Skip to main content

Empire of Ember

Empire of Ember Game Cover
70%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, gameplay
Most mentioned negative aspects:optimization, stability
70% User Score Based on 83 reviews

Platforms

PCSteam DeckWindows
Buy Nowfrom $19.61
Buy NowGet on Steam $24.99
Empire of Ember Game Cover

About Empire of Ember

Empire of Ember is a single player open world city builder game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Poleaxe Games LLC and was released on January 20, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Empire of Ember is an action RPG and strategy game. You play as a Lightbringer, a young wizard who just inherited rule over a destroyed city. You have to rebuild it to its former glory while you live adventures in first-person, dual-wielding steel and magic, exploring procedurally generated dungeons and leading your troops to clashes of up to 100 units. You can customize your city to its finest de…

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
Empire of Ember screenshot
+14
Skip Games Like Empire of Ember

Games Like Empire of Ember

Looking for games like Empire of Ember? Here are top open world city builder recommendations with a fantasy, medieval and historical focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Legends of Ellaria, Age of Darkness Final Stand or Towers of Aghasba.

Legends of Ellaria Image
58%1.2kreviews

Legends of Ellaria

2021Role Playing
PCWindows
Games like Legends of Ellaria
Age of Darkness Final Stand Image
75%5.8kreviews

Age of Darkness Final Stand

2025Survival Management
PCWindows
Games like Age of Darkness Final Stand
Towers of Aghasba Image
76%983reviews

Towers of Aghasba

2024Open World Role Playing
LinuxPCPlaystation 5+2
Games like Towers of Aghasba
Bellwright Image
80%10.3kreviews

Bellwright

2024Open World City Builder
Xbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5+5
Games like Bellwright
Veil of Crows Image
50%676reviews

Veil of Crows

2018Role Playing
PCWindows
Games like Veil of Crows
P.A.M.E.L.A Image
57%718reviews

P.A.M.E.L.A

2020Open World Role Playing
PCWindows
Games like P.A.M.E.L.A
Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare Image
66%10.1kreviews

Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare

2019Open World Role Playing Shooter
PCWindows
Games like Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare
Edge Of Eternity Image
76%1.6kreviews

Edge Of Eternity

2021Role Playing
PCXbox Game PassAmazon Luna+5
Games like Edge Of Eternity
Alaloth: Champions of the Four Kingdoms Image
73%1.4kreviews

Alaloth: Champions of the Four Kingdoms

2022Open World Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchPCPlaystation 4+5
Games like Alaloth: Champions of the Four Kingdoms
The Unliving Image
64%704reviews

The Unliving

2023Hack and Slash
PCMac OSWindows
Games like The Unliving
More games like Empire of Ember
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

70%Audience ScoreBased on 83 reviews
story5 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • The game has a unique and interesting concept, blending city building, RPG elements, and combat mechanics reminiscent of Mount and Blade.
  • Despite its rough edges, the game is fun and engaging, with a satisfying gameplay loop and a lot of potential for future updates.
  • The developer is very active in addressing bugs and implementing feedback, showing commitment to improving the game.
  • The game is plagued by numerous bugs and performance issues, making it frustrating and often unplayable.
  • Many players feel that the game was released too early and lacks polish, with clunky controls and a confusing user interface.
  • The game has been abandoned by the developers, leading to concerns about its future and whether it will receive necessary updates and fixes.

  • story

    29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 73% neutral mentions, 10% negative mentions

    The game's story is generally well-received, featuring a solid foundation with a fantasy-driven narrative that includes various quests, character development, and a mix of combat scenarios. While the execution has its flaws, such as glitches and a need for polish, players appreciate the depth of the storyline and the engaging quest system that keeps gameplay fresh. Overall, the story is considered a strong aspect of the game, though it may not be a classic and could benefit from improvements in balance and character generation options.

    • “The story is not a classic but is well told, and pretty well voice-acted.”
    • “Between the quests/main story and the side features (building a customizable town, holding court, and training your army that you can take with you on quests/missions), there's never a dull moment while playing this game.”
    • “The storytelling, graphics, building options, and managing army development are pretty awesome.”
    • “Also need to get rid of the story-driven character generation.”
    • “It's a non-story feature, but players should be allowed to skip in favor of a more standard character generation.”
    • “Very long, technically endless though after a while you will have finished all missions and fully upgraded your city; at that point, it is merely fighting stronger enemy waves and harder dungeons.”

