Ember

Played both. It's the same level of indie quality as the Torchlight series but it's more CRPG (so Neverwinter Nights, whereas Torchlight is ARPG) despite combat being realtime (with ability to pause). To be fair though Torchlight is very stylized with very strong colours everywhere, so graphics wise it's more like Fate (Torchlight's forerunner), but much better looking than that of course.

Yes, there basically isn't any character building beyond having sufficient strength for instance. Just gear choosing balancing skills you want VS damage output/protection. Combat is as basic as the skills you have equipped.
Gear can be crafted so there's that.

The maps are extremely well designed, offering something in every corner, and each one is bigger than expected with often seamless transition. Some enemies have AI, like wolves chasing deer in the forest, or I saw some chasing a squirrel and they completely ignored me whilst the squirrel was alive. There were also patrolling bandits which initiated dialog and one of my choices was boating I was stronger, which since I met the stat requirement ran away leaving their weapons behind AND giving me XP (not something I usually see). Wild animals and bandits don't like each other and can take each other out if one hangs back.

Inventory management doesn't really matter. You have a sell all treasures and junk option at stores, something the Elder Scrolls series badly needs for all the tableware crap you pick up. What is left is easy enough to manage. Can also be switched to icon style. No weight limit to worry about, different categories, clear defining of what is used where. It's good enough.

Haven't had too much character interaction or story yet. Still early days. But the game consistently pleasantly surprises me by being better than it should be for how much it costs. So really, it already is heavily discounted...the dev should have asked for twice or even thrice as much (Sword Coast Legends or Torchlight 2 money basically)