Gone Fireflies

About

Gone Fireflies is a single player casual role playing game. It was developed by QuietBayStudio and was released on February 20, 2018. It received very positive reviews from players.

A short story-driven experience about love, loss, and the choices we make.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 37 reviews

story24 positive mentions

Beautifully designed maps and graphics that stand out among RPG Maker games.
Excellent, touching, and emotional storyline that deals with heavy themes like love, loss, and choices.
Hauntingly beautiful soundtrack that greatly enhances the atmosphere and emotional impact.

Very limited gameplay, mainly consisting of exploration and dialogue choices with minimal impact on the story outcome.
Slow pacing, especially the text delivery which can test player patience and slows down progress.
The narrative jumps between past and present without clear time indicators, occasionally causing confusion.

story
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
57%
5%
Gone Fireflies offers a short, emotionally heavy story centered on love, loss, and difficult choices, told through multiple characters with a mostly linear narrative. While minimal gameplay and slow pacing may not suit everyone, its compelling, bittersweet storytelling and fitting soundtrack resonate deeply with players who appreciate story-driven experiences. The game’s poignant atmosphere and well-crafted narrative make it a memorable, if brief, interactive tale.
- “The game description sums up everything perfectly: "a short story-driven experience about love, loss, and the choices we make."”
- “You play with multiple characters who will show you their point of view of the story and by the end of the game those pieces will connect together and you'll realize who's actually who.”
- “With amazing soundtracks and incredible storytelling, this game will surely make you cry internally.”
- “Story is linear and you are basically a passive observer.”
- “I have played two times to see if the story can end in some other way, sadly not, the tragic outcome will always be the same.”
- “The story jumps from past to present without notifying the player of that.”
music
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The music in this game is widely praised for its beautiful, haunting, and poignant soundtrack that perfectly complements the emotional and atmospheric storytelling. It enhances the overall experience by fitting the game's mood and themes, often leaving a lasting impact on players.
- “Its a short story-driven RPG Maker game with nice map design, good soundtrack, and a pretty well written touching/sad story.”
- “The soundtrack is amazing and greatly adds to the atmosphere; for a first shot at game developing using RPG Maker, I'll say it's a really good try.”
- “The soundtrack choices were excellent as they blended well with the game's atmosphere and story.”
emotional
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely praised for its emotional, touching, and well-written story that deeply resonates with players. Its poignant soundtrack and beautiful art style effectively enhance the heartfelt narrative, making it a memorable and moving experience despite its short length.
- “It's a short story-driven RPG Maker game with nice map design, a good soundtrack, and a pretty well-written touching and sad story.”
- “I love the art style and the music is lovely, poignant, and well tied to what is happening, which just adds to the whole feeling. I really enjoyed this. There is not really much to do, but it is beautiful and heartbreaking and, in my opinion, worth the time taken to play it!”
- “The story is emotional and very well told.”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay in Gone Fireflies is minimal, focusing mainly on exploration and story progression with little interactive depth or complexity. It functions more like an interactive novel rather than a traditional game, lacking significant gameplay mechanics, character development, or combat. Despite these shortcomings, some players found the experience emotionally engaging.
- “There is not much of a gameplay to talk about, you get put in a scene where you can explore a little and then make the one thing which will progress the story - be prepared to be thrown in time as the current situation has deep roots in the past and we are going to learn about it.”
- “Not much gameplay per se but overall good experience.”
- “Pretty light on gameplay, more of an interactive novel, but I was invested from the start and played through the entire 1.5-ish hours with a lump in my throat.”
- “There is not much gameplay to talk about; you get put in a scene where you can explore a little and then make the one action that progresses the story.”
- “Gone Fireflies tells a story, plain and simple; there is not much gameplay involved.”
- “Take a high-selling retro JRPG like Final Fantasy, rip out the gameplay, story, characterization, drama, interesting combat, and career progression choices, and you get Gone Fireflies.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The graphics are generally detailed and visually appealing, with a distinctive art style that effectively enhances the game's atmosphere. While some find the retro 2D visuals charming and fitting, others view them as outdated and simplistic. Overall, the graphics successfully contribute to the mood and emotional tone of the game.
- “They use varied graphic assets and each screen is pretty detailed in terms of items and decorations.”
- “I love the art style and the music is lovely and poignant, tied well to what is happening, which adds to the whole feeling. It's beautiful and heartbreaking, and in my opinion, worth the time taken to play.”
- “It conveys the description well with nice detailed graphics and atmosphere in the few locations. The music is fitting to the theme, relaxing, and quite pleasant.”
- “A crappy, angsty 'I'm 14 and this is deep' fanfic accompanied with sloppy, lazy, ugly retro 2D graphics and a game engine that was obsoleted in the early 1990s.”
- “While the graphics are typical of RPG Maker, the music is an appropriate selection that sets the mood perfectly.”
- “They use varied graphics assets and each screen is pretty detailed (in terms of items and decorations).”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised, particularly for its excellent and fitting soundtrack that enhances the mood and story. The detailed graphics in the limited locations also contribute positively, creating a relaxing and immersive experience. Overall, the atmosphere is well-crafted and complements the game's theme effectively.
- “The soundtrack is amazing and greatly adds to the atmosphere. For a first attempt at game development using RPG Maker, I’d say it’s a really good try.”
- “The soundtrack choices were excellent as they blended well with the game's atmosphere and story.”
- “It conveys what the short description says: nice detailed graphics and atmosphere in the few locations that are there; the music is very fitting to the theme, relaxing and quite pleasant.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Replayability is mixed, with some players appreciating multiple endings based on choices, while others feel the variations are minimal and don't significantly alter the final story, limiting incentive for repeated playthroughs.
- “The game has different endings based on your choices, so it has replayability value.”
- “A bit pricey for the content/duration as there's very minimal replayability, just in case you want to make other choices but the final story isn't really changing.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is present and occasionally funny, providing light moments within an overall somewhat sad storyline.