Lost Ember – Tale of Betrayal

I have been playing a lot of games featuring animals lately. What can I say? Who doesn’t want to explore a different perspective? That is exactly what this game is about.

In Lost Ember, a wolf and a wandering spirit live in a world devoid of humanity where nature has reclaimed the Earth. The two embark to find a way to enter the afterlife as it is said the wolf was once human reincarnated after death while the spirit has no other form and was simply denied entry.

As they travel together, their memories of their past human selves begin to unravel and there are plenty of surprises that follow.

The gameplay is really fun. While the wolf is the starting animal, the ability to possess other animals is available to progress through areas to promote easier access and to show a different perspective. For instance, the wombat can roll through tight areas, I could also become a fish and swim in the lakes and rivers, the mole can burrow underground and find hidden tunnels and there are different birds too with each of them having a different range of altitude in flight.

The easiest animal to play as was the hummingbird as it doesn’t require any other buttons to move, and I played this game on my Steam Deck. Being a mole was fun too. Sometimes there were events in the game’s store where I had to be a certain animal to escape a place like a bird flying through a canyon or join the herd of buffalo in a stampede.

There are also collectible relics and mushrooms to be found in this game, even underwater, like the time I became a fish and traveled down a stream. There’s no way finding but somehow I always new which direction was next in my main objective.

As I progressed in my journey, I found memories that allowed the wolf and the spirit to remember their past. It is said that the wolf is the reincarnation of a human named Kalani who was denied the afterlife. Why this is, I learned that Kalani led a rebellion among her people after seeing her father was responsible for the death of her love.

There was even a time the conflict went too far once the spirit learned that his past human self was that father.

Kalani seemed to commit a lot of unforgivable deeds until the end of the game where I learned her compassion for animals still existed but a final confrontation with her father lead to her unexpected death. Not completely by his hand but he felt responsible for it.

There was also a moment toward the end that reminded me very much of something I went through playing Journey. Only I didn’t find myself as lost before that particular push.

Ultimately it is a tale of loyalty, betrayal, and eventually, forgiveness. The story can be hard to piece together but I was able to pick up the main concept.

It’s definitely worth your time if you enjoy games with animals and nature.

👽Emily