Winter Ember

 PlayStation 5
Winter Ember Image
Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: You are Arthur Artorias – the sole survivor of a massacre that devastated your family’s legacy and tore them out of the history books. Thought to be dead, you emerge from exile 8 years later, the faceless man kindled by the flame and seeking vengeance. Embark on an adventure unravelling aYou are Arthur Artorias – the sole survivor of a massacre that devastated your family’s legacy and tore them out of the history books. Thought to be dead, you emerge from exile 8 years later, the faceless man kindled by the flame and seeking vengeance. Embark on an adventure unravelling a dark tale filled with twisted characters, centered around a militant religion hell bent on keeping control.
    Key Features:
    A True Stealth Experience
    As Arthur, you must stick to the shadows, infiltrate homes and explore hidden passageways; but, be careful not to be spotted! Choose your playstyle: knocking out enemies may keep them quiet for some time, but they will eventually wake up; a quick slice to the throat may be a more permanent solution, but the bloodstain you leave on the carpet might be a dead giveaway! Keep your wits about you, dispose of bodies, peek through keyholes and pickpocket unsuspecting victims.
    Deep Arrow Crafting System
    Prepare for your mission by planning your loadout. With over 30 arrows to craft, experimentation is key to your success! Do you craft a smoke arrow to blind your opponent, or do you add on a poison element to create poisonious gas? Use your arrows offensively or defensively: break down weak walls with a blunt arrow to surprise your enemy, or use a rope arrow to reach a higher place and take out your enemies from a distance.
    Skill Tree
    Customize your playstyle from 3 distinct skill trees – stealth, combat, and utility. Unlock over 70 unique passive and active skills to choose from and seek vengeance your way.
    Explore A Dark World
    Return home to the cold Victorian town of Anargal, on the verge of technological breakthrough. Infiltrate and explore vast environments brimming with treasure and mystery. From rival gangs to unique characters, approach each scenario in a myriad of ways. Take advantage of the environment, find solutions to every problem, and move past any challenge standing in your way.     … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. Finger Guns
    May 5, 2022
    90
    It may have some technical issues that highlight the indie budget, but the good in Winter Ember outweighs the bad. It has all the stealth trappings; the frustration, the patience, as well as the stickiness of the combat, to harken back to the olden days. It may not be original, yet it doesn’t matter when it looks this nice and plays like the classics.
  2. GamingTrend
    Jun 3, 2022
    75
    Winter Ember is good, but could be better. The voice acting and script made me extremely disinteresting in the story, and combat is just so extremely dull. It doesn't help either when the soundtrack overheard in all areas of the game is equally as basic. These three things made the game lose a bit of its charm, but that’s all mended together thankfully by the enjoyable stealth mechanics and moment-to-moment gameplay. As a pure stealth experience, this game fast became a highly enjoyable experience overall, and one that I’d recommend if you can get past its big issues.
  3. GameCritics
    Jun 9, 2022
    50
    There are a lot of good things going on in Winter Ember. Its ambiance is strong, the freedom to move through levels in multiple ways keeps progression interesting, and the stealth mechanics are solid. However, these positives are consistently overshadowed by performance issues, clarity issues, or weak combat. I enjoyed sneaking around with Arthur, but unfortunately, Winter Ember still has a way to go before it can be considered an easy recommendation to stealth fans.
  4. TheSixthAxis
    Jun 6, 2022
    40
    Winter Ember begins feeling off and gets worse from there. The opening doesn't give you enough information to get you interested in the story and then the game itself spoils the fun that can be found in the stealth and stealing. It had potential and perhaps if you're a stealth purist then you can look past the poor combat and put up with the others, but it's undoubtedly a missed opportunity.
  5. PLAY
    Jun 22, 2022
    40
    Unless you’re desperate for a new stealth game, give this a miss. A lot of small annoyances add up to create one big reason to save your money. [Issue#15, p.88]
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