When the Embers Wake is a beautiful reminder to keep moving forward

Some games are designed to be played and enjoyed in the moment; others are designed to leave a lasting impression. I love both, but the ones that really stick out in my mind are the latter sort: games that hit you so strongly in the feels that you find it impossible to forget the story they have to tell. 

I can honestly say that I didn’t wake up this morning expecting to be emotionally side-swiped by a low-poly red panda and its mother, but that’s what happened when I played the When the Embers Wake demo. It's a touching tale that resonates with me on a deeply personal level, and now I'm incredibly invested in the story. 

Emotionally attacked on a Saturday morning

The story in When the Embers Wake is told through narration and environment, though the two don’t necessarily connect at first glance. The narration tells the story of a young girl and her mother, going through hardship and clawing their way out of it through nothing but hard work and sheer determination. Meanwhile, the visuals follow a young red panda and its mother as they traverse the world after apparently being abandoned at the zoo, going it alone in the wild. 

Though neither aspect directly reflects the other, they complement each other perfectly, with the calm, walking simulator gameplay allowing you to focus entirely on the story as it slowly unfolds through narration. And the world is beautiful, with gorgeous lighting effects and a linear path through it that, without the help of the mother red panda, would likely take far longer to navigate. 

And that’s what hit me hardest when playing the demo: the mother/child relationship that’s clear in both the narrative and the gameplay. I’m a mother, and I’ve experienced hardships similar to those discussed in When the Embers Wake, so it’s difficult for me not to let things get a little bit personal, and I wouldn’t want to. These kinds of stories help me feel less alone, and that’s important for so many reasons I can’t even begin to explain. 

According to the Steam page, the game aims to draw attention to habitat loss and the threats facing wildlife, but that doesn't seem to come across in the demo, which places much more emphasis on the very human story being told. It's entirely possible that my focus was entirely on the story and I missed something through the tears in my eyes, but I'm hoping that goal is achieved in the full game.

Through different eyes

I’ve seen When the Embers Wake described a lot as being told “through the eyes of the red panda”, but I’m not sure that’s true based on my experience with the demo. I feel that When the Embers Wake tells its story primarily through narration, while the red panda's journey keeps your attention on the game as that story unfolds. 

I’m not saying the two don’t share a thematic connection. The narration tells of a mother who was down on her luck but clawed her way back to security while still maintaining a happy and as-stable-as-possible life for her daughter. The visuals are of a mother red panda guiding her child through a maze-like forest, finding food, and surviving in a wilderness that’s alien to them. 

Yes, those two experiences are connected, but a red panda isn’t going to go on the swings at the park for hours at the weekend. The mother red panda isn’t going to night school or working double shifts at the veterinarian's office. While the themes are the same in the most delightful way, the experience that sticks with you from the demo isn’t that of the panda, but of the human telling her story. 

Perhaps most importantly, the thing that does the most to connect the two halves of the game is that you have to keep walking to hear more of the story, because it only continues playing once you reach certain points. Which, and excuse me for getting a little deep here, is strangely inspirational: in life, you have to keep moving to make things happen. 

This gorgeous narrative game is being developed by Llamaplay and is due to be released on October 27, 2026, so grab a box of tissues and get ready for an emotional ride. If you want to experience the demo, you can go and get it now on Steam as part of Steam Next Fest.

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