Flame
Keeper

Flame Keeper (2023) is a strategic fighting and collecting game where you gather energy to restore the eternal flame and save the world from evil monsters. As you explore and fight enemies in fast-paced combat, you sacrifice your health to collect energy and bring it back to the flame and upgrade your skills and abilities. This delicate balance of giving up your life to progress while still keeping enough to fight creates a unique and highly tactical experience.

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You play Ignis, a small lump of coal on a mission to rid the land of evil and restore its heart: the eternal flame. You explore every corner of the land, fighting monsters and gathering energy to bring to the fire and restore the flame to its former glory. To achieve this, you also take on boss fights and defend the base challenges for some considerable variety.

You move around the world in search of energy for the flame, fighting hordes of enemies with fast-paced attacks, dodges, and abilities. Dotted about are embers, which you can collect to restore your health, and other items that grant you temporary power-ups. When you find energy, you need to give up some of your life to gather it, then bring it back to the eternal flame to increase its power until eventually, you can progress to the next area. When you die, you start again from the central town area but keep any upgrades to your abilities you got in previous runs, allowing you to get slightly further each time.

The result is a unique twist on the roguelike genre that demands you conserve your health beyond the typical frenetic battles, instead using it as a valuable resource that requires constant assessment. Making more progress each subsequent run as you strengthen your character and learn the intricacies of the game makes for a fun and rewarding experience.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Flame Keeper a year ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated a year ago.