This past week, Gamer Social Club was privileged to sit down with a preview of Emberville. This article is based on around 2-3 hours of hands-on gameplay with a prologue, played ahead of an October 27 Early Access launch. As such, readers will encounter light spoilers.

It feels like I didn’t even make it out of my front yard before I died. That’s basically how Emberville sets the tone in a nutshell. Well, after a simple character creator, of course.

Waking up with no memory, you start with no idea where you are or how you got there. You quickly get your bearings, explore the inside of some clearly long-deserted building, and make for the exit. Unfortunately, something or someone far sinister and stronger than you ends your run in gory fashion almost as soon as it begins. The message here is clear. You’re going to die, and probably a lot.

Leading up to the preview, I had heard a few whispers about Emberville for a while. The pitch was always “Stardew Valley meets Diablo“, but in my opinion this comparison doesn’t fully do the game justice. Based on my time with the preview, this will be an ambitious title hoping to take notes from the best of both genres while trying to carve its own original path. Speaking of original, I know that starting by dying isn’t the most original or innovative way to begin a game, but that won’t stop me from enjoying this idea of the death-to-rebuild arc Emberville seems to be planning for us.

The Origins of Emberville

A little bit of context before starting to get into the actual preview content. Emberville is the debut title from studio Cygnus Cross, a small imprint based out of Cork, Ireland. Cygnus Cross has been building it since 2023, and is led by founder and lead game director Brynjar Gigja. The studio also finds a co-founder in popular creator and streamer Ben “CohhCarnage” Cassel. Cassel also serves as co-director of the game.

I’m not going to lie. For a first game, Emberville is already shaping up to be quite ambitious. The voice cast in itself (including Matthew Mercer, Doug Cockle, Amelia Tyler, Ben Starr, and Jennifer English) reads like a who’s who of talent. That to me screams AAA budget, but the game will be self-published. Another thing to note (which I am always a fan of), is that the studio has publicly committed to having no microtransactions in the game. To me, this means Cygnus Cross is banking on a successful Early Access period and (hopefully) lots of tweaks and updates during the game’s lifetime. Speaking of Early Access, a pre-1.0 version of Emberville is set to release on October 27 on PC with Steam Deck compatibility. Console versions are to be released in the following 1-2 years after that.

Not Just Here for the Vibes

The real hook for the game so far is the atmosphere. I’m an older gamer, an OG if you will. I grew up on pixel-art RPGs like the early Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, and A Link to the Past. While I probably have more hours in the original Harvest Moon series, Stardew Valley is still on my list of favourites. That said, the moment I stepped into the Vitromotus (which is the name of the magical underground world in Emberville), I felt that nostalgia. 

However, the game is not just about cozy pixel art. Cygnus Cross clearly wants you to feel the tension and dread similar to Diablo or Path of Exile seeping through. In my short time with this game so far, I would say that this combination definitely works. Similar to adding cayenne to a chocolate bar, it’s a weird thing on paper but it works.

Weapons, Perks, and a Few Pain Points

Once I was free to explore, I spent most of the time either smashing parts of the environment (I couldn’t help it!) or testing out the weapons I could find. I played with a sword and shield (which seemed to be just a defense-booster), a bow, and a magical staff to feel them out. This isn’t just a swap between ranged/melee options, as every weapon I used came with its own passive bonuses or perks. This meant I wasn’t just changing combat style, each combination felt like the beginning of its own specific build. I liked playing with these combinations a lot more than I expected to. There were also various clothing/armour options I found while looting, which offered their own benefits.

I leaned hard toward the ranged weapon options. Popping the various enemies from a distance while keeping out of range honestly felt like a safer, smarter way to survive the Vitromotus. I found myself playing with the bow for the most time, as playing with the staff meant managing your Kymia (think Mana/MP in other RPGs).

My one real complaint right now is the lack of a seamless weapon swap. It didn’t seem like there was a way to slot weapons onto your hotbar or cycle between them on the fly. This seems intentional versus an oversight, and the game makes you commit to whatever’s currently equipped. That is, until you manually open your inventory to equip something else. I can foresee this as being a point of frustration for many other gamers, and as such I’m not sure I am fully sold on the combat just yet.

Like Learning to Drive Again

There’s one input-specific thing I think is worth flagging. Controller support isn’t active in this build yet, even though it’s confirmed as a planned feature for Early Access. I very rarely play on mouse and keyboard (unless it’s a game like Diablo or PoE), even on PC. Emberville’s current control system means having to use the location of my mouse cursor on screen to control where my character faces while exploring and fighting.

This took a longer time to adjust to than I thought it would. While this isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, it’s a mechanic I almost had to relearn on the fly as I frequently found myself falling back on muscle memory.

Final Thoughts

After a few hours spent in the Vitromotus, I am left decidedly more curious than convinced. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, and I want to come across as more complimentary than concerned. The music alone has me booting up the main title screen again just for the vibes. I think the weapon-perk system has real potential, and am looking forward to browsing more of the loot options and narrative beats before the preview period ends. I’m already looking forward to running through the prologue again, this time trying to map a few functions onto my mouse buttons to see if that helps out the gameplay experience.

A preview code on Steam was provided by the developers and Evolve PR. Emberville releases on Steam in Early Access on October 27.