Emberward Review
Build your tower defense maze, one Tetris block at a time.
Developer and publisher: ReficGames
Platform: Steam for $14.99, but has a demo.
As a Tetris and tower defense game fan, I was surprised and excited when I found out Emberward existed. It puzzled me how the solo dev behind ReficGames would make both things work, as mixing them was an interesting and odd idea. However, once I started playing Emberward, I realized that a maze tower defense game usually had you expending resources on walls and such, so it wasn’t so farfetched to use Tetris blocks, just harder and more satisfying.
The Basics:
Emberward is a colorful and cartoony rogue-lite tower defense that has the player building a maze out of randomly drawn Tetris blocks on procedurally generated levels.
The beginning of each run has the player decide the person they’ll be playing as and their flame (which is also your life), each with their effects, then they pick out their starting towers and blocks, and then their starting relics, which have their effects (such as starting with more money or randomizing tower price between 50% to 150%).
After that, the player picks what route to take, which will prompt an encounter. There are 5 different types of encounters: Battle, Corruption Battle, Altar, Shop, and Barracks.
Battle are basic levels that will give two rewards (either tower and relic or tower and block piece with an upgraded tile, i.e, tower placed on top gains bonus damage), or three rewards if it’s a Corrupted Battle (harder levels with grids where tower placement is excluded). Barracks gives a bonus reward to the player after completing a challenge during a Battle.
After each battle, the player gains Ember Stones, which can be used on Altars (to heal, discard blocks, or gain other effects), or purchase items in Shops (relics, blocks, or towers), and they also gain EXP, which they can expend on their talent tree for a variety of buffs, such as re-rolls, crit chance on bosses, or upgrade cost reduction.
At the end there’s a boss battle, each area having its unique twist. It’s not just a giant enemy with lots of health going down your maze, but if you want to be surprised, just be sure to not read the boss section.
The Towers:
Because the game works on a grid system, each tower has a size, such as 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 2x2, or 3x3. The larger they are, the more powerful they are, but they are more expensive, and you will need to place your block accordingly.
The tower selection right now is simple. There are different elements (Electricity, ice, fire, and arcane), each having their effects and synergy between each other or relics (such as the relic that causes poisoned enemies harmed by fire towers to cause an explosion, or the relic that allows ice towers to crit chilled enemies).
Besides what people expect from tower defense games, there are unique towers, such as the Dice Tower, in which attack damage is dictated by a d6 roll, and the Giant Dice Tower, in which both attack speed and attack damage are dictated by a d20 roll.
There are also towers where block placements are very important, such as the Poison Tower, which is a 1x3 tower, like an archway, that damages those who move under it, or Axe Tower, Hammer Tower, and Lightning Ball Tower which only shoots down a straight line.
With the unique take on maze building, and mixing it with tower sizes, it creates satisfaction when creating the perfect path, not only to maximize your damage but to also maximize tower placement.
The Gameplay:
Because it’s a Steam Early Access game, it’s not a complete product, but launching with 2 regions, 25 towers, 42 relics, a Talent tree, and 4 playable characters, Emberward promises a lot of variety, both in scenery and challenge-wise. Both regions are very distinct, both visually and gameplaywise.
It took me a minute to figure out how to manage my tower placements and optimize my damage, but once I did, it was fun and rewarding. 1x1 towers are strong, maybe even too strong, as I was able to spam the Cannon Tower and Drone Tower to beat the second region without much thought.
This doesn’t mean that the other towers aren’t viable, but that there isn’t much of a reason to build the other towers unless you want to try specific builds or combinations, which is fun in this game.
Misty Forest
The first region, Misty Forest, is fairly easy, as it serves as an introduction to the game and its mechanics. There aren’t a lot of stage-altering elements, and it’s more to get familiar with block placement, boost tiles, and the basic mechanics of the game.
Misty Forest is like a cozy forest, with its wooden bridges and pools of water, and tall and warm orange or green trees found in the stages, it almost makes you forget the terrible creatures trying to snuff your flame.
The creeps in this region are creatures and animals, such as spiders, wolves, bees, and slimes, some being able to spawn more creeps once they die, or howling, which causes your towers to malfunction for a short amount of time.
It’s a good introduction to the game’s mechanics and a visually appealing region.
Bone Desert
The second region showcases the perils and creativity that are to come with the upcoming areas. From healing totems, which heal creeps going through an area, and lava tiles, which turn blocks into lava and render them unusable, to enemy territory, which forces the player to build near it to expand their building area, and bone structures that prevent you from building in unless sold. With the levels being randomized and so many elements available, it creates fun and diverse segments.
The creeps are orcs, scorpions, sandworms, and more aggressive creatures that match the aggressive desert environment and oppressive restrictions that make it feel like you are attacking the enemy. Some orcs cause your towers to malfunction for a short time, sandworms will burrow after taking enough damage, avoiding damage, or Magma Elementals that blow up and disable towers on their death.
The many mechanics introduced in this region give a lot of hope and promise for future regions.
Boss levels:
The boss level for these regions has a unique twist in their maps that goes over the average giant damage sponge. The boss from the Misty Forest is a giant fire elemental that is burning down towers, which buys you enough time to build your maze to mow him down.
While that sounds standard, the Boss from Bone Dessert fights you on a moving train, and every two waves, a cannon shoots him and reveals another cart, allowing you to expand your maze and weaken him.
Boss levels are bombastic with their effects, their presentation, and their overall twist get me excited for the next two regions that will be released.
Verdict:
Emberward gives a lot of hope and promise for what’s to come. While it might take a while for people who do not play Tetris to learn how to build a maze, it creates the same satisfaction as Tetris in a tower defense game.
At the same time, the game can be very easy once you learn it, even in the hardest difficulty. The vibrant colors, fun towers, rogue-lite elements, and unique boss battles make this a must for any tower defense fan looking for something different, even if it’s not challenging, or at least keep an eye out for.
The developer is active on Twitter and has a Discord for the game where they read feedback. Hopefully, they will continue to update the game, as they currently are doing, such as adding more relics and game adjustments. What I am hoping for is more impactful common creeps and a story.
