Winter Ember

Winter Ember is an Australian INDIE game, people tend to forget that part. It is an isometric action RPG with heavy focus on stealth. Very similar to that other isometric stealth game "SEVEN (2017)". The game is quite simple but has an intricate and overdeveloped system that may scare off noob gamers. It offers quite a chunky amount of gameplay, many interesting side quests and huge maps. The anime cinematics and voice acting were a nice addition, cheap yes but just having them in an Indie game is already a huge win. The story is intriguing and grounded, I got the "bad" ending but liked it and was more than satisfied. You have a variety of arrows to tackle any situation as they have multiple solution paths. You can even combine arrows and their effects: smoke + poison = gas clouds. etc Puzzles are easy if you pay attention, some of them are agility based (so save skum a lot!) Combat is very simple and I wish it was better implemented, but melee should always be a last resort in a stealth game. The skill tree is bad, you have to spend points to unlock HOTBARS. wtf? The enemy AI is dumb but to remedy that they notice you quickly. (I observed many indie stealth games doing that..)…

The game is very good now, has come a long way and got much polish and QOLs (save anywhere, anytime, etc.) Enjoyed it a lot. Sad that mostly early review impressions don't get updated but that's the way it goes. The 1st time a few credits roll *don't quit*: game goes on. Even when you finish the main story you get a free world roam for any sidequests you left and want to do, nice ! Note that, as with any Unreal Engine 4, you can install free Universal UE4 Unlocker v3.0.21, run it, select the game.exe (already running), click on "Inject DLL", and now the typical "~" key will open a console ingame at screen botton, where you can input any FOV you want (FOV 65, etc). -- Disclosure: 69 y.o. slow gamer, so I use C.E. and leave a few hints for others like me so they get to enjoy the game fully, it's worth it ! Health initial: float 80, upgraded by skill points to (88, 96, 104). All ammo and items, 4 Bytes Exact. (Also love Australia and its good people, heh).

one of the most boring games ive ever played in my life with horrible mechanics 4.79 seems too much for this trash

Mini Thief...quite good, actually!

The gameplay mechanics are really bad. Movement is excessively slow and tedious. The stealth functions of the game leave a lot to be desired, and the combat is even worse. I'm not fond of top-down games, but was still intrigued by the story. The story seems like it might be very interesting, but the gameplay is just awful.

Good but flawed. A solid game that probably deserves a better review status than mixed. The world itself is beautifully crafted, the ambience & atmosphere is top notch. The game at least so far, doesn't offer the strongest story & characters. The arrow crafting system is a clever mechanic, and it's grown on me as I've played, however it does lack a certain degree of intuitiveness which can be hard to grasp at first. Hiding extra hot-bar slots in the skill tree just feels cheap and lazy. While unlikely, I can't help but hope to see a more evolved sequel come out at some point. Hopefully the mixed reviews haven't put the developers off.