Emberwake

About

Emberwake is a single player open world city builder game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Neler93 and was released on November 10, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Emberwake is a 2D survival strategy game where you must protect the last ember of hope in a world plunged into darkness. Lead your villagers, gather resources, build defenses, and fend off relentless waves of undead as you struggle to keep your campfire alive. Your campfire is the heart of your village, providing warmth, light, and the will to survive. During the day, send your villagers ou…

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71%

Audience ScoreBased on 14 reviews

gameplay3 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

Engaging village and settlement management with a strategic day and night cycle that requires careful resource gathering and defense planning.
Atmospheric pixel graphics with nice animations and a relaxing soundtrack that enhance the gameplay experience.
Simple yet enjoyable gameplay loop reminiscent of similar popular titles, with a leaderboard for competitive survival and score tracking.

The game is relatively short with low replayability, offering limited content beyond initial playthrough and achievements.
Numerous bugs and glitches affect gameplay, including issues with villagers freezing, building placements overlapping, and upgrade limitations.
Some mechanics feel unpolished or tedious, such as storage management and the need to micro-manage villagers constantly, making parts of the game exhausting.

graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The graphics are simple and pixel-based but effectively complement the game's atmosphere, enhancing both animations and overall visual appeal.
- “The graphics and visuals are suitable to the game's atmosphere.”
- “The graphics and visuals are suitable to the game's atmosphere.”
- “That doesn't take away from the animations and the atmosphere the visuals create.”
- “The graphics are somewhat simple and use pixel-related graphics.”
- “The graphics are somewhat simple and use pixel-related graphics.”
- “[td]visuals / user interface[/td]”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The gameplay is straightforward, centered on maintaining the colony's fire for survival, but is hindered by numerous bugs and poorly polished mechanics, such as a cumbersome inventory system. It requires time to understand the optimal strategies for defense and resource gathering. Overall, it has a solid foundation but needs improvements for a smoother experience.
- “It takes a while to figure out some things involving the best order and mechanics of defense and gathering.”
- “The gameplay is very simple: keep the fire alive to keep the colony alive.”
- “While I would recommend this game, I would only do so on a sale, as this game, while having a good foundation, is a bit of a mess with bugs galore and certain mechanics that could have really used some polish. For example, buying new items becomes largely impossible when your storage is full, as the only way to empty your storage is to grab trash items, put them on a character, then sacrifice them.”
- “While I would recommend this game, I would only do so on a sale. The game, while having a good foundation, is a bit of a mess with bugs galore and certain mechanics that could have really used some polish. For example, buying new items becomes largely impossible when your storage is full, as the only way to empty your storage is to grab trash items, put them on a character, then sacrifice them.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's graphics, visuals, and animations effectively contribute to a fitting and immersive atmosphere, complemented by relaxing music that adapts to the in-game events.
- “The graphics and visuals are suitable to the game's atmosphere.”
- “That doesn't take away from the animations and the atmosphere the visuals create.”
- “Again, the tunes create a nice and relaxing atmosphere depending on what is going on in the game.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The music in the game is well done and stands out positively, while the overall sounds are satisfactory and include all necessary elements.
- “All required and included sounds are there while a better job was done on the music.”
- “The sounds and music are okay.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect is criticized for being tedious and monotonous, requiring constant micro-management of villagers that leads to exhausting and repetitive gameplay.
- “The 30 minutes that I played were very boring and tedious because I had to make sure my villagers were always doing something, and it became exhausting scrolling back and forth.”
- “30 minutes were very boring and tedious.”
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story and campaign were generally considered engaging and well-developed, providing a compelling narrative that enhanced the overall gameplay experience.