Key Preview Takeaways:
My demo focused largely on combat, but it nevertheless impressed me.Emberville’s pixel-art look quickly won me over.It remains to be seen if its crafting and city-building systems will integrate nicely into Emberville’s whole package.
Described by many as “Diablo meets Stardew Valley,” Cygnus Cross’ debut title, Emberville, is just a little over a month out from welcoming players to check it out. IGN recently had the chance to get an early look, fighting through some mobs, meeting some of its NPCs, and even testing our mettle against an imposing spider boss. All while getting little teases and tastes of the crafting and character depth that we can look forward to when it enters early access in October.
Most of my time with Emberville consisted of fighting through the first biome of the prologue, ending with my arrival in the titular Emberville. After awakening in a strange room, I found my way outside, where a mysterious hooded figure turned me inside-out, leaving a bloody mess of bone and gore where I once stood. I quickly popped back into existence, and thankfully, this time the murder-hungry figure outside was gone, and I could get to exploring. The dungeon-like area I found myself in, which I’d later learn was known as the Vitromotus, serves as a prison and makes those within essentially immortal as they wait out their sentences. Some of these prisoners have even spent so long inside that they have forgotten how long they have been there or lost their memories, requiring special magical devices to help them reclaim what has escaped them.
The story and lore behind what the Vitromotus is, the mysterious magical energy known as Kymia, and even who or what killed me at the start were explained to me through a mix of both talking to NPCs I came across and various books and other notes scattered around the dungeon. Most of that dialogue was voiced, including Alex Jordan’s performance as the elderly and not quite-all-there Adeos, or Matt Mercer’s gremlin-like shopkeeper, Gumu. One of the big selling points that Emberville is pushing is its incredibly robust and talent-rich voice cast that will help give the people of this world life, and while a vast majority of them were not present in the demo, what was there was really well done. I don’t tend to associate A-tier voice acting with games that look like Emberville, so even though I knew going in that the cast was stacked, it was still a pleasant surprise to hear it.
One of the big selling points that Emberville is pushing is its incredibly robust and talent-rich voice cast that will help give the people of this world life.
As someone who believes that good pixel art will always be timeless, Emberville’s early dungeon and denizens are right up my alley. With rich and detailed landscapes of dank spiderweb-covered caves, crumbling stone walls, and rotting wooden buildings to rummage through, I have already become enthralled by its graphics. Enemies like the spiders had ominous spotted mushrooms growing on their backs, and I could see the mystic beads dangling from the staves of the acolytes as they conjured their spells to send at me. My character was perhaps the most simplistic-looking element of Emberville, but considering that the various pieces of armor I would equip actually showed up on them – a feature I tend to associate with 3D games, and even then, it doesn’t happen particularly often – it made sense, and the gear itself was detailed and blended in with the rest. I only hope that in the final release you are able to dye your gear as well, to really help with your “drip,” as the kids say. They do still say that, right?
When it came to my character, being rather hooked on the Dungeon Crawler Carl books lately, I decided early on, even while creating my character (which has some decent options for customization), to make a pants-less dude that likes to punch things and step on things, rather than swing a sword or shoot magic spells. Unlike, say, Diablo, which features a single main attack and is backed up by spells or abilities, Emberville has a sort of combo system, where mixing the main and alternate attack buttons in a specific sequence results in a more powerful final hit. In Carl’s case, punching twice – which is the knuckles main attack – and using his alternate kick attack for the final strike in the string would result in a satisfying roundhouse kick that had a chance of leaving the enemies stunned. Throw in the powerful strike I opted for when picking my Wanderer class perk, and I can frequently pull off a satisfying four-hit flurry. That said, I’m still a bit on the fence about it, finding myself wondering if I like it more in principle than in practice.
For smaller groups, and particularly against the large and imposing Spider Matriarch that awaited me at the tail end of the demo, I think this combo approach was pretty neat. On the other hand, when dealing with large mobs or when under pressure, it all went out the window, and I resorted to my tried-and-true frantic clicking to thin the threats around me. Having played the demo on both my PC and my AYN Thor handheld, hitting combos came more naturally for me, alternating face buttons instead of the left and right mouse, so it may just take some time to get used to until it becomes muscle memory. Regardless, it’s certainly a feature that helps set Emberville apart at the very least, I’ve seen enough to be intrigued.
While most of the time was spent throwing hands, I did still try each of the various weapons. Everything from the sword’s swishes and swooshes to the bow’s charged shot had a good impact and feel to them, and I appreciated how I could use the staff to either bludgeon foes across the head or blast them with magic. And each of them comes with their own mastery trees that will unlock even stronger attacks should I fight with them, just like with the knuckles. These mastery trees extend not just to weapons either; with the other masteries you can invest in, such as armor, alchemy, and resource gathering, each offering their own benefits.
The scope of the build I got to check out really was combat- and exploration-focused, showing off the looks, enemies, traps, and even the boss of what will serve as the prologue area, but this is just part of what Emberville looks to offer to prospective acolytes when the game launches proper. Emberville is also positioning itself as a solid crafting and even city-building game too. The city and some of its customization have been shown off in previous trailers, but were completely absent in what I got to play, which is a shame.
I did get a slight tease and peek at how crafting and general collection will work, thankfully. Similar to, say, Stardew Valley, or other cozy gathering sims out there, as I explored the Vitromotus, I came across veins to mine for ore, trees to cut down, plants to pull, and other goodies to fill my bag with. Enemies also would drop various components that will no doubt be of great help in brewing bubbling potions or cooking up delicious meals. I occasionally would stumble on a cook fire while exploring, allowing me to do just that, turning raw meat into cooked meals, granting better healing effects. The masteries for all of this, though, weren’t implemented yet, with a “Coming Soon” notice teasing what’s still to come.
Emberville still leaves me eager to explore more of its world.
Brief as my time was, Emberville still leaves me eager to explore more of its world. The big question now is whether Cygnus Cross can successfully bring all these various systems together into a cohesive package without it feeling like random things just tacked on. The combat already has the bones of a solid ARPG, but I haven’t seen enough of the crafting and village-building systems to know whether Emberville’s cozier side complements it or just gives the whole thing a bit of an identity crisis, but I’m just as excited to find out as I am to dive deeper into its classes and RPG mechanics.
What is here is already an impressive start. Between the mastery and class skill trees, loot, and stat points to distribute, Emberville already appeals to my love of ARPGs, while its gathering and crafting systems have the potential to appeal to a whole different crowd too, like my wife, who is a fan of cozier games. That could make Emberville one of those rare games that we can both enjoy together when it releases and serve as an introduction to the genres for both sides. It’s hard to say just yet whether Emberville will be something that draws and keeps me close, like a moth to a flame, or if it will fizzle out like a birthday candle in the wind, but this early look at least shows that this ember is glowing pretty bright.
While you’re here, check out these recent previews of other big upcoming games we’ve checked out recently!