  • gameplay

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    29% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 21% negative mentions

    The gameplay is characterized by a satisfying loop and engaging mechanics, blending elements from various genres like strategy RPGs and action games. While some mechanics, such as health restoration in dungeons, may feel odd, the overall experience is solid, especially for an early access title, with frequent developer updates enhancing community engagement. Players appreciate the fun combat and quest systems, despite acknowledging the need for further polish.

    • “The gameplay has several segments.”
    • “The gameplay loop is satisfying.”
    • “The game mechanics were very engaging and it kept me interested (a hard thing for games to do these days)!”
    • “Having zero chance to restore your health in a dungeon just seems a little too odd of a mechanic to me.”
    • “No real mechanic for this to happen other than poof you are undead. I have not gotten to the point to upgrade tier 2 units, the undead, to tier 3 which are living to know if you upgrade to they then return to life?”
    • “For an early access game, its main game mechanics are firmly in place.”

  • graphics

    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    31% positive mentions, 46% neutral mentions, 23% negative mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed feedback, with some users appreciating the appealing visuals for a small studio title, while others note that it lacks modern detail and can lead to crashes if not configured correctly. Despite some technical issues, many find the graphics to be decent, especially for an early access game, though adjustments may be necessary for optimal performance. Overall, while the graphics are generally well-received, they may not satisfy players seeking high-end visuals.

    • “Looks like a small studio and as such the visuals of the game are appealing.”
    • “The graphics are really good.”
    • “The graphics are fantastic for an EA game like this.”
    • “I don't mind the graphical appearance of the game, but it could use some help and will easily not appeal to those that are looking for a more modern look or high detail.”
    • “Game crashed lots so turned down the graphics, still crashed.”
    • “I turned graphics options to low and scaled down rendering scale and it still burns my RTX 2060 with water cooling.”

  • optimization

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    29% positive mentions, 28% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while a recent update significantly improved performance, many users still report clunky controls and subpar optimization. Despite these issues, there is a consensus that the game has potential if further optimizations and control adjustments are made.

    • “The performance of the game is great, and the very day I wrote this review, a massive performance update arrived, improving the already stellar performance!”
    • “With a little optimization and control changes, I think this game will be in a better place.”
    • “Extremely clunky, poorly optimized, and a bit unbalanced.”
    • “Overall has potential, but controls and performance are way too subpar at this time.”
    • “There are also some small performance issues, but other than that, it's a game with lots of potential.”

  • stability

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and frustrating freezes, particularly during key gameplay elements like the tower management system. While many acknowledge that the game is still in alpha and expect improvements, the current experience is often described as clunky and unpolished.

    • “This game is clunky, buggy, and often times painful.”
    • “The game is not ready to play; it's buggy and crashes a lot, getting stuck on loading screens.”
    • “When using the tower management system to build houses and buildings in your city, sometimes the game freezes.”

  • music

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music in the game has received positive feedback, with many praising the fantastic voiceovers and fitting tracks. While some users find the music to be merely "alright," updates have significantly improved the sound effects, enhancing the overall audio experience.

    • “The music and especially the voiceovers were fantastic.”
    • “The music is fairly fitting with some good tracks.”
    • “With updates, the sound effects have become a great deal better.”

  • grinding

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Players find the grinding for materials to be engaging rather than repetitive, though some aspects, like the tedious process of building walls, can feel cumbersome and janky. Overall, while the game has enjoyable elements, the wall construction can detract from the experience.

    • “Having to individually place each section of wall is tedious and janky at best.”
    • “This game has a lot going for it, aside from the regular issues that come with early access, the only major issue I have come across so far is how tedious it is to build walls around the city.”

  • monetization

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Reviewers indicate that the monetization strategy may not align with players' expectations, as the developers seem to have a specific play style in mind that was not effectively communicated in the game's marketing.

    • “The monetization system feels overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending money.”
    • “I feel like I'm constantly being pushed to buy in-game currency just to keep up with the content.”
    • “The prices for in-game items are outrageous, and it feels like a cash grab rather than a fair system.”
Skip Game Offers

Buy Empire of Ember

Some of these are affiliate links — if you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Play Times

4h Median play time
4h Average play time
2-5h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Empire of Ember is a open world city builder game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. Common tags for Empire of Ember include first-person, 3D, indie, magic, war and others.

Empire of Ember is available on PC, Steam Deck and Windows.

On average players spend around 4 hours playing Empire of Ember.

Empire of Ember was released on January 20, 2022.

Empire of Ember was developed by Poleaxe Games LLC.

Empire of Ember has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Empire of Ember for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Empire of Ember is a single player game.

Similar games include Legends of Ellaria, Age of Darkness Final Stand, Towers of Aghasba, Bellwright, Veil of Crows and others.