This review for Flame Keeper is written while it was just released in Early Access. I expect that there will be added more achievements later on before the final release.
Approximate amount of time to 100%: 5h
Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
Is there a good guide available: You don't need a guide
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: No
Grinding Achievements: Kinda yes, at this moment the achievement to fill 30 fireplaces is kinda grindy, as the game only has 2 biomes yet. Later on, when more content is released I expect that this one isn't grindy anymore.
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No
Before Flame Keeper was released I was already impressed by the looks and the idea behind the game. After playing it I can say that I love this game. It doesn't only have good looks but is such a solid game. You play as a flame who has to ignite fireplaces, the trouble is that that costs energy, which is also the resource that keeps you alive. So you have to be very careful not to spend too much of your energy.
This is a typical rogue-lite in which you can grind resources to get better. There are at this moment 2 biomes, but more will be added later. In each biome are 3 levels and those have a few stages you have to get through to move on to the next level. Each level has 2 stages where you have to ignite the fireplace, for this you need to find 3 lanterns and also use your own energy to ignite the fire. The third stage is a tower defense kinda game where you also still fight yourself. And the last level in the biomes also has a 4th stage where you fight a boss battle.
I was surprised by how much fun the normal stages are but especially the tower defense ones. Those are my favorite! There is quite a big difference in difficulty between the first and second biome. I hope the transition between those 2 will be a little less harsh in the final version, but stuff like this is totally okay during Early Access, if more people have this same experience then I think the devs will pick up on this.
Most of the achievements are easy and you'll get over time. There are no missable achievements so you don't have to worry about them. Unlocking 19 out of the 20 might take around 3/4h but I stated above 5h because of the 30 fireplaces achievements, which will take some time after finishing the rest. There is one achievement for enlighting a fire without attacking any enemies. I think this one might be easier if you don't have yet bought the upgrade that your dash does damage. However, I was able to get it even after already having that achievement. I just did it on a stage where there were mushrooms close by. the challenging part is having enough energy without attacking/killing any enemy. I used the mushrooms to hopefully get the regenerate buff. And while waiting for new mushrooms to spawn I just stood on top of a house next to it. It took some patience but wasn't hard to do.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how the final game will turn out. I think it is already such a great game and it will get even better! I hope the devs will keep the achievements so that there are still no missable ones and that they aren't too grindy, but they started out great!
4.5