Flame Over: Why aren't there more games about fire?

[Administrator]

Flame Over isn't just another roguelike - although it definitely is another roguelike. There are procedural environments, for sure, and there's the constant, hovering fear of a punishing defeat, but what marks this particular game out is your role, and the enemies you're up against. In Flame Over, as you might have guessed, you're a fireman, and your ultimate foe is fire itself.
It's brutally difficult stuff, and extremely rewarding to play. It's made me wonder: why aren't there more games about fire? Fire is kind of perfect. Show me someone who isn't afraid of fire and I'll show you somebody who should probably be in prison for burning down a primary school. Everybody's afraid of fire. It's elemental. And it has an elemental foe. Brilliant!
Here's another thing: this fear of fire is entirely apolitical. You won't be offending anybody by making the enemy in your game fire. You won't be punching down or doing something politically dubious. Tom Clancy books never have it in for fire. Nobody's ever trod on fire's inalienable rights, or locked it away in a secret torture camp in Cuba.
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