Having just gone through the stress of moving flat, I was after something more laid back to sink into and play here for Rogueliker.
With most of my possessions boxed up and my attention divided, Into the Emberlands‘ recent Switch port looked like a perfect fit on paper, especially as I’m now the proud owner of a Switch 2.
This cosy roguelite is built for short pick up and play sessions and scratches the same itch as Animal Crossing, as it seems you slowly assemble your own village in a largely stress-free environment.
It’s not a perfect game by any means (I’ll get to that later), but it still succeeded in its job of being a fun distraction to help melt the stress away.
What is Into the Emberlands?
As mentioned up top, Into the Emberlands is a cosy exploration and town building game with a roguelite twist. Playing as the chosen Lightbearer, your goal is to rebuild your village by collecting materials scattered across a sprawling procedurally generated world.
The catch is that these resources lie hidden in a thick black fog. Armed with only a lantern, you have a limited number of steps you can take before your lanterns burns out and you’re consumed by the fog. If you don’t make it back in time, the run ends, and anything you’ve collected is lost. Due to this, each step is precious, and you’re wise to carefully plan your journey before venturing too far.
Luckily, there are no nasty monsters lurking in the fog, and the punishment for failure is pretty lenient. As mentioned, you do lose your current inventory and upgrades, but your town level and all of the buildings that you have helped to construct remain intact.
As your village level rises, so do the rarity of the materials you’ll need to construct all the required buildings. For this, you have to venture deeper into the open world and purchase upgrades to your lantern, as well as ensuring you’re properly stocked with pickaxes and axes to clear your path. New merchants and vendors will also spring up in town as you progress, allowing you to purchase essential goodies.
Fizzling Out
But while Into the Emberlands has its charm, the flame doesn’t always burn as brightly as it could. I found the movement, for example, to feel pretty stiff and tedious. Instead of moving freely with the analogue stick, you instead point and click to move your character. I guess this is to empathise that one step is a burn of your lantern, but it just feels stiff and sluggish in practice.
I also found the gameplay structure quickly felt repetitive. Whilst you can pick the order of the buildings you construct, you largely follow a linear path and don’t get to personalise your village. Playing in short 20 minute bursts does help to make things feel less work-like, but I struggled to feel engaged if I was playing for much longer.
The Verdict
With all that being said, I found Into the Emberlands to be a charming little roguelite that is good for blowing off steam in short bursts.
The music is soothing and ambient, there are no scary monsters lurking around every corner, and the punishment for failure is pretty modest compared to other roguelikes.
It can feel a little repetitive and clunky with its movement, but it still carves out a unique take on an often stressful genre.
