Emberward — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Changes! | 2026-07-09 | Hi everyone!Although we just talked about what's coming in 1.0 recently, it didn't really hit me until I started writing this announcement. Emberward's Early Access is really almost over! I've been trying really hard to get everything done lately...I'm even dreaming about designing new levels. Hopefully I can wrap up 1.0 soon so I can get back to working on the more fun stuff, like new towers and relics 😆(If you missed what's coming in 1.0, you can check out the previous post!)Because of Steam's rules, after a game's price is changed, there's a one-month cooldown before it can go on sale. So I need to update the price to the full release pri |
| Dev Chat: What's Coming In 1.0? | 2026-06-14 | It's been almost 2 months since the last update!Recently I've been seeing more and more people ask when the next update is coming. (Someone even emailed me asking if I was sick) So I guess it's time to talk about what's coming in the 1.0 launch!When Early Access first started, my plan was pretty simple: just steadily finish all 4 regions, make all the towers and relics I had planned, fix the bugs, and the game should be ready for 1.0! Surely that would only take about a year...right? But once I actually started working on it, I realized things were completely different from what I had imagined. Players often suggested ideas or gave feedback t |
| Game Update! (v0.4.12) | 2026-04-16 | New update!Another month just flew by!In this patch, there are some big changes to Endless Mode. Previously, Endless Mode had random anomaly effects to ramp up the difficulty, so you had to adjust your strategy, towers, and relics around them. But from player feedback, a lot of people mentioned that those restrictive effects didn't feel great to play with. So this time I decided to try a different direction (...the exact opposite direction) and added powerful positive effects instead! Honestly, I think having both positive and negative effects could lead to more interesting strategy, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on a buffs-only version |
| Game Update! (v0.4.11) | 2026-03-09 | New Update!Not sure if you noticed, but this week is Steam's Tower Defense Fest! The event is meant to help people discover more tower defense games, but it got me thinking... if it's a tower defense fest, maybe I could make something that fits the tower defense theme?Then I remembered something I've seen quite a few times in the feedback form. Many players said that after playing Emberward, it reminded them of the old days playing WC3 or SC2 custom games. For a lot of people, that was their introduction to tower defense games (yeah, same for me). And since the last update added the Fort Tower, I thought...why not take this chance to revisit |
| Game Update! (v0.4.10) | 2026-02-12 | New Update!Finally!! The feature that's been stressing me out the most is done!This update…I'd say about 90% of the time went into controller support. Since Emberward's demo launch, a lot of players have been asking about it. But if every time I add something new I also have to make sure controller support works perfectly, it would make development way more time-consuming and harder to iterate on quickly. So I decided to wait until we're closer to 1.0 and handle it all at once.Which means…after two years of stacking up hundreds of UI elements and game objects, it basically turned into development hell 💀. But I'm really happy I was able to ke |
| Game Update! (v0.4.9) | 2025-12-18 | New Update!2025 is almost over! ☃️ I was reading through some old patch notes yesterday and suddenly realized that around this time last year…I hadn't even started working on Sealed Citadel yet!? This whole year has felt like it flew by, but looking back at the logs, it's actually been pretty packed. All of a sudden, we've got the Sealed Citadel, Infernal Shards, a bunch of new characters, towers, relics, and tons of stuff that wasn't even in the original plan. So really, thank you all for the support and feedback throughout the year! Thanks to so many of you playing and supporting the game, I've been able to keep expanding Emberward. (Someti |
| Game Update! (v0.4.8) | 2025-11-15 | New Update!So…this update ended up being nothing like what I originally planned! °∀°I've always felt that Emberward has one big issue that's really hard to solve: whether you play Roguelite Mode or Endless Mode, a full run takes a loooong time to finish. But TD games are naturally time-consuming, and when you add maze-building on top of that, the thinking time makes the game even longer. It's kind of a built-in limitation of the genre, so it's very difficult to find a fix for it.But a few days after the last update, Youtube randomly showed me a video about chess endgame puzzles (…I don't even play chess, no idea why it showed up but it was in |
| Game Update! (v0.4.7) | 2025-10-17 | New Update!Another step towards 1.0! This update fixes several issues I've been wanting to solve for a long time.After finishing the achievement system, most of the major planned features are done. But since the game's been in development for over two years now (!!), some of the early designs don't quite fit anymore as things have evolved. So this update, besides adding more new stuff, also focuses on reworking those parts to better suit the current state of the game. I've finished the last normal character, made some pretty big changes to how flame works, and added a bunch of new relics!By the way, a lot of players have been asking lately wh |
| Game Update! (v0.4.6) | 2025-09-11 | New Update!FINALLY the achievements are out!This patch was a ton of work, and I’m so happy it's finally done! Getting the achievement system finished feels like a huge step toward 1.0. Right now the game has 85 achievements. Aside from the ones you unlock just by progressing, I also added some that take a little creative thinking to figure out, plus a few ideas that came from players during Early Access. My goal with achievements is more about "encouraging players to do some weird stuff" rather than making them insanely hard (the most difficult one is likely the Infernal Shard 24 achievement). Kinda like extra challenges layered on top of the |
