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Winter Ember

What works about Winter Ember is almost entirely overshadowed by the frustrating moment-to-moment experience that never settles into a true, precise stealth game.
69%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
stability, music
71% User Score Based on 82 reviews
Critic Score 67%Based on 9 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchNintendo SwitchPCPCPlaystation 4Playstation 4Playstation 5Playstation 5WindowsWindowsXbox OneXbox OneXbox Series X|SXbox Series X|SPlayStationPlayStationXboxXbox
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About

In "Winter Ember", play as Arthur Artorias, seeking vengeance for your family's massacre 8 years ago. This stealth-based game features a militant religion in control, while you infiltrate homes, explore hidden passages, and craft arrows for your bow in a dark, character-driven world. Choose your playstyle carefully, avoiding detection and eliminating enemies silently while dealing with the consequences of your actions.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
Winter Ember screenshot
+9

71%
Audience ScoreBased on 91 reviews
story27 positive mentions
stability6 negative mentions
  • The game features beautifully crafted environments and a strong atmosphere that enhances the stealth experience.
  • Stealth mechanics are engaging and rewarding, allowing for multiple approaches to gameplay and exploration.
  • The arrow crafting system adds depth to gameplay, providing players with various options for tackling challenges.
  • Combat mechanics are poorly executed, feeling repetitive and lacking satisfaction, which detracts from the overall experience.
  • The game suffers from numerous bugs and technical issues, including clunky controls and inconsistent interactions.
  • The narrative and character development are weak, with voice acting that fails to engage players fully.
  • story
    75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is a straightforward revenge plot that, while not exceptionally strong, is complemented by engaging side quests and well-executed cutscenes. Players appreciate the atmospheric setting and the freedom to explore, though some criticize the narrative for being somewhat generic and marred by bugs and unpolished elements. Overall, the story is deemed decent, with moments of intrigue and a passionate execution that resonates with fans of the genre.

    • “Even with how messy the final product is, there's too much love and passion you can see all over it, from the generic but lovingly edgy charm of the story that was clearly written by people who adore these kinds of characters and tales, to the beautifully gloomy atmosphere, lighting, and creepy vibe of the greater heaven cultists.”
    • “There's a good effort here in terms of storytelling; the starting animation is well done and the voice acting for the main character is decent.”
    • “It has a unique story that gets you hooked.”
    • “As for criticism... the game at least so far, doesn't offer the strongest story and characters.”
    • “The story is a somewhat straightforward revenge plot, and not very well told.”
    • “Despite a decent story and atmosphere, Winter Ember is a flawed experience that suffers from poor combat and even poorer voice acting and writing.”
  • gameplay
    57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay in Winter Ember features a mix of stealth and combat mechanics that, while immersive and rewarding when executed well, suffers from a lack of polish and intuitive design. Players have noted frustrating bugs, clunky cover mechanics, and a repetitive gameplay loop in the latter half of the game, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game offers enjoyable stealth elements and a clever arrow crafting system, appealing to fans of stealth-based titles.

    • “It is very immersive with good combat and stealth mechanics.”
    • “These three things made the game lose a bit of its charm, but that’s all mended together thankfully by the enjoyable stealth mechanics and moment-to-moment gameplay.”
    • “[Stealth gameplay is really enjoyable and rewarding, puzzles are incredibly fun, and equally satisfying to complete. Exploration mechanics made the slow moments very entertaining. When played in pure stealth, it’s a very immersive experience.]”
    • “The mechanics aren't well polished (rolling in mid-air, weird lag in striking with your sword, get good at parrying and the game is a joke from then on out barring severely being outnumbered).”
    • “There is a lack of precision in all of it (guards freaking out at random or repeatedly over the same provocation, not staying stuck in cover when leaning out, cover not preventing a guard from spotting you often...) it all makes for a frustrating instead of satisfying stealth game, and not because it's hard, but because it's poorly made with bad mechanics.”
    • “Game opens up with a pair of tutorial missions that at least for me contained some unfortunate bugs where I ended up being stuck inside the geometry and in the process lost 10-15 minutes of gameplay each time, as the game does not have quick save or manual save outside of shrines that act as save points (and autosave that occurs only at checkpoints) - which needless to say didn't create exactly a positive first impression.”
  • graphics
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their fantastic visuals, lovely artwork, and atmospheric design. Reviewers highlight the cool art style and interesting aesthetic, noting that the world is beautifully crafted and visually appealing. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's immersive experience.

