First Impressions: Ember – A Homage To CRPGs

If you enjoyed the classic era of RPG’s then chances are you might feel right at home with Ember, the latest video game release under development team N-Fusion Interactive and publishers 505 Games. Here is a quick first impression of what we thought of the game so far.

Ember boasts itself as a classic RPG and it’s quite easy to notice the variety of elements taken from such classics as The Baldur’s Gate series, but there are enough fresh tweaks to keep this isometric RPG unique when browsing for a new video game title to pick up.

Overall, the story of Ember might not be the most original piece we’ve ever come across. Essentially, the game follows a Lightbringer, who has been resurrected years after death in order to prevent the world from destruction. The lands that once saw Embers, beings of light, as holy artifacts now only seek out to tap the power encased within and it’s up to you in order to restore world order.

Players will go on an epic journey, meeting a wider array of characters as they accomplish the main campaign along with a series of optional side quests. That doesn’t mean these side quests are always fleshed out as there have been some rather mundane requests demanded by the occasional NPC which is to be expected. Regardless, seeking out these side quests seemed to be worthy of your time in search for better gear to equip your character as gear is rather vital in a variety of areas.

One of the interesting aspects of the game is rather than leveling your character up to reach different skill sets, the game instead offers these skills embedded in the armor, weapons, and other gear found scavenging the world. Certain items may require your character to be a specific level before they are unlocked. In this case, instead of certain skills behind locked away until you gather enough points to branch towards a particular skill, you’re more or less leveling your entire character as a whole.

Audio within the game has been wonderful. From setting an atmospheric sound overlay to voice overs from the select few characters, I really can’t complain about the audio aspect of this video game. However, graphically, you’re not looking at anything completely outstanding though I found the gameplay visually appealing regardless.

For a game that is both out on the mobile and PC platform which can be purchased for just $9.99, you may find that N-Fusion’s Ember offers an homage to classic role-playing games too good to pass up.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of the game was supplied by the publisher.