Campfire

This article contains spoilers! Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye should be played with minimal spoilers, knowing too much will hinder the experience! Please play the game before reading any of this!

Burning a marshmallow on Ember Twin's campfire

Campfires are an essential yet practically unimportant aspect of Outer Wilds.

Campfires list

• Chert's camp is situated at the North Pole of Ember Twin, to allow them to have the best look possible at the stars.
  • On the South Pole of Ember Twin, there is an unlit fire near the Quantum Moon Locator, which can be reignited.
• On Timber Hearth, there is one campfire adjacent to the base of the Launch tower -- where the game starts, after the Hatchling slept outside before Launch Day, maintained by Slate.
  • There is one more campfire next to the radio tower, Gabbro used to use this camp to relax and unwind. This fire is initially unlit.
• Esker's camp is located at the Lunar Outpost -- a now unused base that used to be a repair post for the ships of Outer Wilds Ventures' astronauts.
• Riebeck's camp is found at The Crossroads, on Brittle Hollow, which is where they landed when they fell down trying to explore Nomai ruins.
  • Riebeck's former camp is found on the surface of Brittle Hollow, in the settlement above the gravity crystal workshop. The fire is initially unlit but can be reignited.
• Gabbro's campfire site is on Gabbro's Island on Giant's Deep, up the hill from where they can be found in their hammock.
  • On Bramble Island, there is an unlit fire near Feldspar's old campsite, which can be reignited.
• Feldspar's camp is hidden inside Dark Bramble, near Feldspar's crashed ship and protected from the Anglerfishes by the skeleton of a dead one.

Spoiler alert This section contains spoilers for Outer Wilds (and possibly Echoes of the Eye)! Please play the game before reading!

The fire in the simulation connection rooms on the Stranger can be used as functional campfires. If the Hatchling dozes off or mediates next to these fire with a functional lantern, they will connect to the simulation. Two of these fires will be extinguished after the dam break, submerging the River Lowlands and later bringing down the tower in the Cinder Isles. In the ending of the game, the Hatchling will come across the very last campfire, surrounded by people they met.

Marshmallows

It's possible to cook and eat marshmallows on a campfire. Eating cooked marshmallows restores HP depending on how well cooked they are, which is determined by the length of time the marshmallow spent next to the fire - the closer the fire, the faster a marshmallow cooks. A burnt marshmallow does not restore any health. It is also possible to roast a marshmallow by waiting on the supernova. One Achievement requires to eat ten burnt marshmallows. Eating marshmallows appears to be a central element of Hearthian culture and they go nowhere without a seemingly unlimited supply of marshmallows.

Marshmallow health formula

Taken from the game's files, the formula for the amount of health restored from an eaten marshmallow is as follows:

num = ((!(toastedFraction < 0.7f)) ? (1f - (toastedFraction - 0.7f) / 0.3f) : ((toastedFraction - 0.2f) / 0.5f));

In more readable terms, the formula states:

 If toastedPercent < 70:
   healedPercent = (toastedPercent - 20) * 2
 Else:
   healedPercent = 100 - ((toastedPercent - 70) * 3.33)

Note that the best possible marshmallow, restoring a full 100% of the player's health, is exactly 70% cooked. Marshmallows below 20% cooked are not yet edible, and marshmallows over 100% cooked are burnt and provide no nutritional value, although the player can continue to cook them indefinitely. Setting a marshmallow on fire instantly sets it to 100% cooked.

Sleeping

While at a campfire, the player may choose to doze off. This passes time at around 10 times the normal rate (depending on the device's processing power), allowing the player to accelerate to a time later in the loop. A timer appears on screen to show how long the player has been sleeping, and the player can choose to wake up at any time. This is useful for time sensitive events, such as the draining sand on Ash Twin. Sleeping is disabled upon hearing the start of "End Times", the warning call to The Supernova.