One of the most interesting games highlighted during the Kinda Funny Showcase today at E3 is also one of the closest to release. Lost Ember is an exploration adventure game that lets you take on the roles of several different animals to search for the cause of a worldwide catastrophe. Though most people may have only just heard of Lost Ember today, it’s actually well into development and is set for release on July 19.
Lost Ember is the first game from Mooneye Studios, but it’s clear that the developer isn’t afraid of taking risks. In Lost Ember, you play as a wolf with the ability to possess other animals throughout the world. The trailer shows a wide variety of these different animals, as it follows a fish swimming through the sea, a mole digging underground, and a flock of colorful birds flying through the air. You’ll use your transformation ability to get to parts of the world that would be inaccessible to you as a wolf, in order to explore the memories of the people who used to inhabit those places.
The gameplay we saw in the trailer reminds us a little bit of the game Everything, which released last year. In that game, you could become essentially anything in the game world, from a rock or a tree to an entire galaxy. Everything was a much sillier game, though, with things like herds of giraffes rolling across the plains, whereas Lost Ember seems to be telling a much more heartfelt story. The fact that Lost Ember has a story in the first place also sets it apart, as Everything was more of a meandering experience.
Lost Ember’s first gameplay trailer was released in 2016, and while the core of the game looks mostly the same, they’ve clearly spent the past few years polishing what was already there and expanding on its scope.
Lost Ember will first launch on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on July 19, with a Switch version coming at an unannounced later date.
