Emberward
- June 25, 2024
- ReficGames
- 12h median play time
Get on Steam"Emberward" is a single-player game with exceptional visuals and beautiful mechanics, offering splendid replayability on every run. Assemble mazes with block cards, then enhance towers with runes for strategic advantage. Choose from various tower types, from poison to D20-based, with quirky features like drone tracking and critical failure. Each run promises unique challenges and fire sources to master.
Reviews
- Innovative combination of tower defense, roguelike elements, and Tetris-style maze building.
- High replayability with diverse tower options, relics, and character abilities.
- Polished graphics and smooth gameplay, even in early access.
- Currently lacks content, with only two maps and limited tower variety.
- Difficulty balance issues, with normal mode being too easy and heroic mode being overly challenging.
- Some towers and relics feel underwhelming or overpowered, leading to a lack of strategic diversity.
- gameplay156 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Emberward is highly praised for its innovative blend of tower defense mechanics with maze-building and roguelite elements, creating a unique and engaging experience. Players appreciate the strategic depth offered by the block-placing mechanics, diverse tower options, and well-designed maps, which contribute to a satisfying gameplay loop that remains fresh across multiple runs. While the game is still in early access and may lack some content, the core mechanics are polished and provide a rewarding challenge, making it a standout title in the genre.
“The block-placing part of the gameplay loop keeps each playthrough engaging and takes the tower-defense genre to a new level in my opinion.”
“The gameplay procedure of building mazes to fit in the level while synergizing your block shapes and the enhancements they give offers a good puzzle-solving experience.”
“Emberward successfully merges mechanics from different genres, creating a unique and intensely satisfying twist on the tower defense genre!”
“Although there is a slight downside to this game, and sadly, this is based in the nature of roguelike games; it can become quite repetitive after a while due to the gameplay loop being the same on every run.”
“There is one character who is so overpowered that he basically deletes the maze-building/deck-building mechanics from the entire video game and just lets you build near-perfect mazes every time.”
“The only problem is that it becomes too overwhelming when there's no guide or 'slowly easing the player into the game mechanics'.”
- replayability58 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
Overall, the game boasts high replayability due to its roguelite elements, randomization mechanics, and diverse character and tower options, allowing for unique experiences in each playthrough. While some players note that the current content may feel limited, many express excitement for future updates that promise to enhance replay value further. Despite a few critiques regarding complexity and balance, the game is generally regarded as fun and addictive, with the potential for extensive replayability.
“The roguelite element provides replayability and no playthrough is the same with the randomization mechanic at the beginning of each run.”
“There's many creative ways to approach each level given the blocks, towers, talents, relics, and characters you choose for a ton of replayability.”
“You can easily sink 100+ hours into this game before experiencing everything, and even then, there's plenty of replay value.”
“Emberward is an extremely fun game, but it lacks replayability in its current state.”
“However, too little content and very low replayability at this time.”
“Agree with others that there's not much replayability at the moment but!!”
- graphics43 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming and colorful art style, which enhances the overall gameplay experience. Players appreciate the polished visuals and smooth animations, noting that the aesthetic is both engaging and easy on the eyes, contributing to a relaxed atmosphere. While the graphics are generally well-optimized, some users mention potential lag on lower-end PCs, but overall, the visuals are considered a strong point of the game.
“The graphics are immaculate and friendly to the eyes, the gameplay is enticing and relatively difficult without being overwhelming, and to be frank, the game is very fun.”
“The art style is so pleasing.”
“This game features colorful and polished graphics matched with catchy music and sound effects.”
“The worst part of this game by far is the art, in both visuals and music.”
“It's definitely missing out on a lot of planned features due to early access, but during several runs I ran into absolutely no bugs or even graphical glitches.”
“Compared to most early access games, it's extremely polished, smooth animations and graphics.”
- story15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a substantial story, with many players expressing a desire for a narrative to enhance the gameplay experience. While the mechanics and gameplay elements are praised, particularly the roguelite features, the absence of a cohesive story detracts from the overall engagement, leaving players wanting more context and depth.
“Ngl this gave me nostalgic Mighty Quest for Epic Loot vibes, just without any of the negatives.”
