Indie Roundup: Emberville Sets October 27 Early Access, Blackwood: Act One Out Now

Emberville is a top-down action RPG that mixes the dungeon crawling and looting of Diablo with the life-sim elements of Stardew Valley, Engadget reported after playing roughly the first hour. The game is being made by Cygnus Cross, a studio co-owned by Twitch streamer Ben 'CohhCarnage' Cassel. Engadget said the lush pixel art and dense environments drew the reviewer in, and the animation looks slick. The voice cast includes Amelia Tyler, Jennifer English, Abubakar Salim, Matt Mercer and Ben Starr, according to the report.

The preview found combat satisfying. The reviewer switched between a sword, bow and fists, and the fists can stun enemies, which was useful for the preview's main boss. Engadget also noted a combo system and said it was glad the game did not require stamina management, though the hero's dash has a short cooldown.

The story follows a character who wakes up in a mysterious place with no memories. The Steam page says the character is in a large underground prison and the goal is to escape, while helping NPCs and rebuilding a ruined town. Engadget encountered swappable classes, weapon and armor mastery, crafting, cooking, mining and other systems, but did not reach farming or base-building. The reviewer was unsure how much more of Emberville they would play, but enjoyed the time so far.

Blackwood: Act One is an action-life sim hybrid set in 2012. By day, the player runs a DVD store; by night, the player becomes an ersatz John Wick, Engadget reported. The first act offers around six hours of playtime and is out now. Two more acts are planned for 2027. The game usually costs $25, with a 10 percent discount until Sept. 23, and it is available on Steam for Windows. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are planned for an undetermined date.

Engadget described Blackwood as rough in its current state. Hand-to-hand combat is clunky, the audio mix is often out of whack, and car handling is atrocious, the report said. The action is not as fluid as it should be, and picking up a weapon takes too long, which is difficult when out of ammo. The DVD store aspect also cannot match Retro Rewind, according to the review.

Still, Engadget saw real potential in Blackwood's weapon customization, the attempt to balance the protagonist's double life and cool takedown moments. The developers released a day-one patch that resolved a few issues, and AttritoM7 Productions plans further changes before Act Two. Those changes include adding an autosave function, the report said.