When I booted up Embr I was under the impression that it was a game similar to Overcooked and those kind of co-op games, I am guessing I completely misunderstood the trailer, and because of this I had drafted a friend to help me review the game. Turns out it is nothing like overcooked or any of those type of co-op games. My friend ended up just sitting there and watching me play, and in all honesty I did get some satisfaction in that.
Anyway, back to the game. Embr puts you in the shoes of a first "respondr" (the game drops the last “e” in a lot of the words) learning the ropes of the Embr business and this is a business like Uber, you have an app with requests for help and a shop to buy upgrades so you can be better at your fire fighting job. The game plays out in the first person perspective and each mission has set objectives you need to complete to finish the mission, but there are also optional objectives to score a bit more money which you can spend on upgrades and new equipment in the shop between missions.
You can´t go into missions with all your equipment, your loadout needs to be managed and depending on what you take with you into missions will decide what objectives you can complete. For example if the mission is in a apartment complex you might need a ladder to reach higher areas to rescue people or clients according to the game, or maybe the flames are too intense and a water grenade could really help douse the fire. There are many ingenious tools and devices you can buy and even upgrade to tackle the myriad challenges that face you in Embr. The graphics are on the lower side but serve the game very well. The colours are vibrant and the whole game has a cartoony feel to it which is perfect for a family friendly game like this. I was pretty impressed that the devs have put quite the thought into the fire itself as I have noticed the fire in various states, for example rolling flames on the ceiling, fire bubbling up through the floor and engulfing flames in hallways.
Fire is not the only thing that you need to deal with. There is electricity which is either hindering you or helping you. For example a socket could be electrifying the wet carpet and needs to be turned off before you can cross the hazardous area. In other situations you might need to complete an electric circuit by making the surface wet or putting metal barrels between the electricity, before a door can be opened or even power an elevator. Then there is gas which needs to be vented before you can continue into the gaseous area, you might need to break a window, start an AC unit or when you have bought it, use a vacuum grenade.
The multiplayer is purely online, unlike what I thought originally that it had a local co-op option. Multiplayer is very fun but suffers the same problem co-op games have always had, communication and cooperation.
Most of the time when you join up with random people you mostly get matched with people that either just rush everything or do nothing and before you know it the whole thing has descended into chaos and you'll be lucky to get any rewards from that mission. On the other hand when you do get people that play the game properly it is hard to get a more fun experience.
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