The most satisfying 16-bit adventure: Ember Knights first impression
Ember Knights is a fast-paced action rogue-lite game for 1-4 players, which enters early access phase on 20th April 2022. Our team has tested and sweated through Ember Knights for quite a few hours,...
Story of Ember Knights
The game starts with a beautiful cutscene (I’m a huge fan of this art-style, so beautiful is the right word for me), showing a simple story of what Ember Knights is about. The universe is corrupted by the mad sorcerer Praxis, and you, as a legendary knight have to fight against Praxis’ hordes to free the world and stabilize the Ember Tree. These cute flame-headed knights were created and summoned by Esper, the Keeper of the Nexus.
Gameplay of Ember Knights
Your little (but strong) knight starts the journey on a small map with the old and wise NPC Esper, the Ember Tree, some DPS dummies and two weapons to choose from – sword and bow. You start with a sword, as you have to collect Ember to unlock the next weapon. More weapons and builds are coming to Ember Knights, it’s important to mention that the game is still in early access phase!
Upon entering the Tear, you are progressing from room-to-room, fighting your way through different creatues (normal, elite and champion mobs) with different mechanics. Tackle the rooms solo or with up to 3 players – because Ember Knights can be played in co-op mode, and it looks like a lot of fun.
Your ultimate goal is to gather as much Ember as you can to stabilize the Ember Tree (and defeat Praxis at the very end..), so complete as many rooms as you can before your character dies. Ember Knights is a rogue-lite game – dying doesn’t mean you have to start over everything from scratch. Of course you loose some stuff upon dying, and you have to start from room 1, but the collected Ember stays with you, and you can offer these for the Ember Tree to unlock different upgrades and perks. Skill tablets and Relic Orbs stay with you as well – collect them and unlock more active/passive skills and perks that help you through your adventure.
Combat of Ember Knights
Spinning monsters, posion spitting worms, and huge boss-spiders…This game has all kinds of challenging mechanics, it was really hard even for me, who plays with action-combat games for more than 10 years.
You have to time your dodge, aim your skills, kite your enemies, find the right position, and focus on the right target to avoid the spawn of adds. On the top of all these, the further you progress, the harder it becomes. You can’t afford to loose a lot of HP in each room, cause you’ll never know what happens in the next room. Sometimes there are healing fountains, and chicken drumsticks to pick up for a small portion of health, sometimes you can heal yourself up to the max, but it’s just better to prepare for the worst. And sometimes, the game offers you a choice – before entering the next room, you can choose from two paths, But be careful with this decision. Do you choose more health or a relic with an extra perk?
Finishing the boss with only 1 point of remaining HP is somewhat satisfying and tiring at the same time, but then dying in the next room instantly, well. That was the point when I’ve regretted my path choice (choosing critical hit relic over health regeneration) and needed a little break. 🙂
Practicing and finding your right build in Ember Knights is crucial. When I unlocked the bow, I could progress further, but maybe it’s because I’m a ranged-type person, and I’m really not that good in melee fights.
Speaking of preferences – Ember Knights has a full controller support, and that was the point when I could reach a boss room with a huge spider. For me, the controller was more comfortable to use in this game, so consider trying both ways – keyboard + mouse and controller as well.
Summary
Ember Knights was a huge surprise for me who never really loved or tried rogue-lites. Maybe a review from a rogue-like/rouge-lite expert would be more meaningful, but a review made by a rookie could be a proof, that Ember Knights is truly enjoyable, even for beginners.
The combat is fast-paced and sometimes very challenging, animations are smooth, the art-style is gorgeous and I love how the environment changes as you progress in the game. I would love to try Ember Knights in co-op mode – probably that’s for the next review. 🙂
Ember Knights was developed by Doom Turtle, and published by Asmodee Digital. The game enters early access phase on April 20th, 2022, players will then be able to buy the game for 14.99€/$14.99/£11.39. The game will support keyboard and mouse controls, using a controller is recommended for the ultimate gaming experience. Ember Knights will be playable in solo and online & local co-op for up to four players.
Join the Ember Knights Community on Discord and meet other knights!
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