“Needs a cute little story with it but other than that, great tower defense game!”
“☑ no story”
“It would be nice if there was a modicum of story incorporated into the game.”
“The game looks fantastic, the gameplay is great, but everything in this game wants to be put into a campaign with a story.”
- music9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its nostalgic resemblance to classic Final Fantasy titles and find it enjoyable, others criticize it as monotone, forgettable, and lacking in variety. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a decent complement to the game's charming visuals and engaging gameplay, but many players desire more diverse and memorable tracks.
“Sounds are fitting and the music reminds me of the mid-era Final Fantasy titles like 6 and 7.”
“Great game in all aspects: gameplay, graphics, music, sounds, balance.”
“This game features colorful and polished graphics matched with catchy music and sound effects.”
“The music is monotone and with little variation; more tracks and less looping is desirable.”
“The music is completely forgettable, which is terrible for a tower defense game.”
“The soundtrack is... there... I guess.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally well-received, with players noting smooth performance and a pleasant gaming experience, even with numerous effects and characters on screen. However, some users report GPU lag on lower-end devices, indicating a need for an optimization patch. Overall, the game is praised for its effective implementation of mechanics and lack of noticeable bugs.
“Because the exact shapes of the tiles in your hand vary, rotating and placing them down becomes a satisfying optimization puzzle that changes every level.”
“Really good tower defense game -- nice implementation of rogue-lite card deck mechanics, charming art style, enjoyable music, and well optimized with no noticeable bugs so far.”
“The game runs smoothly and looks great, even with hundreds of effects and mobs on screen.”
“There's a lot of GPU lag on lower-end devices, so beware until the optimization patch is released.”
“The optimization needs significant improvement; it's affecting gameplay on various hardware.”
“The game runs poorly on older systems, making it frustrating to play without proper optimization.”
- stability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is commendable, with users reporting minimal bugs and smooth performance, particularly on Linux. While it is still in early access and lacks some planned features, players have experienced a mostly bug-free experience with rich content. However, some caution is advised due to its ongoing development status.
“You kind of have to build your own lanes in a Tetris-like fashion, and in that process, a lot of planning is needed. It's fun, fast-paced, and full of new ideas, even for a tower defense game. Thumbs up and get it while it is cheap! As a bonus, it runs great out of the box on Linux!”
“Mostly bug-free, great casual roguelite.”
“For anyone that is a fan of the genre, I highly recommend this game, although be warned, it is still in early access, with a lot of features missing, buggy at times, and clearly a work in progress.”
“It's definitely missing out on a lot of planned features due to early access, but during several runs I ran into absolutely no bugs or even graphical glitches.”
“And for early access, there is still a fair amount of content (and 0 bugs or glitches) with more promised soon :)”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by its absurd and unexpected moments, such as the comical sound effects of towers and the amusing scenarios that arise during gameplay, like mobs being hilariously pushed off course. Players find themselves both laughing and stressed, indicating that the humor effectively enhances the overall gaming experience.
“My favorite tower is the icicle tower by far since it's simple in that it does lots of damage and shoots stupid fast and sounds hilarious to me.”
“Having a huge mob pushed over a wall from the rolling trap, into a shortcut straight to ember; that's on me and a hilarious way to lose a run...”
“Was laughing my ass off, and stressed through the round.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be overly emphasized, often feeling that it overshadows skill-based gameplay. Many express that extensive grinding is necessary for meta-progression, with some humorously suggesting it requires a "second life." Additionally, it's noted that progress made in the demo does not carry over, advising against excessive grinding in that version.
“There's simply not enough skill involved, so grinding through the meta-progression is basically what this game is about.”
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Just know progress in the demo does not transfer, so don't spend too much time grinding the demo.”
- character development1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game lacks traditional character designs and development, which some players appreciate as it aligns with the game's overall aesthetic and intent.
“The game lacks meaningful character development, making it hard to connect with anyone in the story.”
“There are no real character arcs or growth; the characters feel flat and uninteresting.”
“I was disappointed by the lack of depth in the characters; they don't evolve or change throughout the game.”
