spoiler: you meet Miss Nancy at the end and she offers a hug provided you kept her hug coupon.]

Part 2 (1:10:50):
On a different note, I initially kept all my stamps until I found out during this play that the maximum number of stamps you can have is ninety-nine. Of course, the wait time for items until hitting ninety-nine stamps is decently low.

By the end of the game the player will have 120 different objects to burn!

I could imagine that for someone who has already played the game and knows all the combos, then stamps should be used without reserve for a fast game.

Part 3 (1:03:01):
Addicted to the game, I tried to play some more Little Inferno after coming home late. However, I grew quite sleepy and passed about an hour of time with only some mild progress.

20140411:
Part 4 (1:55:51):
Today I finished the story and saw the ending. For those curious, the game saves your progress and after you watch the ending you can go back to play from where you left off.

I tried to finish the game but there were many combos I couldn't figure out.

Your neighbor, Sugar Plumps, gives you a friendly hint!

Interestingly, it was every time that I was ready to stop playing that I would figure out a new combo. After figuring out a couple more combos before quitting, I ended the run with fourteen combos left to determine: 04 Generations COMBO; 11 Watching You COMBO; 27 Freaked Out Food COMBO; 33 World of Goo COMBO; 34 Airplane Mode COMBO; 44 Terrible Mystery COMBO; 46 Cold War COMBO; 63 Duck Season COMBO; 69 Sorority Party COMBO; 71 Deadly Vices COMBO; 77 Diseased COMBO; 86 Heart and Soul COMBO; 87 Yellow Brick Road COMBO; 88 Planes & Trains COMBO.

Part 5 (2:08:08):
Why does the Twisty Fisty and Goo Balls Pack items make up the World of Goo COMBO? Oh, because the item which I kept calling "Twisty Fisty" is actually named "Casual Game."*

After playing this run, I still had seven combos left to determine: 11 Watching You COMBO; 46 Cold War COMBO; 69 Sorority Party COMBO; 71 Deadly Vices COMBO; 77 Diseased COMBO; 87 Yellow Brick Road COMBO; 88 Planes & Trains COMBO

*[20240116: Actually... I recently played World of Goo and I believe that "Twisty Fisty" is a character in the World of Goo game. Looking this up, I found that the character pictured is simply named Fisty.]
Burn the right combination of objects to unlock combos!

20140417:
Part 6 (0:54:06):
In this run, all I determined was the Watching You COMBO.

After that I tried to do each combo I had remaining, but only had some vague ideas.

For the Deadly Vices COMBO, I decided to look up the definition of a vice.

vice
- immoral or wicked behavior.
- criminal activities involving prostitution, pornography, or drugs.
- an immoral or wicked personal characteristic.
- a weakness of character or behavior; a bad habit.

vise (vice)
- a metal tool with movable jaws that are used to hold an object firmly in place while work is done on it, typically attached to a workbench.

There are ninety-nine combos to discover!

As mentioned, however, I only determined one combo today and Deadly Vices COMBO wasn't it. In any case, I want to record a thought I had for the Yellow Brick Road COMBO: I thought all the objects should be related to The Wizard of Oz, such as having a robot and the scarecrow. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out what the third object in the combo should be. I tried throwing in the railroad sign, but it didn't seem to trigger the combo.

20140418:
Not Streamed
Eating, I casually try to figure out some more combos.

The first combo I accomplished during this time was the Cold War COMBO. What I had realized was that I was focusing too much on Russia (having tried the Russian Nesting Doll together with the Tetronimos, for example) and started considering items which would represent America.

The next combo I got was the Sorority Party COMBO. As it undoubtedly had the Low Self-Esteem Action Doll as one of the two items, I simply had to figure out the other item. Upon finding the answer, I thought to myself, "The answer makes sense, but that's not much of a party."

Figuring out combos can be quite satisfying.

However, shortly after achieving the Sorority Party COMBO without satisfaction I had a good feeling about adding the Glass Cards in as part of the Deadly Vices COMBO. While I did throw some other items into the flame just in case, I was quite certain with being able to solve the combo.

While trying to figure out the Diseased COMBO I happened to have bought all the items on page 3 enough times so that they all had gold borders. The catalog containing them subsequently was marked with a yellow star! In any case, I discovered that its the Toy Leperchaun which has a disease and not the Eager Bunny Plushie.

Part 7 (0:40:36):
Taking a break from the combos, I buy all the items which don't already have gold borders. I easily obtain the stars for Catalog #1, #2, and #4, while Catalog #5, #6, and #7 each take a little bit longer. Upon collecting the last item, I get a letter from Miss Nancy. This letter motivates me to start streaming gameplay.

Ninjas, Pirates, and Zombies! Oh my!

Resuming my quest to fulfill the combos, I once again try the Toy Leperchaun, the Mystery Seasoning, and the Book of Darkness. While I could have sworn I burned these three together at least twice before, for some reason the combo had never registered. While I'm furious about the combo not registering on earlier tries, I'm happy that I managed to get it at all.

What!?! Again a situation like the last combo occurred! I'm pretty sure I tried the Transhumanist Action Figure, the Scarecrow, and the Kitty Kitty Poo Poo Plushie the other day. Oh well.

Finally, almost by chance, I finish the Planes & Trains COMBO!
20240116 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 11.0 hours (cumulative game time) / 11h 2m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20140418
20240116:
I have none of the achievments for this game - possibly because achievements may have been added after playing it. In any case, I wasn't sure what would happen when I loaded up the game. Part of me was hoping I'd have to play it again, because I remember it being a fun game. And another part of me hoped that I would just automatically get all the achievements.

Miss Hexopus and Blowfish say their last goodbyes...

Gameplay Log:
Can't figure out "LOL Kitty" combo.
Read some of my entries above. Helpful. Also I got the "World of Goo" combo from reading the above.
Had read "considering items which would represent America" above to easily do "Cold War" combo.
I had moved on from the "Japanese" combo. But during book #5, as I was thinking about the two remaining combos ("Writer's Blocks" and "Colorful Flame"), I revisited it and realized the Ninja has Japanese origins.
I looked up my own comments regarding "Deadly Vices" combo: "I had a good feeling about adding the Glass Cards in as part of the Deadly Vices COMBO."
Oh... I saw what I was missing above for "Yellow Brick Road" combo: "Kitty Kitty Poo Poo Plushie"
I'm now left with the "LOL Kitty" combo, the "Sorority Party" combo, and the "Planes & Trains" combo
Purchased all items three times. Miss Nancy sends a letter and the shop has stars falling.
Took a stab at the "Planes & Trains" combo and got it... hmm. I get it. The plane is dropping the bomb.
Huh. Lucked out on getting "Sorority Party" combo.
Trigger the end game to see the ending.
Got the hug.
5 hr 12 min... Still have the "LOL Kitty" combo...
There were only so many items to pair the Kitty with (I knew it would have to be an item in book #1 or book #2. Apparently for some reason the answer is a camera...
5 hr 20 min
What!?! Some achievements are locked behind DLC.

Miss Nancy (CEO of Tomorrow Corporation)

Steam Game Time: 16.4 hours (cumulative game time) / 5.4 hours (session game time)

Summary:
I remember Little Inferno being a great game and so I had no problem playing it again. I believe playing it a second time through was likely as fun as the first time I played it. I would highly recommend it to others looking for a casual, relatively short (the second time around I finished in under 5.5 hours) puzzle game.

Rating: 5.4 out of 5

[20240131]
Little Inferno (PC) (2012)

Relevant Links:
Little Inferno Website
Little Inferno (Wikipedia.org)
Little Inferno (PC) (Metacritic.com)

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