''Lost Ember'' is an adventure game developed by Mooneye Studios and released in 2019. Players explore the ruins of a lost civilization by possessing various animals.

Gameplay

''Lost Ember'' is a third-person adventure game. Players control an amnesiac wolf. A spirit asks the player for help in reaching the afterlife and explains that people disqualified from entering the afterlife are reincarnated as animals. The player and the spirit set off to find out why the player is barred from the afterlife and to assist the spirit. The game does not have traditional puzzles, though players may encounter impassable terrain. To continue, players can possess other animals they encounter. Possessing a bird allows players to fly over terrain inaccessible to the wolf, and fish can swim across lakes. By exploring nearby ruins, the player and spirit learn more about their past lives and the civilization they came from. Unlocking these memories allows them to progress through the game and enter the afterlife.

Development

Mooneye Studios successfully crowdfunded ''Lost Ember'' in 2016. It was released in late 2019 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It was ported to Nintendo Switch in September 2020.

Reception

Luke Kemp of ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' rated the game 90/100 and called it "a wonderful, unique, and unforgettable experience with a love for nature". Richard Hoover reviewed the game for ''

Adventure Gamers ''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1998 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game des ...

'' and rated it 3/5 stars. He wrote, "''Lost Ember''s animal body possession provides some fun moments but the lack of anything substantive to do with it makes for a beautiful but surprisingly empty experience." Reviewing the PlayStation 4 version, Jon Bailes of ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

'' criticized the game's performance. Although he said ''Lost Ember'' becomes more enjoyable later on, Bailes compared it negatively to ''

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

'' and said that ''Lost Ember'' "takes way too long to get flowing properly". Brett Posner-Ferdman, who reviewed the Nintendo Switch version for ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

'', also criticized the game's performance. He rated it 4/10 stars and wrote that the game "fails to deliver on nearly every front".

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://lostember.com/ 2019 video games Windows games PlayStation 4 games Xbox One games Nintendo Switch games Single-player video games Indie games Adventure games Unreal Engine 4 games Video games about animals Video games about spirit possession Video games developed in Germany Video games set in fictional countries Mooneye Studios games