Embr
by Aethyna
Sep 24, 2021 |
1
Votes |
44
Played |
0
Reviews
9
rate
Platforms:
Genres:
Action , First Person Shooter , PuzzlePublishers:
Curve DigitalGraphics:
3DLabels:
Co-op , Shooting Embr lets anyone become a firefighter to earn a little cash on the side. Besides the funny-because-it’s-true jabs at companies like Uber and Grab, the game features hectic first-person co-op action where you rescue your clients from various burning structures, and maybe even steal some stuff to fence since everything’s going up in smoke anyway. Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
In a world ruled by the gig economy, Embr lets anyone become a firefighter - after a short “tutorial”, of course – to earn a little cash on the side. Besides the funny-because-it’s-true jabs at companies like Uber and Grab, the game features hectic first-person co-op action where you rescue your clients from various burning structures, and maybe even steal some stuff to fence since everything’s going up in smoke anyway.
Plotline
The world is (unfortunately) ruled by gig economy… and now, even essential services like fire-fighting has been “Uber-ized”. Embr is one of the two companies – the other being Hosr, the direct competitor of Embr – that lets anyone become a fire fighter in their spare time simply by signing up and going through their barely sufficient Respondr™ Training Course.
Starting out by putting out basic garbage fires, you’ll eventually be given the chance to put out fires in increasingly more complicated and larger buildings.
Gameplay
Embr features a first-person shooter-style gameplay where your weapons of choice are mainly your trusty fire hose – I’m just kidding, I meant to say “water gun” - and fire ax. The hose is, of course, used to put out fires while the ax is needed to break down doors or any objects that stands in your way. There’s also a useful x-ray tablet that you can use to identify the whereabouts of your clients in said burning building as you’ll be expected to rescue them.
As you play, you’ll even get to unlock a host of useful and increasingly wild tools, from fire ladders to a water jetpack or quantum hoses that can spray through walls. You can equip gear, such as helmets, jackets, and pants, too. Most of them come with added benefits, such as more tips gained or reduced damage taken from fires, so they are very useful to purchase as well. Everything you purchase or use can be further upgraded and depending on need, you may even want to buy specialized add-ons for your equipment.
Of course, you’ll need a vehicle to lug around all those heavy fire-fighting equipment. The vehicle can also be upgraded or if you’ve got enough cash saved up, you can even buy a new one. Note that some items may require more than just mere cash to buy – you’ll need gems. You can get gems, albeit slowly but surely, by completing weekly goals.
If you’ve played Overcooked before, you should be familiar with the hectic gameplay that it is famous for. Well, Embr is very similar, albeit in a first-person perspective. After all, fires don’t care if you’ve got clients to save – their goal is to just consume everything in their way!
There are plenty more challenges that you’ll face, even in the simplest of rescue missions. This includes short circuits that cause an electricity leak which doesn’t mix well with water… you know, the “Blu Stuff™” that comes out of your hose, unless you want to give yourself a good nice electric shock. For this kind of challenge, you can either find the power switch and turn it off, or better yet, find the power main and turn that off.
There are also other items that will hamper your rescue efforts like wooden pallets, barrels, cardboard boxes, and doors, as well as explosive barrels you’ll do well to avoid, and toxic gas leaks, which can be easily countered with a gas mask or a broken window, courtesy of your fire ax.
The game has a surprising amount of strategy to it as well. For instance, instead of going all the way around, you can easily break windows so you can make a quicker exit from the burning building. Considering that your clients don’t die from falls of any height, it’s a good strategy to just hurl them out the window, jump out after them yourself, and then using the Fireman’s Carry to bring the likely still-texting client to the evacuation site.
Though, from personal experience, I should point out that if you so happen to land right on top of your client after you jump – what can I say, I have *cough* impeccable *cough* aim, the client will die. So, yeah, this is some grade A game logic that you’d want to take note of.
The people you rescue aren’t exactly the brightest of the lot either. They tend to run around aimlessly, sit on the loo, or taking selfies of the destruction caused by the fire as the entire building burn down around them. So, you might want to work fast and get as many of them out as soon as you can.
Funnily enough, Embr (the game) accurately depicts how pitiful the pay these gig economy businesses pay their workers… ahem, I mean their “contractors”. So, being the enterprising sort, you’ll quickly realize that you can actually rob the burning house as well and then fence the stuff you stole for some much-needed extra cash. After all, Embr does take a cut of your payment every time you complete a mission for your client.
It’s even better if you can crack open a safe – that’s an extra $100 right there, more so than what you’d get if you sold off a stolen flat-screen TV or a laptop, for some reason.
In addition to the “default” rescue missions, Embr also offers a host of other equally crazy and fun game modes to enjoy. There’s Embr Eats where you’ll have to feed your clients before you save them from a fire; Low House Damage mode where you’re expected to save everyone in the house without the house taking more than 50% damage from the fire, and Demolition in which you do the exact opposite and help spread the fire instead!
There are also Salvage Missions where the goal is to salvage as many of the clients’ stuff as you can to reach the minimum value of items. From time to time, you’ll get a special “Escape Mode” where Embr’s competitor, Hosr, try to do you dirty by attempting to trap you in a burning building. Just imagine the PR nightmare if you failed to escape! *Shudder*
As you may realize by now, in Embr, the goal is often not to extinguish the fire but to save the people (or sometimes valuables) trapped within. However, if you do manage to extinguish the fire… well, good for you! Each mission you complete will earn you a rating from your client, depending how well you did. The rating comes in the form of “Flames” (a.k.a. Stars). You can usually get five or more Flames per mission, and you’ll want to accumulate as many of them as possible since new missions are unlocked once you have enough of them.
Of course, you could always replay a mission to get that one last Flame you’re missing or even to earn a bit more cash and break your previous high score.
Embr is fun and all but I do have a few bones to pick with the game. For instance, I’m very frustrated over the fact that I couldn’t rotate the items I’m holding to fit into the super small truck bed in the very first Salvage Mission I played. I also suspect that the game isn’t counting the salvaged amount correctly, mainly due to the way all the items are haphazardly piled onto the back of the small truck.
Community
Single-player is fun and all, but Embr is designed with co-op in mind and that’s where it really shines. You can play with up to three other friends via local co-op or you can even try with randoms via online multiplayer. However, note that the player base for Embr can be a bit small so it might not be as easy to find other players to play with, especially if you’re not living anywhere near the US time zones.
Graphics/ Sound
The graphics remind me of another funny and fun first-person co-op game, Totally Reliable Delivery Service. It does seem like games that use ragdoll physics are more inclined to use this kind of art style. In terms of sound, Embr features some upbeat jazz music, matching perfectly with the game’s fast-paced action.
That being said, I should mention that Embr gave me severe motion sickness, and had I known that there’s a “motion sickness crosshairs” option that I can enable in the Settings, it would have saved me the hours of discomfort I endured after reviewing the game for less than an hour. I think it might be a good idea to have a pop-up at the start of the game to let players know about this option BEFORE they hop into a game.
Conclusion
If you’re into co-op games, Embr is one game you’ll want to at least try. It offers a kind of hectic co-op fun that’s different from Overcooked, and it comes with so many different game modes too. Of course, the game’s zany humor and ruthless jabs at the gig economy are just the perfect icing on this delicious piece of cake!
Embr Blog
New Game Added: Embr
by Aethyna
Sep 24, 2021
Embr lets anyone become a firefighter to earn a little cash on the side. Besides the funny-because-it’s-true jabs at companies like Uber and Grab, the game features hectic first-person co-op action where you rescue your clients from various burning structures, and maybe even steal some stuff to fence since everything’s going up in smoke anyway.
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