Empire of Ember
- January 20, 2022
- Poleaxe Games LLC
- 4h median play time
Get on SteamIn Empire of Ember, become a battlemage seeking revenge for your master's death and restore your city to prosperity. Engage in real-time strategy combat with up to 100 units, and explore procedurally generated maps and dungeons. Dual-wield spells and weapons to defeat enemies in first-person battles while customizing your town's development.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a fun and charming play loop, with engaging mechanics that combine city building, dungeon crawling, and combat.
- The developer is very active, frequently releasing updates and fixes, showing a commitment to improving the game.
- The game has a solid foundation and a lot of potential, with interesting ideas and a unique blend of genres reminiscent of Mount and Blade.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, making it frustrating and sometimes unplayable.
- There are concerns about the game's abandonment by the developers, leading to a lack of updates and support.
- The user interface and controls are clunky and unintuitive, which detracts from the overall experience.
- story29 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally well-received, featuring a mix of main storyline missions and side quests that allow for player choice and creativity in managing a wizard tower and recruiting troops. While the narrative is engaging and set in a familiar universe, some players note that the execution has flaws, including glitches and a need for more polished character generation options. Overall, the story provides a solid foundation for gameplay, complemented by varied combat missions and procedural dungeons, though it may require patience due to its early access status.
“The story is not a classic but is well told, and pretty well voice-acted.”
“I like the story and the choices you get to make along the way.”
“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.”
“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.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a satisfying loop and engaging mechanics, blending elements reminiscent of Skyrim and Mount and Blade with unique features like a dodge mechanic and spellcasting that enhance combat options. While some players find the health restoration mechanic in dungeons odd and note the game is rough around the edges, the solid foundation and frequent developer engagement contribute to a positive early access experience. Overall, the game offers a fun and immersive experience, making it a recommended title for fans of the genre.
“The gameplay is great and the voices are amazing; I would recommend it 100%.”
“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.”
- graphics11 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews; while some users appreciate the appealing visuals for a small studio title, others find them lacking in modern detail and prone to crashes, particularly when not configured to use the dedicated video card. Overall, the graphics are considered decent, but there are concerns about performance issues and the need for further refinement.
“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 a lot, so I turned down the graphics, but it still crashed.”
“I turned graphics options to low and scaled down the rendering scale, and it still burns my RTX 2060 with water cooling.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % 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 that detracts from the overall experience. Despite these issues, there is a consensus that the game has potential if further optimizations 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.”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, crashes, and loading screen freezes, which detract from the overall experience. While players acknowledge that it is still in alpha and expect improvements as the developer addresses these problems, the current state is described as clunky and frustrating.
“This game is clunky, buggy, and often painful.”
“The game is not ready to play; it's buggy and crashes a lot, getting stuck on loading screens.”
“It's in alpha, so it's still buggy, e.g., getting stuck in terrain. This will likely improve as the developer fixes bugs, so it's not a huge con.”
- music4 mentions
- 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 notably 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.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding for materials to be engaging rather than repetitive, though the process of building walls can feel tedious and awkward. Overall, while the game has enjoyable elements, the wall construction aspect is a notable drawback.
“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.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Reviewers suggest 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 being pushed to spend more than I'm comfortable with just to keep up with other players.”
“The in-game purchases are not just optional; they are almost necessary to progress, which ruins the experience.”
