Game: Emberwake
Genre: Strategy, RPG, Indie
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Neler93
Controller Support: No
Steam Deck: Playable
Price: US $9.99 | UK £8.50 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: November 10th, 2024
Review code provided with many thanks to Neler93.
Emberwake – Taking on the Crown
Sometimes a game comes along that clearly takes inspiration from something you already know and love, while still trying to carve its own path. For me, Emberwake immediately brought to mind Kingdom Two Crowns, a game I’ve poured far too many hours into, especially in co-op with a dear friend. At first, that comparison was tough for Emberwake to live up to, but after giving it a fair shot, I started to see its potential. It’s rough around the edges, sure, but if you’ve got patience, there’s something here worth exploring.
A Fire That Must Never Go Out
You start with a campfire, the literal heart of your settlement, and a couple of villagers. By day, you send them out to chop wood, mine stone, and forage for food. By night, the undead crawl out of the shadows and march straight for your precious fire. Not only are the undead a problem, but you also need to make sure you stock plenty of wood to keep it burning. If the flames die, your village is quickly overrun by a swarm of undead. A nasty pixelated ending indeed. You also need to get your villagers into the camp for safety and not linger at night, as they can lose their minds.
It’s not about beating the game; it’s about lasting as long as possible. That ticking clock, the tension of preparing by day and holding the line by night, gives Emberwake its pulse.
All About The Resources
Where Kingdom Two Crowns relies on a coin economy, Emberwake instead builds everything around resources. Wood, stone and food all need to be collected from the environment. Each of your villagers can be uniquely assisted to collect a specific resource. Click on the villager, then click on the resource to mine, and they will automatically get to work draining the resource in that area unless you manually tell them to return to base. You don’t just throw money at problems; you actually direct who does what, then watch as they haul those supplies back to camp. A handy hud in the bottom right of the screen indicates when the villager is heading back to camp, so you know when to reassign them to a new task.
As you stockpile resources, you can invest them into upgrades: sturdier walls, farms that automate food production, or towers that keep the undead at bay. You can also recruit new workers, slowly growing your population from those humble first two. Each villager feels distinct, too; male and female characters with different looks and hairstyles add a bit of personality to your workforce.
When Night Falls
The undead attacks start small; the first few waves can usually be held off with walls alone. But before long, you’ll need proper defences. This includes archery towers as well as structures to warn you of the direction the wave of enemies will come from. Individual villagers can also be equipped with weapons and armour, including swords, spears and bows. These are purchased from a vendor who occasionally visits and makes each villager more than just a helpless scavenger. It also makes you care about their fate as you gradually upgrade them.
The Slow Burn
As much as I like what Emberwake is going for, the pacing can feel a little sluggish. The early game, in particular, is a grind. With only two villagers and very limited resources, progress feels glacial at first. Hiring more workers is expensive, and since they don’t always appear when you want them, expanding your settlement feels more stop-and-start than smooth and steady.
Once you get over that hump, though, things pick up, almost too much. Suddenly, you’ll have resources flooding in faster than you can spend them, and that careful scarcity flips into abundance. The balance just feels a little uneven.
A Few Growing Pains
There’s also a learning curve that the rushed tutorial doesn’t quite prepare you for. The text-based instructions fly by so quickly that I missed some pretty crucial details, like the fact that weapons you buy from the merchant sit on a rack until you assign a villager to pick them up. Not the end of the world, but it does lead to some “ohhh, that’s how it works” moments that probably could have been smoothed out.
Graphically, the game uses simple pixel art. It’s not bad, serviceable, but it won’t wow you. The soundtrack, too, is fine but forgettable. What stands out is the way villagers look distinct from one another, which makes the little community feel more alive than just rows of identical sprites.
Conclusion: Keeps the Fire Burning
My first impressions of Emberwake weren’t the best. The grindy start and clunky tutorial left me cold. But the more I stuck with it, the more I started to appreciate what it was trying to do. It’s clearly a project from a small team (maybe even solo-developed), and you can feel the care and ambition behind it.
If you’re patient, there’s a challenging and rewarding strategy-survival game in here. It may not dethrone Kingdom Two Crowns, but it doesn’t have to; it’s carving out its own niche. With some balance tweaks and refinement, it could grow into something really special. Also, keep in mind this is a single-player experience only.
For now, I’d say try the free demo. If the core loop grabs you, then you’ll probably find enough here to justify the full game.
Final verdict: I like it 
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