It’s well documented that NEXON has dominated the MMO market throughout the decades. Spawning beloved franchises with simple worlds, along with exploring different genres altogether. Finding success in multiple spaces, NEXON’s grip is unrivaled through games like Maple Story, Blue Protocol, and Arc Raiders.
Another game to add to their ever-growing portfolio is Embers of the Uncrowned, a top-down MMORPG set within a dark fantasy world with town-building elements. Ahead of Steam Next Fest, Final Weapon got a chance to try Embers of the Uncrowned to experience the early story progression and gameplay. While the gameplay loop and class set are engaging, the same can’t be said for the approach to dark fantasy.
Goldenhaven Has Fallen
A nightly expedition led by Lord Valdermar Harborwell ended in tragedy when his company was overrun by the wicked elf, Bella. In the wake of his death, tensions rose extremely high as the peace between humans and elves was torn asunder. Leopold Harborwell wrote a missive to their sibling, the player, urging them to return home. The reunion was short-lived as Bella brought her band of elves as they destroyed Goldenhaven, along with killing Leopold. With only a few survivors, they make haste to the nearest refuge to rebuild what was lost.
Embers of the Uncrowned attempts to create a dark fantasy world in its first few minutes, only for it to feel dull and discomforting. Surely that should be the case, with grotesque monsters roaming the land and a brooding atmosphere. But it’s also very much full of fog and gray textures and overly reliant on the oversexualized depictions of women. It’s front and center when the game opens with the cinematic and during the fall of Goldenhaven. It makes the overall game feel dated, as if it were released in the early 2010s.
Hacking and Casting Against All Odds
On the road back to Goldenhaven, there are three available character slots. Character creation isn’t as in-depth; it is very cookie-cutter, with the highlight being the three classes. There’s Executioner, the only melee-focused class with a giant axe, crushing any nearby Ravagers with ease; Stormbringer, a speedy elemental caster, focuses on area-of-attack spells; and Spectral Blade, a hybrid class that focuses on both melee and magic. For this build, each class has a default gender, but in the full release, it’ll be available for both genders.
The classes feel like they serve a purpose overall, but I spent more of my time with Stormbringer in these sessions. It’s very fast and engaging, as they cast storm-based abilities that can be easily enhanced and leave damage-over-time puddles. Executioner charges up a melee bar, which allows for casting global cooldown abilities. But it also feels very limited in scope, leading to wasted health potions. Spectral Blade feels undercooked and wasn’t as rewarding compared to playing the other two classes.
Being a top-down MMORPG, it’ll draw a lot of comparisons to Smilegate’s Lost Ark, as it draws similar designs while also doing something different. With the overall gameplay loop being casting and attacking hordes of enemies, and dodging prompted attacks. Each boss has a stagger meter and interruptable attacks that stun the enemy for a short period of time. It does have a flexible upgrade system that lets it branch into three subclasses using seals, allowing for a more individualized approach to the class system than a linear, pre-determined set of skills.
Forming a Community of Survivors
After the fall of Goldenhaven, the player escapes to the Amber Coasts, where they find an abandoned settlement. This settlement is quickly populated by nearby refugees from neighboring villages. This introduces the town-management aspect of Embers of the Uncrowned, rebuilding a society once lost to the elves and ravagers. Each NPC populates a different store and office. At first, only the blacksmith and stores are populated, but over time, it expands with a trading post for other survival camps. The unity of Humanity, growing over time, is one of the major themes of Embers of the Uncrowned as the player learns to be a lord.
Surrounding the settlement, there are occupied nearby areas that are filled with Ravagers. Liberating these nearby areas is the utmost priority to establish gathering points. After obtaining the gathering points, they automatically replenish materials, which allows for either upgrading offices or building new structures. The overall cycle of advancing the story, liberating areas to obtain new gathering points, and upgrading the settlement is highly rewarding. It feels like there’s an effort to save the land and receive rewards that aren’t just loot, since materials and gold are very important for maintaining a settlement.
There is also a shared house level progression across an entire account, through the phoenix statue in the middle. Interacting with the phoenix statue opens the House Legacy menu, allowing for further stat upgrades. Each upgrade requires an engraved seal, and by level 9, the first-level bloodline marks can be unlocked with ease. Even though the house level progression is account-wide, the engraved seals will still need to be consumed on other characters separately. It’s a minor pet peeve, but not deal-breaking since it’s useful for catching up on another character in the very early levels.
Phoenix Rises from the Ashes
It should be stated that Generative AI has been and will continue to be used in the production of Embers of the Uncrowned. It’s present on the Steam Page’s disclosure, as it’s on all facets of the build currently. This is expected given NEXON’s recent titles and public mandates of using the technology in their current products.
While it isn’t overtly noticeable, the only thing that feels human-made is the gameplay itself. It’s the only interesting part of my time with Embers of the Uncrowned since neither the plot nor the presentation holds up very well. We’ll have to see if the full release shapes up any better, but I’m not impressed so far.
