It hasn’t actually been all that long since cell phones weren’t a thing.  Thirty years ago if you wanted to talk to someone you had to be either at home or at a pay phone, and even at home odds were 50/50 you’d be chained to the wall by the phone cord.  It was a barbaric time but people got by as best they could, waiting patiently until texting was finally invented.  Fire Tonight takes place back in pre-cell phone era, featuring a couple whose conversation was interrupted by a disaster slowly spreading across the city.  Maya takes off to cross the city, avoiding fires and the authorities looking to keep people at home for their own safety, while Devin waits at his apartment and sifts through their shared memories as a way to ease the stress of worry.  It’s going to be a long night for both of them.

Fire Tonight is a narrative puzzle game with its story split between two perspectives.  While Maya gets to be the adventurous one, sneaking past guards and flames and other assorted hazards, Devin fills in the bulk of their story as he investigates his own home for the couple’s mementos.  The lack of communication means if he heads out they’ll never meet up, but the game’s era isn’t just for the sake of the plot seeing as you can’t throw a rock without hitting a movie featuring the “…and they’ve taken out the cell phone service!” contrivance.  Instead the 90s are a hat-tip to the game’s inspiration, which is Information Society’s song Fire Tonight.  It’s a little obscure as inspirations go, but the result looks to be a 90s-stylish light-puzzle adventure through a burning city and the memories of a couple who, one can only assume, have a deeply important need to meet up as quickly as possible.

The new trailer for Fire Tonight shows off the gameplay plus reveals the release date of August 12 for Switch and Steam.  Give it a watch below to see the most neon-pink flames that have ever engulfed a city.