Ember Knights - "Gloriously fast-paced and intense Rogue-like fun!" (Switch/PC)
After a long early access development period, Ember Knights finally released to the general public. Intriguingly enough, the developers opted to make Ember Knights a rogue-like despite the over-saturation of the genre seen in recent years. Expecting people to invest their time and money in a game that may retread ground that other games previously explored tends can become an enormous ask of potential audiences since the genre already features masterpieces like Hades. However, while Ember Knights does not boast the utterly ludicrous number of events to experience that Hades does, it provides gameplay on par with- and maybe even better than- games like it and with fantastic graphics, multiplayer gameplay, and atmosphere to boot!
Rogue-Likes typically opt for fast-paced and chaotic gameplay, but Ember Knights cranks up the ferocity and pace to achieve spectacular results. Rooms typically drown with foes that can quickly swarm the player if they fail to control the situation, and everything from projectiles to attacks to movement happens surprisingly quickly. These intense encounters keep combat fresh and exciting over several gameplay sessions, as one needs to act fast, attack hastily, and master their reflexes to survive most encounters, let alone make it out relatively unscathed.
Enemy encounters do not only revolve around managing fierce hordes of foes, as Ember Knights provides several ways to reward the player for masterful gameplay. During a run, one will encounter skills with recharge periods, but these skills only recharge when the player strikes enough enemies instead of waiting for a brief period to pass. Additionally, skills and certain weapons feature a charge mechanic that deals additional damage and hits when held long enough. These two mechanics make combat immensely satisfying as the player gets rewarded for skillful gameplay instead of skill-orientated gameplay.
One can also utilize a dodge roll that provides an edge against the unrelenting swarm of foes due to how it interacts with the level design. Not only does this dodge roll allow one to escape a sticky situation via rolling through enemies or evading attacks, but it also lets them leap over gaps in the terrain. This puts control of the flow of combat firmly in the player’s hands as they can take advantage of the environment to gain a moment of respite needed to assess the current scenario.
Ember Knights also features several weapons that provide more depth to combat. The combat styles of each weapon differ vastly from each other, which adds replayability, encourages players to try more experimental builds, and lets players find a style that best suits them! Every weapon also builds upon the fast-paced, aggressive gameplay by providing unique offensive options like charged attacks, high damage yields, and ranged attacks. The slow rate at which one unlocks each weapon also inspires creativity and further experimentation by giving the player the time to use and appreciate every tool of destruction.
All of the gameplay elements become further accentuated with the addition of multiplayer, albeit at the cost of difficulty balancing. The entire game can be played with a few friends via online and local means, bringing forth the best of both online multiplayer and couch co-op! However, the gameplay does not change much between single-player and multiplayer, which does cause the difficulty to skew since solo runs deal with an overwhelming number of foes from room to room in the late game, and multiplayer runs deal with effortlessly dispatched opposition in early game locales (Specifically, I did not notice a difference between 1-player runs and 2-player runs). However, this minor detail does not detract from the overall enjoyment that either a group of friends or a solo player would receive from this game!
Unfortunately, the unlockable upgrades feel disappointingly railroaded. Obtaining more ember- a resource used to receive new abilities- throughout a playthrough only lets the player unlock new weapons in a set order, and new abilities/stat increases can only be unlocked when the player obtains enough prior upgrades. The game administers some leniency with the option to swap abilities with other certain abilities, but it leaves one wishing for more freedom to build up their character as they desire.
The minor disappointment felt from the streamlined unlockables thankfully becomes assuaged due to Ember Knight’s impressive graphical fidelity. The game runs at a surprisingly smooth framerate, especially considering the number of enemies and projectiles on screen at any given moment, and the rich quality of the graphics causes the game to feel like the pixel art equivalent of games with high graphical fidelity like Final Fantasy XVI. Ember Knights even features impressive animated cutscenes from time to time. These animatics feature a level of quality extraordinary enough to make most modern cartoons feel like cheap products. The game does not feature too many of these cutscenes, but they appear frequently enough to provide a pleasant surprise and a sense of accomplishment for making more progress through the game.
The world of Ember Knights also features a fantastic amount of lore and world-building. While it comes nowhere close to the same level of depth as Hades’ world-building- although few games manage to achieve that, let alone get anywhere close- the bits and pieces of info regarding the land provide enough detail for most players to feel a sense of semblance of engagement with the game! This engagement only becomes more in-depth by the oddities one encounters, such as a mystery item in a shop with a cost of 1 gold, or a tombstone that summons a little wisp companion!
The game also features an astounding atmosphere that builds upon the player’s engagement with the world! The laid-back yet thematically fitting and sometimes intense soundtrack, intricately designed environments with a plethora of destructible objects, and set order of worlds one adventures through really make one feel as if they are going on a grand adventure, chasing after a dastardly ne’er do well throughout all the lands they visit. While the developers essentially sacrificed variability and randomness for this atmosphere, the trade ended up well worth the loss.
Ember Knights even spices up its lush landscapes by placing a few surprises throughout each world! This review will not go into detail regarding these gameplay elements- discovering them in the first place provides half of the fun of finding them- but the joy one will feel when discovering them provides as much enjoyment as the combat does. The reward received from most of these surprises contributes to the excitement of finding them as they feel truly rewarding!
All in all, I give Ember Knights a 9/10, and highly recommend it!
