Camp Kindling: a guide to your first nights
Updated 16 October 2026
Camp Kindling has one rule, painted on a board by the fire: never let the campfire go out. Everything else in the game, from chopping trees to rescuing campers, is about keeping that rule for sixty-six nights. This guide covers how the fire works, what comes out of the woods after dark, and how to get all four campers home.
The fire is everything
The campfire keeps you safe, heals you while you stand in its light and pushes back the mist that hides the woods. While it burns, anyone who falls wakes up beside it, though the fire pays for it with fuel. Stand by the fire pit and press E to feed it. Logs burn longest, sticks burn fast, and coal, old gasoline and the deep red heartwood of an ancient tree are worth saving for a bad night.
Everything you feed the fire also grows it. There are six levels: Campfire, Big Campfire, Bonfire, Great Bonfire, Roaring Blaze and finally The Beacon. Each level widens the safe circle, rolls the mist back so more of the woods can be reached, and lets you upgrade the workbench. The Beacon is special: the fire can only become it once all four campers are home, because each one carries a totem the fire needs.
If the fire does go out, relight it as quickly as you can: put fuel in, then hold E at the pit. While it is out, nobody who falls can come back until someone relights it.
Your first day
- Chop and gather. Your first axe is dull but never breaks. Bring back logs and sticks, and pick up stones and fibre as you go: fibre makes rope and bandages, stones make tools.
- Feed the fire before you craft. A bigger fire is a bigger safe circle on your first night.
- Use the workbench. The workbench by the fire makes tools and buildings; press B to craft small things anywhere. A slingshot is every camper's first weapon, and scrap upgrades the workbench itself once the fire is big enough.
- Eat cooked food. Raw meat makes you ill, so cook it at the fire first. Berries are safe straight off the bush.
- Head home at sunset. The game warns you when the sun is going down. Be inside the firelight when it does.
What comes out at night
The Brambleman
Something made of sticks walks the woods after dark. It cannot step into firelight, but it waits where the light gives out. Your flashlight (F) is the answer: shine it straight into its eyes and it flinches and backs away. Batteries run down, so watch the little bar and charge them at camp. Sneaking in the dark hides you from it; a lit flashlight shows you from further away, so switch it on when you need it rather than all the time. Flares and an emberstone blade also make it flinch.
Wolves
Wolves hunt outside the light and grow bolder in the dark. A torch keeps wild animals at a distance, and walls and traps keep them out of camp. Watch for the Alpha Wolf, the biggest of the pack.
The Hollow Troop
On drum nights the Hollow Troop raid the camp to put the fire out. The ones carrying buckets are the ones to stop, because they are going for the fire. Beat the raid and they leave supplies near the fire at dawn.
Bad nights
Some nights are worse than others, and the game tells you which is coming: drums mean a Troop raid, howling means the wolves will come for the camp, a red moon means the Brambleman is restless, and fog means you should stay close to the light. Sleep in a bed by the fire: when everyone in the camp is asleep, the night passes faster.
Bringing the campers home
Four campers, Dot, Wallace, Hazel and Benji, are held in cages at Hollow Troop hideouts. Each hideout has a Troop leader who carries the key. Beat the leader, open the cage, and walk the camper back to the fire; they follow you, so do not run off and leave them behind. Some hideouts are deep in the mist, and your objectives tell you which fire level you need to reach them.
Each camper takes on a job when they are home. Dot forages berries, mushrooms and herbs every dawn and unlocks the Garden Plot. Wallace fixes scrap and batteries and his radio marks places on your map. Hazel cooks meals from the meat and fish in camp storage. Benji chops wood every morning and guards the camp at night with his slingshot.
The seasons and the Long Night
The seasons turn as the nights go by: summer, then autumn rain, then deep winter with snow, cold and a frozen lake you can walk across. Cold wears you down, so wear something warm, drink pine needle tea or a stew, and sleep in a bed. Night 55 onwards is Deep Winter.
The sixty-sixth night is the Long Night, when everything in the woods comes for the fire. Keep it burning until dawn to finish the story. How it ends depends on how many campers you brought home, and lighting the Beacon makes all the difference. Afterwards, Endless Nights keeps the camp running, with every night harder than the last.
Roles
Every counselor picks a role, and more are unlocked in the Camp Office with marshmallows earned by surviving nights, rescuing campers and winning merit badges. Each role improves as you use it.
- Counselor: a bit of everything, with extra health.
- Lumberjack: chops faster and gets extra logs.
- Scout: moves faster, with more stamina and more of the map revealed.
- Camp Cook: food fills you up for longer.
- Camp Nurse: stronger healing, heals friends nearby and revives faster.
- Handyman: cheaper crafting and tougher buildings.
- Hunter: more ranged damage and extra pelts.
- Night Owl: the flashlight drives the Brambleman back faster and the battery lasts longer.
- Quartermaster: extra inventory slots.
- Brawler: harder melee hits and less damage taken.
Birdie, companions and badges
Birdie runs a stall in the woods and trades in pelts, lucky tails and Troop patches rather than money; her shelves change every morning, and she closes when the moon comes up. A whistle and some meat can win you an animal companion, and you can keep up to two. Forty-four merit badges reward everything from toasting s'mores to defeating the Troop Warden, and notes left around the woods tell the story of what happened at Camp Kindling.
Playing with friends
Host a camp and share its four-letter code: up to six counselors can play together. The host's browser runs the world, and if the host leaves, someone else takes over. There is no text chat, only quick phrases (T) and map pings (G). If a friend goes down, they can still crawl; hold E beside them to pick them up.
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