PAX EAST 2023 | "Strayed Lights"
Sometimes the less you know, the more intriguing an experience you’ll have. That’s what I came to find when taking on Embers’s upcoming game Strayed Lights. At first, you’re pulled in by its atmosphere, only to be shook by its combat mechanics. But as you dive in more, the world Strayed Lights takes place in becomes clearer.
The demo at the PAX Rising section begins with your creature as a toddler. You roam around the ambiguous world, adjusting to your surroundings and learning the basic maneuvers. That’s when a flaming creature comes out and attempts to kill you. Suddenly, the toddler gets a growth spurt, and is willing to fight for its life.
A fighting tutorial gives you the rundown on how to both defend and attack. Much of Strayed Lights is about defending and deflecting attacks, with many of the enemies relentless to hold back. After enough times parrying attacks, your creature will then unleash its own offense, resulting in a one-shot kill that can earn it extra energy. It sounds easy enough, only for it to add a matching color mechanic to boost the difficulty up twofold!
It’s this aspect that makes Strayed Lights a game that’ll keep you on your toes. Switching between blue and orange in the midst of battle is a lot harder than you think, with only half a second sometimes to react properly. Thankfully, parrying attacks will help regain health, but only if you can time it right. Otherwise, like me, you’ll find yourself having to start from the beginning of the fight on numerous occasions!
Very little is known about what’s really happening in Strayed Lights, but that’s intentional. Embers wants players to get a feel of what this world has to offer, on top of get an idea on how both your character and its enemies’ emotions come into play. While what’s truly going on is still in the dark, there’s a vibe and a tone to Strayed Lights that’s both easy on the eyes and — surprisingly — comforting to the brain. Needless to say, what I saw of the PAX demo was enough for me to be curious to see where it goes from there.
Strayed Lights arrives on PC and consoles on April 25.
