Flame Keeper

It turns out being a tiny, angry lump of coal with fists is more fun than it sounds.

Flame Keeper drops you into the smoldering boots of Ignis, a glorified ember with a mean uppercut and a burning mission: reignite the Eternal Flame across a cursed world full of shadowy weirdos called Pixies. What follows is a tightly paced action roguelite where every punch, stomp, and dash costs stamina, and every bit of health you spend doubles as the energy source you need to win. So yeah, lighting the world on fire literally kills you.

Combat is punchy (literally), and you unlock a fun arsenal of flaming finishers and AoE stomps, but stamina management is the real boss fight here. That’s a clever idea on paper, but in practice, it can make fights feel like you’re playing chicken with your own metabolism. Add in some tedious backtracking and a few too many stop-and-go chokepoints, and the pacing can flicker like a candle in the wind.

Vulpis Village offers the usual roguelite progression loop, upgrade passives, spend seeds, unlock new weapons, but it never quite evolves into the hub-world it pretends to be. Still, the vibes are cozy, and it’s hard to be mad when everything looks like it came from a lost Dreamcast RPG and animates like a Saturday morning cartoon.

Flame Keeper might not burn the house down, but for a brief, satisfying blaze? It’ll do just fine. Just don’t expect to stay warm forever.