When I first heard of Emberville, the developer Cygnus Cross was not on the map yet. As a matter of fact, the reveal trailer from January gripped me so tightly with its cartoonish charm and amazing premise, I couldn’t wait to explore the now dystopian ruin formerly named after the beginnings of fire. When I was offered a chance to get under the soot and ruins early, I signed up for cleanup duty with the enthusiasm of a weary firefighter. Like the title (and fire itself), Emberville starts you off as a flicker of hope in the grand scheme of things.
Emberville is a shell of itself, and you are a hand-crafted visitor from the outside. Emberville has a premise very close to Stardew Valley or Rune Factory (as in, you have to rebuild a town), but it leans into the darkness. Unlike those two other games, Emberville starts you off in an abandoned home, not surrounded by happy people (spoiler alert: The Prologue from Emberville will have light spoilers and explanations, you should stop here if you want true surprise).
The Viltromotus (like its name) is a hulking catacomb infested with monsters of all shapes and creeds. While the ethos of Emberville lies in search, rescue and rebuild, my small sample size with gameplay took place almost exclusively inside the area I awoke in. Cygnus Cross puts so much detail into each scene that Emberville feels cared for, almost like the background of a Cowboy Bebop cigarette stand. Although Emberville starts off in a ransacked home, this world has detail and feels lived in down to the springs poking out of the couch in the corner.
As I left the first room, the next room I entered illuminated fully and immediately. In Emberville, you know as much as your player character and Cygnus Cross designed it deliberately down to the room you’re standing in. If you haven’t been in a room before, you must open (or break down) the door first to see what’s inside. Almost as if the developers are playing a joke on you, sometimes this can have drastic results and rooms can be swarmed with enemies, or a small bed might be on the other side with no rewards to speak of.
“Cygnus Cross puts so much detail into each scene that Emberville feels cared for, almost like the background of a Cowboy Bebop cigarette stand.”
When I made my escape from the abandoned home (I walked outside), a nameless wizard (with an incredibly familiar sounding deep voice) threatened me, said Mordaxias is the true Acolyte leader, and used magic to explode my character before I had any chance to fight back. One fact is certain after this encounter: Emberville rules!
After waking up (respawning), I went back outside to see if I would get exploded by the hooded figure again, and to my happiness, the wizard was gone. What populated the town instead were chickens as featherless as the day they hatched, and they were clucking around like everything was fine. After punching one a few times, I almost expected a swarm of them to melt me like the hooded figure did earlier (like Cuckoos from The Legend of Zelda), but I was able to defeat the chicken, and nothing happened.
I then ran into what I assumed was the hooded figure from before, except I was able to fight back this time. I shot a few arrows from a bow I picked up earlier and ended the staffed wizard. I picked up a humming orb (like every RPG, something has to hum) and received a new quest: find someone who can explain it to me. This balancing act of knowing literally nothing while the game continues to drive you forward with intrigue is a delicate affair, and I was happy to let Cygnus Cross take the wheel.
Everything in the town is destroyed, down to the walls, ruined floors of homes, torn carpeting and springs poking out from the couch in the middle of rooms. Everything looks like Kenny’s house from South Park. It appears the entire town has been lived in and cared for, but mysterious air permeates every house, and the ominous music continues to keep the player on edge while walking through the corpse of a once lively town.
It helps that Cygnus Cross deploys a gorgeous pixel art style that I can only refer to as “Adventure Time adjacent” and this decision loads each room with so much attention to detail its hard to keep up. Although Emberville is Cygnus Cross’ debut title (and their team is relatively small), the attention to detail on display is akin to a seasoned team of developers and helps bring every atmosphere to life in vivid detail.
As I adventured forth, there were constant notices that were placed throughout that helps the world feel less lonely, and it helps to know there are other acolytes, not just you, who may be around to give you a hand with things. Ultimately though, Emberville shines in giving ultimate mystery to the player, and this prologue segment functions like a well-aimed tutorial. I didn’t recognize Emberville was introducing me to all of the game’s systems In my small playtime until it concluded.
I ran into an old man named Adeos, who was more than happy to let two bats continue hitting his face until I arrived. After killing them, Adeos gave me a spiel on how The Master learned the secret to life, and he can now control the world’s energy/magic called Kymia. Kymia is the world’s life source, and The Master felt keen to bestow his learnings on new subjects and pupils (these are the Acolytes).
Then, Adeos dropped a mind twist: I’ve been in the Viltromotus the entire time, and now, my mission was to escape. The Viltromotus is an artificial world intended as a prison where miscreants can spend their final years in penance. The Viltromotus is ultimately a design from a selfish, power-mad bad guy, who used it to discard the innocents of the world, and this is where we currently are. In the world of Emberville where life source flows freely, everyone is a prisoner to life and everyone is searching for a way out.
Due to the influence of Kymia, death is an everyday annoyance and everyone returns to life as if nothing happens like breathing. So, death is the goal, and the acolytes that inhabit the Viltromotus are all mad with decades of trying to die under their belt. With such a happy presentation, Emberville gets incredibly dark.
In my small time playing Emberville, I did not find out whether I was innocent or guilty. Emberville’s quest system isn’t grandiose; each task is incredibly simple although accomplishing it is another task entirely. My second quest was to escape an inescapable prison.
“Cygnus Cross’ debut title Emberville is loaded to the rim with detailed atmospheres, stellar voice acting, gorgeous pixel art work, and a gameplay system that feels as infectious to get behind, as it does to learn about…”
First, Adeos allows me to open the humming orb which doubles as a Mind Journal. It turns out Acolyte memory can fade from repeated death, and some carry Mind Journals to keep their wits about them in the Viltromotus. Kymia is not perfect, and some Acolytes have died even more gruesome deaths than I did from the wizard. These abominations respawned anyway and appear as true threats.
There’s a class and weapon system in Emberville that functions with mastery. The more you use a specified class or item, the more proficiency you build with it (like a real RPG!). I equipped the Wanderer class, and kept my bow strung for the trials ahead, although I was able to equip brass knuckles, a sword, or a made staff, the bow’s rapid fire felt responsive and hit enemies with a satisfying twang. Emberville is loaded with surprises too. After activating the Wanderer class, the old man Adeos acts as if I never spoke to him before as his memories as an acolyte are also fickle.
Combat is a mixture of The Binding of Isaac’s presentation, except with less bullet hell and more nuance and patience. Every enemy has an animation ‘tell’ that shows when they’re about to strike, and you can use a dodge in any direction to escape danger. After upgrading my bow efficiency, I was able to unleash a charge shot that hits hard in retaliation. While the levelling system in Emberville doesn’t stick to a traditional click-stats-get-better levelling system, it feels great in practice and even while you’re picking herbs off the ground, or mushrooms through the Viltromotus floorboards, you’re gaining survival experience.
Although my time playing Emberville concluded with the introduction of yet another mysterious character (this time, a blue skinned shop keep), I’m hooked. Cygnus Cross’ debut title Emberville is loaded to the rim with detailed atmospheres, stellar voice acting, gorgeous pixel art work, and a gameplay system that feels as infectious to get behind, as it does to learn about and I only scratched the surface of what the title offers. Emberville is launches into early access on October 27, and I know one guy who can’t wait to jump back into the Viltromotus and return Emberville to its former glory (or die many, many times trying).
