Ember Knights Review (Broo)
This is a frustrating review to write. The game, in a vacuum, is amazing. Visually gorgeous, simple and fluid action mixed with complex engaging encounters, compelling game-play that makes you want to try just one more run every time, technically fluid, and a definite love for gaming poured into development.
But there just lacks content for a genre that requires a breadth of content to excel. Games like this, built to be played over and over again in bursts, requires FAR more diversity than this offers. Which is incredibly frustrating because at its core there is potential to be on the mount everest of stellar indie titles here. So much potential. But after sitting in early access for a year and a half, for a game as glowingly praised through development as it was, Ember Knights just doesn't have a shred of the diversity that makes other games of the genre stick out so much. I was going to grab this game when it first hit early access but having an unhealthy amount of hours into the action roguelike genre I knew that in order to really enjoy it I would have to wait for more meat on the bone. Dead Cells, for example, was always a fundamentally phenomenal experience but you definitely needed to wait till it was fleshed out to experience what makes it so iconic. I honestly am surprised at the lack of content here. So much so that I felt compelled to write a rare review.
There are only a small handful of enemies per world, maybe 4-5? And at 5 worlds thats really, save for a few rare encounters, 25 enemies you're going to see all game. After just a few runs the first worlds feel more cumbersome than enjoyable. 17 abilities and 6 weapons doesn't sound incredibly lack luster but it also doesn't bring a lot to the table. And truthfully many of the abilities feel same-y enough that they aren't going to change your gameplay. Its close though, its close!! I feel like some tweeking to the abilities and weapons could make them feel different enough but even then my criticism is the breadth of it all. There's just not enough. You can pretty much bank on getting whatever ability you want pretty immediately and takes away from the whole feeling of needing to work with what you find.
When playing games like this, Hades, Dead Cells, Curse of the Dead Gods, Undermine, Gunfire Reborn, or honestly any of the rouglike's with heavy meta-progression, the appeal is in "ooooo what will this run be like!". At the time of writing this, most runs are going to feel very very same-y in Ember Knights. I eagerly wait the content to merit changing this review, but for a game i was so hyped to finally play I am notably disappointed.