Embr Review

Embr

Release: September 23, 2021
Publisher: Curve Digital - Muse Games - E
Developer:
Genre: PlayStation 5 Reviews, PS5 Reviews, Reviews, Switch ReviewsXBox One ReviewsXbox Series X Reviews
PEGI:
Comments:

 

Comment

What if your Uber Eats driver had to save you from a house fire?

Fight fires for fun and profit in this unpredictable and frantic multiplayer game. Team up with friends, take on daily challenges, and climb to the top of the corporate firefighting ladder. More than one way to become a hero! Embr has you take on the role of a firefighter, but certainly not in the traditional sense.

You see in the world of Embr we as a society has commercialized even more things, including emergency services. You are a firefighter (Respondr) who works like Uber or Grubhub, you accept jobs from your phone and then rush out to save folks and their belongings from a fiery death.

While the game is played from a first-person perspective. The chaos, multiplayer fun, and just craziness are something very akin to other games like Overcooked and Moving Out. While they can be played solo, the REAL fun is getting in on the game with others.

One of the major downsides though is local multiplayer is not supported you can only play via online lobbies. Now because I got this pre-release for review there wasn’t a TON of people to match up with but I did so every occasion I could get and it’s better.

So how the game works is once you accept a job, you show up on-site and are given your objectives like save 4 people. But you have bonus objectives like finding hidden cash or taking items out of their house before they burn and getting tips for doing that as well. You are equipped with a bunch of tools and there are a lot of upgrades available as well for each tool.

Extinguisher tools are designed specifically for fighting fires, and many spread water to help achieve this. You start with a basic one to use, but later you can upgrade or choose a different type depending on the job at hand. Entry tools’ purpose is to help the Respondr get to where they need to be inside of buildings without getting stuck behind objects in the way, think axes, and breaching charges (yes….I said it).

Ascend tools improve the Respondr’s mobility both inside and outside of buildings. Some help the Respondr to get up to higher places more easily while some make it safer to drop down to the ground. There are also some miscellaneous things like your Client Findr which is used to locate where the person is in the building while you search around combating the fires and such.

It is not just fires you have to worry about though, things get quite chaotic. You also have to deal with electricity (which doesn’t play well with water), gas leaks, explosions, lasers, and more later in the game.

Overall the game isn’t much of a looker, to be honest, it’s fine overall with a cartoony feel that fits the vibe of the game without getting gross considering you are dealing with people potentially burning or being in a collapsed building. So they keep it kid-friendly.

Some of the in-game physics get a little crazy with the way you carry things, or how items may move when you blast them with your hose. But it’s not meant to be a simulator per se it’s more of just a fun romp.

My kids got a big kick out of watching the game, watching the customers simply sitting on a toilet texting while I chop down their bathroom door to rescue them or taking a selfie in the middle of a blaze, certainly says a lot about today’s society for sure. There is some jank with the game, but for $15 on sale right now. It’s a fun romp overall.

Trailer