    • “The artwork is lovely, the game is beautiful and atmospheric.”
    • “The overall controls feel solid, the graphics and style are nice to look at.”
    • “[Dramatic story with great cutscenes, beautiful graphics and interesting locations, engaging exploration mechanics and arrow crafting system].”
  • atmosphere
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beautiful craftsmanship, top-notch ambience, and engaging environments, creating a captivating and immersive experience. Reviewers highlight the game's artistic quality and the effective use of lighting to evoke a gloomy, creepy vibe, despite acknowledging some flaws in gameplay elements. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as the most compelling aspect, showcasing a deep passion for the thematic elements and storytelling.

    • “The world itself is beautifully crafted, the ambience and atmosphere are top notch.”
    • “The atmosphere is incredible, and it was consistently the best part of the game.”
    • “Even with how messy the final product is, there's too much love and passion you can see all over it, from the generic but lovingly edgy charm of the story that was clearly written by people who adore these kinds of characters and tales, to the beautifully gloomy atmosphere, lighting, and creepy vibe of the greater heaven cultists.”
    • “Despite a decent story and atmosphere, Winter Ember is a flawed experience that suffers from poor combat and even poorer voice acting and writing.”
    • “The Victorian setting and atmosphere are done well; the story is fairly interesting, and when focusing on stealth, it can be engaging.”
  • stability
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is frequently criticized, with players reporting issues such as constant camera sway, enemy respawning, and a buggy crafting system. Input delays in the lockpicking minigame further contribute to a frustrating experience. While some players appreciate the game's potential, they recommend playing on lower difficulty settings to mitigate the janky and buggy nature of the gameplay.

    • “Constant camera sway, enemies constantly respawning, a crappy crafting system, and a lockpicking minigame that requires you to release before you need to due to input delay. Overall, it's very buggy.”
    • “If you like this kind of game, and you know it's going to be a janky/buggy experience, you shouldn't play on anything higher than normal for your first playthrough if you don't want to go insane from moments that weren't even your fault. I think you should buy it just because indie stealth games with this much potential aren't really a thing these days, aside from Wildfire, Intravenous, and Mark of the Ninja (all of which are better than this, mostly due to their polish and not due to any fundamental differences).”
    • “Combat can be a little bit annoying and buggy.”
  • music
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has been compared favorably to that of "Dishonored," with many players appreciating its ability to maintain focus without being intrusive. However, some critics find the soundtrack to be basic and repetitive, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “The music is very similar to Dishonored's, which is a big plus in my book.”
    • “The soundtrack after 6 hours of play is excellent, does not bother and keeps in focus.”
    • “It doesn't help either when the soundtrack overheard in all areas of the game is equally as basic.”
    • “The soundtrack is boring and takes away some of the charm from this game.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is criticized for poor performance on high settings, with users reporting GPU usage exceeding 80-90% and frequent issues with takedown animations that result in disconnections and stuttering.

    • “Often, takedown animations disconnect or 'break', leaving Arthur standing still after 'stuttering' toward the guard for a brief moment.”
    • “The performance is not great on the highest settings; I was running at a GPU capacity of well over 80-90%.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is not explicitly addressed in the provided text, which focuses on gameplay mechanics rather than emotional engagement or impact. Therefore, no summary can be drawn regarding the emotional experience from this content.

  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the humor in the game primarily through its side quests, which are noted for being both interesting and amusing. This blend of engaging content and comedic elements enhances the overall experience.

    • “The side quests are really interesting, and some of them are genuinely funny.”

67%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews

Buy Winter Ember

3h Median play time
3h Average play time
1-4h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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