Ember Trail brings out a relaxing yet cozy management simulator.
Distant Bloom is a cozy management simulator developed by Swedish indie game development studio, Ember Trail, and was published by Kinda Brave. Ember Trail was founded in October 2017 and was first called Bad Yolk Games, the studio was started by two former MachineGames developers. The studio’s first game was Main Assembly, a co-op robot construction game. In 2021, the studio was acquired by Kinda Brave Publishing and in March 2022, they changed the name from Bad Yolk Games to Ember Trail.
Distant Bloom is an open-world cozy management simulator where you play as The Assistant, one of the Alter who arrived on a planet they call Altra 3. The game starts with a cutscene, The Alter are looking for a new home as their current one is no longer viable. Although the planet looked lush from the telescope, when you eventually arrive at the planet, it is no longer so. The place is a wasteland from pollution and it seems as if there was someone who was there before you.
The game has a rich story with an environmental message behind it. You will have to fix the mistakes of the past and restore Altra 3. The more pollution you remove, the more vibrant the world around you becomes and animals will start returning as you clean the regions around the map.
The Assistant is followed by Kei.ki, a small robot that follows you around after you rescue it from the debris of your crashed cryopod. Your first mission: find the Hearth Ship and check on the crew. As you progress through the story, you’ll find and craft different tools to help you throughout the game and you’ll have a total of three tools.
The first tool you get is the Exoscani from Elder Umarell. You can use this to find information on many of the objects; both plants and pollution throughout the open world. Your second tool is a shovel from Bahhan. The shovel is what you need to plant plants in the various plots, however, pay attention to the type of environment you’re in.
The last tool is the ExoMulti, this tool is highly important and is upgradable, allowing you to clear different types of pollution as you upgrade it. As you remove pollution and plant plants, more of the world restores itself. The different levels allow you to get rid of things such as Glass and Plastic that are blocking your path or preventing you from planting anything.
While there are a total of nine regions, including the base where the Hearth Ship is, most regions have two areas except the Volcano which only has The Lava Dome. Distant Bloom is an open-world game but each area is opened up more as you level up the ExoMulti and get access to the pillars. The region you start in is the Valley, which is where you first wake up after your cryo pod crashes after it is ejected from the Hearth Ship. You’ll have to make your way through the Cliff Paths until you eventually get to the base.
The other regions are the Hills, Wetlands, Quarry, Hot Springs, Glacier, and Forest. Each region you go through has its own requirements for plants being planted such as needing plants that can withstand cold temperatures in the Glacier or plants that prefer a wetter climate in the Wetlands which include a Marshy Field and a Small Archipelago.
There are 5 categories of plants in Distant Bloom: Herbs, Ferns, Trees, Cacti, and Fungi. While you get seeds from all of them, you can also get extra items such as Fresh Greens and Soft Morsels. While you don’t need to eat, you can ask Bahhan to craft different foods that you can gift to the other crew members although make sure to check out the Friends section in your Journal to see what their favorite dishes are.
The first try at crafting food is crafting a machine that turns seeds into jelly, though this turns out to be a bad idea as it doesn’t taste right to the assistant and their crew but on the bright side, you have a way to create fertilizer. The Jelly can be used to fertilise a plant which allows you to harvest more than just seeds.
Although, Bahhan cooks up more than just tasty meals with plants you’ve grown. While there are small animals that spawn with a newly cleaned area such as the Chonkers, you will find sick animals around the map that require medicine to heal as well. They’ll usually be found lying down on areas you need to plant on.
These bigger animals aren’t the only ones that will cover a much-needed planting area. As you explore Altra 3, you will come across some nocturnal creatures called Snot Monsters. These creatures eat plants, to get rid of them, you will need to be quick when planting as cleansing the area of their nest will get rid of the pollution and turn them back into the animals they were before they were corrupted by pollution.
The Alter is not the only race on Altra 3. As you progress with the campaign, you will meet the Ascended, they were once individuals but have somehow become more. They have been on Altra 3 for a very long time, having seen the world die twice.
In the beginning, the Ascended are cold or indifferent to the Assistant and Kei.ki’s struggles of restoring Altra 3, but they eventually provide help in the form of pillars. There are four in total, each one allows the Assistant to get to areas that had been previously inaccessible. The Ascended grants the Assistant the ability to use a pillar after planting a certain amount of plants and clearing out pollution.
Distant Bloom has vivid and unique graphics with a slightly cartoonish feel. While the game seems drab when you first wake up on Altra 3, it becomes more vibrant as you clean up the planet. The environmental message and the casual yet cozy gameplay make it an ideal game for both adults and kids.
The Sound engineering has been done well. The soundtrack doesn’t feel repetitive, making it easy to get lost in playing the game for hours. The sound effects add to the immersion as it adds to the relaxing effect with the more nature-like sounds after you have fully restored a Region. While the Assistant and the rest of the characters don’t speak English, the voice they use isn’t grating and fits in well with the rest of the sound engineering.
Overall, Distant Bloom is a fantastic cozy management game for those who just want to sit back and relax while going through a heartwarming story. The game plays a big part in the environmental theme without making it stressful or frustrating.
