[Steam] Ember Knights review

Today's review game is <Ember Knights>, the adorable, fierce warriors battling evil in a roguelite game.

 

✏ Ember Knights

<Ember Knights> is a story about embarking on a journey to stop Praxis, an evil sorcerer who seeks to dominate the world. True to its roguelite nature, the game features exhilarating combat, but its biggest highlight is the ability to play cooperatively with up to four players.

 

✏ Simple controls, but....the difficulty?

The game follows the typical format of rogue like games. It features basic controls with Attack, Special Attack, and Skill (magic), along with a dodge ability, so there's no need for additional input. Players can only use two skills per run (which can be swapped), so there's no complicated skill fusion like in <Hades>'s duo system.

 

And just so you know, i'm already dead

 

While it might seem like a simple game, the difficulty curve says otherwise. There's a reason for the simplicity of the controls.

 

For instance, dodging doesn't have a strict limit, and there's little cooldown time between rolls, meaning you'll be rolling a lot to avoid the overwhelming enemy and boss attacks. Some boss fights have huge bosses in tiny spaces, and you'll quickly find yourself rolling desperately just to avoid attacks, only to watch your character drop dead before you know it.

 

We're already dead, part 2

 

While only having two skills keeps things straightforward and avoids the need to memorize skill combos, this also means you won't be able to take down enemies with overpowered skills, leaving you in a battle of pure control. You can attach additional effects to skills, but these are unlocked only after defeating story bosses and can only be applied in the preparation lobby, so sometimes you're stuck without the skills you enhanced during the run.

 

Moreover, skill cooldowns aren't time-based but count the number of attacks. This means you'll need to keep hitting enemies to reset the skill cooldown, making basic attacks essential in the game.

 

You need to hit 9 times to use your skill

 

While the simplicity of the controls is a plus, it makes the difficulty even more brutal, upping the challenge of gameplay.

 

✏ Play with friends

Another key feature of the game is the ability to play with up to 4 players (honestly, taking down all those enemies solo is tough🙄). You can set the room to [public] for cooperative play with others, but you can also enjoy the game more quickly by teaming up the Steam friends from the beginning.

 

There are 7 weapons in total (6 basic + 1 more unlocked after defeating Praxis), and each player can use up to 2 skills. Cooperating with friends allows you to create more diverse builds. Occasionally, if your characters look too similar, you might get confused about who's who, but chaning your colors to complementary ones during the run can help avoid this issue.

 

 

📋 Overall review

<Ember Knights> might not be have the most intricate story or diverse controls, which could make it feel shallow to some. However, it raises the difficulty through its simple controls, extending the gameplay time. The cooperative play feature with up to 4 players helps break down the barriers of difficulty more quickly, adding a refreshing pace to the experience. I recommed this game for players confident in their control or for those who have friends willing to handle the controls for them.

 

Also, <Ember Knights> officially support the Korean language, so you can set it to Korean in the options menu.
 
* Steam URL : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135230/Ember_Knights/

* Kor version : https://gamers-tryto-it.tistory.com/95