This decade has seen a large array of quality indie narrative action games, such as AER, Submerged, and Abzu, having the player explore truly gorgeous environments while a story unfolds in front of them. Through this well-established genre, the player absorbs the story in a fashion unlike any other media. Add in some non-linear gameplay, and this makes for an experience appealing to a wide crowd, being a welcome change from the typically-violent games at the forefront of the market.

Lost Ember follows in the footsteps of the aforementioned games, taking elements of these games with a unique story of attrition, tragedy, and redemption. It tells the story of Kalani, a wolf with the ability to take control of any animal in the nearby area. This spans from birds, to fish, to even elephants, all with their own unique movement mechanics and gimmicks; to reach necessary areas, a wombat can dig underground, a fish can swim through small cracks, etc.

The wide variety of animals to control is fantastic, but how they control is another story. If you want to sprint as the wolf (the default, most commonly-used animal), you must hold down the sprint button for the entire duration. At the time of writing this review, there is no keybind to toggle sprint. Similarly, to swim faster as a fish and fly faster as a bird, you must mash the sprint button frequently. This ruined my immersion more than once, and would be an easy fix.

As far as the delivery of the tale goes, there are a lot of great things going on. Utilizing “show, don’t tell” in a story setting is excellent, as the player can surmise plot details without them being spoon-fed. Lost Ember has the wolf accompanied by a floating light, that reveals insights about the environment and lends a helping hand whenever the player might feel stuck. This form of narration does leave something to be desired, though, as the wolf is not expressive enough to respond to any charm or wit the light may deliver. Regardless, it is well voice-acted and a benefit to the storytelling.

Progression in Lost Ember occurs when the wolf reaches the red smoke as seen in the screenshot above. Upon doing so, the past is revealed in flashbacks that outline the civilization that previously inhabited the area. While the game is linear in nature, finding the objectives are simple enough, and there are collectible mushrooms scattered about the environments. You can even find further smoke flashbacks if you explore enough.

While I will abstain from spoiling the story, I can say that the twists and turns are welcome payoffs. Most of the flashbacks take place within the area near the wolf, but some deeper moments take center stage in full-screen cutscenes. There are points where one may question the actions of Kalani, where morality turns into a grey area, but this only entices the player to continue further to reveal what truly happened.

Lost Ember is not without its technical hiccups. My pre-release version had some issues that severely detracted from my experience with the game. One of the checkpoints I encountered was bugged and would not let me progress, prompting me to thoroughly search the area for quite some time before I restarted. Lighting issues also happened in most cutscenes, and I had no way to modify them as the graphics menu is quite bare. I also encountered a crash and some of the quick-time-events were bugged, but the game was ultimately stable enough for me to get through it without serious issues.

While I adore the game’s amazing plot and execution, I take some issue with how it is delivered. If the player is stuck at any point, they can press a button to get a hint, but these hints are simplistic and only spoken once, so if you miss it, you’re essentially stuck. The light that follows you seems to have selective memory, vividly recalling some areas you discover, but not having a clue about the villagers or their intentions at any given point. Nevertheless, the urgency of the tale was more than enough for me to keep going despite any nitpicks I had with the game.

Lost Ember can comfortably join the ranks of the other impressive indie outings I’ve mentioned, as it’s earned its place with an impactful story, a novel gameplay mechanic, and its dedication to its craft. While it is a few steps short of perfect, it is best picked up during a sale, as I only got to enjoy it for 6 hours before it was over. I hope to play more games like this in the future, as they will stay with me for quite some time.

A PC Review Copy of Lost Ember was provided by Mooneye Studios for this review.

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Lost Ember

$29.99 USD

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Magnificent story
• Interesting gameplay
• Good voice acting

Cons

• Technical issues
• Poor controls