Into The Emberlands Review - Cozy Exploration, Beautiful Music, and a World That Grows With You
Into the Emberlands is a cozy exploration and scavenging adventure where you restore light, build your village, and venture through colorful, ever-changing biomes while pushing back the Miasma. 🔥
Into The Emberlands
Studio: Tiny Roar
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: Steam
Completion Time: 5-6 hours
Price: $6.99
Genre: Wholesome, Cute, Exploration
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby review of Into The Emberlands, a world overtaken by the dark Miasma, where you build up your village and restore light in the darkness. Let's collect our embers and journey Into The Emberlands together in my review.
Tiny Roar Big Game
The studio Tiny Roar released Into the Emberlands in early access back in June 2024. Though I wanted to try the game then, I am happy to say the game officially launched this past January, allowing me to experience the complete version. I’m also very excited to try out their next title, Lou’s Lagoon, but for now, let’s get right into the story.
Lightbearer’s Quest to Save the World
The Emberlands was once a thriving land without borders, protected by what they call the life-giving EMBER. But everything changed when the all-consuming Miasma shrouded the world in darkness. Everything and everyone it touches has been lost, as if they never existed. Now, you have been called upon as the Lightbearer to assist the community and bring light back to the world, extinguishing the Miasma that plagues it. Using ember, you light your way and grow the village, discovering new ways to traverse the Emberlands.
Building, Scavenging, and Exploring
The gameplay revolves around building up your village and growing the ember that sustains it. You need tools to scavenge for rocks, wood, and flowers, which crafters then use to make stronger tools, paving the way to increasing your ember capacity and expanding your exploration range.
Don’t forget that you also collect stranded members of your community, who all follow you like ducks in a row.
Your ember capacity allows you to move deeper into the Miasma, but it isn’t infinite—you must return to replenish it. This is crucial because if you get lost, you lose your ember capacity, backpack upgrades, and all the items you were carrying. This happened to me twice, and NEVER again—losing everything and having to start over HURTS.
Throughout the Miasma, you encounter NPCs to whom you can offer wood or rock in exchange for crystals. These crystals are then given to special chickens that increase your coin and ember capacity, as well as your backpack size. The world is packed with ways to exchange what you collect for other valuable upgrades, ensuring there’s always something to do during each venture into the Emberlands.
You can also plan your paths and pick up embers along the way, which replenish small pockets of ember and occasionally provide 1 wood, rock, coin, or, rarely, a crystal.
With these mechanics in place, you work to build up your village.
Let’s talk about the tasks at hand. You are given a list of objectives, such as building homes for villagers, upgrading tools for stronger and more durable pickaxes and axes, and even constructing a subway station. Each new structure expands your village, and once you complete the list, the village levels up—growing in size, attracting more villagers, and pushing back more of the Miasma. Then, everything resets, and you grind your way through again. This is the core gameplay loop.
Some tasks are straightforward, like needing 10 rocks and 10 wood to rebuild a home, but as your village grows, you must explore deeper into the world. This, in my opinion, is the best part. The deeper you go, the more you must manage your inventory to keep your lantern lit, carry all necessary items back to the village, and utilize the metro stations effectively.
I’ve covered a lot here, but honestly, the gameplay loop is so enjoyable that I can’t wait to jump back in.
The Cozy, Colorful World of Into the Emberlands
Right from the start, the visuals feel adventurous and playful. The main story is presented in a beautifully crafted pop-up book style, which enhances the storytelling. The art direction is tremendous in setting the tone and atmosphere of Into the Emberlands—colorful, inviting, cozy, and cute.
As you progress, you unlock different Lightbearers and adorably designed companions, like a platypus or my favorite—the cactus.
The first area surrounding your village is a forest, but as you expand your ember capacity, you reach a world filled with new vegetation, requiring different tools and introducing new NPCs. The second area is more vibrant, with blue and purple hues, brush, and flowers, offering a refreshing visual contrast.
I’ve spent most of my time here, but I recently entered a new garbage-collecting and recycling area. Just beyond that, I reached a desert-like biome, which feels completely different from the forest in both music and style—almost like stepping into a whole new game.
The Perfect Soundtrack for a Cozy Exploration Game
The animations pair well with the sound design—whether scavenging for materials, building the village, or exploring the world, the audio experience enhances every moment. However, the soundtrack is where the game truly shines.
The second you step into a new biome, the music shifts to match the atmosphere. Some areas transition through three different biomes within seconds, leading to a slow fade-in and fade-out of the soundtrack—an excellent auditory touch. Each biome’s theme is distinct, creating a truly immersive experience.
Indie games sometimes release soundtracks on streaming platforms or Steam on day one, but unfortunately, Into the Emberlands only offers its soundtrack for purchase. While this ensures better revenue than meager streaming pay-outs, it makes it more difficult for content creators and reviewers like myself to showcase the music.
For example, Into the Emberlands is currently losing out to a random YouTube channel that has uploaded the entire soundtrack. I won’t link to them, but I always recommend developers release their music on Bandcamp for easier access—especially on Bandcamp Fridays, when they receive 100% of the funds.
Sorry for that detour! Now, let’s highlight a song from the soundtrack that I loved—"The Path of Petalogy." Enjoy!
A Must-Play for 2025
I always aim to complete a game before reviewing it, but after playing 10+ hours, I keep coming back, building my village (now at level 8), so I wanted to share my thoughts.
Into the Emberlands embraces the classic trope of bringing light to the darkness, but it surprises me with its unique approach—using a grid-based map system to navigate and forage. I don’t typically enjoy farming games, so I was hesitant, but when I end up spending hours exploring and scavenging instead of completing my objectives, you know the game is doing something right.
Into the Emberlands is a wholesome exploration game that, to me, is a visually stunning masterpiece. The core gameplay loop, character designs, and wonderful soundtrack all come together to create an experience that is fun, relaxing, and somehow tricks my brain into farming for 10+ hours that feel like only two.
This game has something special, and I hope to see more added in future updates—or even a spin-off series. It’s a Must-Play for me, and at only $6.99, I was surprised—it could easily be a $10–$20 title. Let me know in the comments if you pick it up!
The key was provided by Press Engine on behalf of the publisher Daedalic Entertainment.
I've been conditioned by Final Fantasy to not trust cute cacti...
So cactus companion immediately raised alarms for me 😂
I could feel the anger in "it happened to me once, and NEVER AGAIN". Thanks for the review. It's the kind of game I enjoy playing on my free time.