Shiranui Flare Plays Emberville Blind and Declares Fists the Best Weapon

HOLOLIVE — Hololive’s Shiranui Flare played the pixel-art action RPG Emberville for the first time on Monday and came away convinced that the fists-only knuckle weapon is the one to beat, repeating the verdict as she closed the stream after about 70 minutes of play.

Opening the stream in her regular outfit for the first time in a long while, Flare explained that Emberville mixes dungeon combat and gear collecting with farming, crafting and rebuilding a ruined town. She said the game was due to enter early access on Steam the next day, that it supports Japanese, and that a free demo was available, with demo progress carrying over to the full release. She started with no knowledge of the game and chose to follow its story rather than wander.

“Knuckles are the strongest, everyone. Knuckles are the strongest.” — Shiranui Flare, as she wrapped up the stream

In character creation she built a hero called Honey, with an afro, yellow hair and orange clothes, and set the difficulty to normal, saying she would adjust it if the game proved too harsh. She punched her way through the opening house, smashing barrels and chests, and soon picked up knuckles, a sword and a wand. A letter from her character’s missing master set the first goal, and she joked that she was mostly interested in finding out what had happened to him.

The first real shock came about 23 minutes in, when an enemy killed her without warning and she woke in a cave, calling it unfair to a first-time player. From there she read notes left by an outpost’s former residents, fought mushroom creatures and learned sword combos, but kept returning to the knuckles, which she said outpaced the sword and wand. By the hour mark she was remarking that the game ate time and that she wanted to keep going, and she told viewers who dislike fighting that the knuckles are forgiving enough to button-mash through early fights.

Chat agreed on the weapon, with one viewer writing that nothing but knuckles could win. Another said they had put the game on their wishlist, and nine Super Chats and Stickers came in. Flare closed by cooking steak at a campfire, said she wished she could keep playing, and signed off with a reminder that the demo was free to try.