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EMBR Tips And Tricks

I need a hero

Firefighting is a surprisingly overlooked concept within gaming and, outside of realistic simulators, we’ve seen few attempts at portraying this essential service. Noticing a market gap, Muse Games’ latest title Embr takes a different approach. Set within a hyper-capitalist society, this frantic action game sees traditional fire services replaced by privatised brigades, accepting job requests via an app. Working for the largest brigade, Embr LLC, you play as a first responder, completing requests as they appear. 

EMBR Tips And Tricks

Clients award you a rating of 1/5 flames depending on your work, providing what they deem an acceptable payment. It’s a striking satire of the gig economy, completely ridiculous and highly enjoyable with friends but five flame ratings don’t come cheap. Story progression is tied to how many flames you’ve obtained, acting as a reputation system, so it pays to be thorough if you want to become Embr’s best responder. 

There’s a fine strategy to obtaining maximum ratings and you’ll want to prepare more than just your equipment loadout before taking on house fires. So for players looking to advance quickly, here are a few EMBR tips and tricks that’ll prove beneficial.

Assemble Your Friends

You can play Embr solo if you choose to but it’s undeniably more fun to complete requests as a team. Unlocked soon after completing its tutorial, Embr allows up to 4 players per party, assembling a fine team of responders to undertake main missions. Of course, there’ll be times when gathering a group together simply isn’t feasible but if you can do so, there are two good reasons why it pays off.

As mentioned before, it’s a lot more fun, feeling less repetitive across a (currently) short campaign and achieving that five flame rating is more satisfying with a group. It also brings a strategic element of gameplay, as each building has a set timer before it collapses. By splitting up to search for clients, you can rescue them all quicker, allowing for more effective time management.

Firefighting Is Not Your Priority

Considering Embr’s core premise is designed around firefighting, it may surprise you that putting out flames are not the priority here. Upon accepting each request, Embr’s app advises you what type of mission it is, ranging from rescuing clients, salvaging their valuable possessions to escaping a rival Canadian brigade’s traps (Yes that happens). What players can’t achieve, however, is stopping the building burning down. 

You’ll soon discover fires continue springing up in places previously hosed, sometimes more viciously than before, so it’s best treating them as an obstacle instead. Realising players might get this confused, Muse Games have included an in-game warning, advising you it’s unnecessary and to stay focused on your objective. It’s a sensible move but by knowing beforehand, you can save your water supply.

Keep Refilling Your Water

Speaking of water, it does more than stopping fires within Embr. There’s elements of puzzle-solving here and, acting as an effective electrical conductor, you’ll face several tasks like reconnecting cables cut down the middle. Your hose doesn’t hold a limitless supply however and whilst it takes time to run out, it can easily be done if you’re careless.

Across each building, you’ll discover half-filled sinks, letting you refill your tank but if it runs out, you’ll quickly struggle. Unsurprisingly, fire severely injures your responder, regardless of how good your equipment is, so running through flaming hallways isn’t an option. Buildings have multiple entry points, so a well-placed ladder can secure a new entry point but if you’re sensible, it won’t come to this. 

Search Houses Thoroughly

It shouldn’t need saying that main objectives take priority, as evidenced with Embr’s warnings about solely focusing on firefighting. Upon completion though, a set of optional tasks appear and achieving these improve your review. Rescuing clients often involves finding a percentage of people, so bonus objective typically involves finding the remaining people, but there’s a strong focus on saving valuables too.

Outside each building, there’s a safe zone for clients, many of whom appreciate you saving their prized possessions too. From laptops to pizza boxes, each holdable item has a price and it’s a good way of boosting revenue. Most missions also contain sets of hidden cash, which responders can claim for themselves. If this happens, Embr reads a humorous disclaimer about not condoning theft but in a tight economy, it’s a handy income boost. 

Don’t Be A Hero

The last of the EMBR tips and tricks might be the most important one. Fire and electricity are Embr’s more prominent hazards but there are further obstructions in need of resolving to advance. Falling support beams is one example, requiring you to destroy them with an axe but toxic gas is present too, needing you to activate a fan or break windows to dispel it.  It’s tempting to try and brave hazards at times, especially with your objective in sight, but you’d be foolish to do so.

We get there’s a sense of urgency, that house timer is still ticking after all and you might think, what’s the worst that could happen. Even with buffed equipment, it’s a terrible idea and within seconds, your responder’s health bar depletes when surrounded by hazards, knocking them to the floor. In co-op, a friend can save you but they have to act quickly, as you’ll otherwise fail that mission. Risk-taking is certainly applaudable but in this case, it rarely pays off.