Emberville Preview: Diablo Meets Stardew Valley — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Described by many as Diablo meets Stardew Valley, Stiffness Cross' debut title, Emberville, is just a little over a month out from welcoming players in to check it out. IGN recently had a chance to get an early look,

[00:13] fighting through some mobs, meeting some of its NPCs, and even testing our mettle against an imposing spider boss. All the 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.

[00:27] Indeed, that is Rayla, Wanderer. An artificial world intended as a prison. Most of my time with Emberville consisted of fighting through the first volume of the prologue,

[00:40] ending with my arrival in the titular Emberville. I was just making sure you were right, home safe and sound. After awakening in a strange room, I found my way outside where a mysterious hooded figure turned me inside out.

[00:53] You're a kid. Leaving me 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.

[01:05] The dungeon like area I found myself in, which I'd later learned was known as the Vitramatis, serves as a prison of sorts and makes those within essentially immortal if they wait out their sentences.

[01:17] Ah, it feels good to be dreaming again. Some of these prisoners have even spent so long inside that they've forgotten how long they've been there, or lost their memories, requiring special magical devices to help them reclaim what has escaped them in any terminal cycle.

[01:33] The story and lore behind what exactly the Betramatist is, the mysterious magical energy known as Kamiya, and even who or what killed me at the start were explained to me through a mix of both talking to the NPCs I came across

[01:46] and various books and other notes scattered around the dungeon. Most of the dialogue was voiced, including Alex Jordan's performance as the elderly and not quite all there a deus, or Matt Mercer's gremlin-like shopkeeper, Gumo.

[01:59] One of the big selling points that Emberville has been pushing is its incredibly robust and talent voice cast We can discuss those trivialities once we able to bring in fresh air That help give the people of this world life

[02:14] 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,

[02:28] there was still a pleasant surprise to hear it. Hello again. As someone who believes that good pixel art will always be timeless, Emberfield's early dungeon and denizens are right up my alley.

[02:41] With rich and detailed landscapes of dank spiderweb-covered caves, crumbling stone walls and rotting wooden buildings to rummage through, I've already become entwalled by its graphics. Enemies like the spiders had ominous spotted mushrooms growing on their backs.

[02:55] I could see the mystical beads dangling from the spats of the acolytes as they conjured their spells to send at me. My character was perhaps the most simplistic-looking element of Ember Hill, but, considering the various pieces of armor I would equip actually showed up on them,

[03:12] a feature I tend to only associate with 3D games, and even then, it doesn't appear particularly often, it made sense, and the gear itself was detailed and blended in with the rest of the world. I only hope that in the final release, you're able to dye your gear as well,

[03:27] to really help with your thrift, as the kids say. They do say that still, right? When it came to my character, being rather clipped on the Dungeon Call or Tarot books lately, I decided early on, even while crafting my character,

[03:40] to make a pantsless dude that likes to punch and step on things, rather than swinging your sword or shooting magic spells. Unlike, say, Diablo, which features a single main attack that's backed up by spells or abilities,

[03:55] Ender Veil 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 knuckle's main attack, and using the alternate kick attack for its final strike in the string

[04:10] would result in a satisfying roundhouse kick that had a chance of leaving enemies stunned Throwing a powerful strike I opted for when picking my Wanderer class perks and I can frequently pull off a satisfying 4 hit flurry

[04:22] 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 imposing spider matriarch that awaited me at the tail end of the demo, I think this

[04:37] combo approach was pretty neat. On the other hand, when I was dealing with large mobs or when under pressure, all that went out the window in a regard to my tried and true frantic clicking to send out the threats around me. Having played the demo both on my PC as well

[04:53] as my AYN Thor handheld, hitting combos did come out more naturally for me, alternating hitting face buttons instead of the left or right mouse button. So perhaps it'll just takes from getting used to until it becomes muscle memory. Regardless, it's certainly

[05:07] a feature that helps set Emberville apart at the very least, when I've seen enough to be intrigued. While the vast majority of my time was spent throwing hands, I did still try out the various weapons. Everything from the sword's swishes and swooshes to the bow's

[05:22] charge shot had a good impact and feel to them, and I appreciated how I could use the staff to either bludgeon my foos across the head, or blast them with magic. And each of comes with their own mastery trees that will

[05:34] unlock even stronger attacks should I fight with them, just like with the knuckles. These mastery trees extend not only to weapons either, with other masteries you can invest in such as armors, alchemy, and resource gathering, each offering their own benefits.

[05:47] The scope of the build I got to check out was really combat and exploration focused, showing off the looks, enemies, traps, and even the boss of what will serve as a prologue area. But this is just part of what Emberville

[06:00] looks to offer to prospective acolytes when the game launches proper. Emberville is also positioning itself as a solid crafting and even a city-building game too. The city and some of its customizations have been shown off in previous trailers,

[06:13] but was 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 Vachonotus I came across veins to mine for ore

[06:31] trees to cut down, plants to pull, and other goodies to fill my bag with. Enemies would also drop various components that will no doubt be a great help in brewing bubbling potions or cooking up delicious meals.

[06:43] I occasionally would stumble on a cook fire while exploring, allowing me to do just that, turning raw meat into cooked meals and granting better healing effects. The masteries for all this though weren't implemented yet with a coming seniorist

[06:56] teasing what's to come. 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

[07:08] all these various systems together into a cohesive package without it feeling like random things just hacked 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 compliments it

[07:24] or 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 already is an impressive start.

[07:36] Between the mastering and the 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,

[07:50] like my wife who's a fan of cozier games. This 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

[08:06] like a moth to a flame, or if it will sizzle out like a birthday candle in the wind. But this early look at least shows that this ember is growing pretty bright. Be sure to check out our recent comparison between the upcoming Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake and the M64 original.

[08:23] In 19 minutes, a fresh new Final Fantasy Resonance gameplay. And for everything else, stick with IGN.