| Game Update! (v0.4.5) | 2025-07-31 | New Update!This patch adds Daily and Weekly Challenges to Endless Mode!Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what the "final form" of Emberward should look like. I've played a ton of fun tower defense games in the past. They were super fun, but once I finished them, I often didn't feel like going back. I always wished there was something that kept pulling me back in with new challenges. That's the idea behind the new Daily and Weekly Challenges in this update!These challenges use maps from the regular roguelite mode, but with added twists and modifiers. Sometimes you'll get a ton of relics to play with, sometimes the elements are limited, |
| Game Update! (v0.4.4) | 2025-06-25 | Surprise Update!!Not sure if anyone noticed, but today marks the one-year anniversary of Emberward's Early Access!(I was so naive to think I could finish the game in one year...Emberward is now at least three times bigger than I originally planned.)This past year has been insanely busy and exhausting, but also a lot of fun! I've had the chance to meet players from all over the world, learned a ton of things I never expected to deal with, and…released a bunch of bugs. Honestly, I wouldn't have made it this far without everyone's support. Thank you all for playing the game, allowing me to work on it full-time!Also, a huge thank you to all the p |
| Game Update! (v0.4.3) | 2025-06-13 | New Update!I thought this update would be easier to make, but it turned out to be a tough one!Designing the tier 3 Infernal Shards fried a lot of my brain cells, but I'm pretty happy with the result. I tried to come up with a system that isn't too harsh, but still provides an extra challenge. If you're into tough challenges, give it a try and let me know what you think! (Shard level 24 is...really hard)Also, some new Poison towers were added in this update, so now the five elements each have about the same number of towers. As for the Poison-element relics, since they were created early in development, I plan to adjust their effects in the fu |
| Game Update! (v0.4.2) | 2025-05-08 | https://i.imgur.com/pnKz9Cc.gif New Update! This update introduces the highest difficulty system in the game - Infernal Shards. Since I need lots of feedback to figure out what's the expected difficulty for hardcore players, please let me know what you think after trying it out! The first two tiers are available in this patch, and the third tier will be available in the next patch. Originally, I planned to add more poison towers in this patch, but working on the Infernal Shard system took up most of my time, so the new towers will be postponed to a later update. Instead, I used the spare time to make several new relics. Some of them are quite |
| Game Update! (v0.4.1) | 2025-04-01 | New Update! Since I was a student, I loved seeing all the weird and fun events games would hold on April Fools' Day. Now that I have my own game, it feels like I have to add something special on this day! This update introduces a few more new towers, a limited-time April Fools' character, and a mode that randomly mixes maps from four different regions. As it's an April Fools' event, the new character is designed...differently compared to others. It might feel a bit luck-based or unbalanced, but...it's April Fools'! It’s the perfect time to add something that wouldn't normally make it into the game. (If you've been in the Discord for over a ye |
| Game Update! (v0.4.0 - Sealed Citadel) | 2025-03-04 | https://i.imgur.com/LfpQ1dt.gif UPDATE TIME!! This is the patch that took the longest time to develop since the early access launched. The past two months have truly been...a development nightmare. But now, it's finally ready! (And I can go back to making more towers!) As usual, the fourth area comes with unique new mechanics, a new Boss fight, and new unlockable flames. Since it’s currently the last planned area, the design focus this time has returned to what really matters in tower defense games: resource management. Figuring out how to make the most of your gold, blocks, and towers, while fending off attacks and achieving other objectives |
| Dev Chat: 4th Region Preview | 2025-02-11 | Hey everyone! As mentioned last time, I’m currently working on the 4th region. The development has been quite smooth (except I scrapped a main mechanic that took me 2 weeks to make and start over...), but it feels weird not posting anything for this long. So here’s a quick dev update to show what you can expect in the next patch! The next patch will introduce the 4th region, which includes several new mechanics, enemies, a boss fight, and a new flame you’ll unlock after clearing it. Right now, I’m aiming to finish it by the end of February. But since the new mechanic is a bit more complex this time, I’ll release it on the beta branch for a fe |
| Game Update! (v0.3.5) | 2024-12-19 | New update!! As mentioned last time, this update is focused on revisiting older features and includes some suggestions from the community. When I started making Emberward, most of the relics and characters were designed with simpler abilities, which made them feel much weaker compared to the newer additions. This patch focuses on reworking characters and maps. I've listed the changes below and explained why they are changed! After this update, I plan to start working on the fourth area (…😱). Since a full new area involves designing monsters abilities, mechanics, maps, and the final boss level, it'll take significantly more time than regular |
| Game Update! (v0.3.4) | 2024-11-13 | https://i.imgur.com/Xp0g3tZ.gif New update!! This update introduces another new character, new towers, and lots of changes! The new character, Tana, offers a more relaxed gameplay experience, and with a strategic use of towers and cards, she might be the strongest character yet! The three new towers...were much more complex to make than the others, but I really like how they turned out. (especially the tank :P) Try them out and let me know what you think! Also, thank you all for playing the Misty Graveyard! (I really didn't expect it to turn into an idle game...) I've got so much valuable feedback, and found lots of things that need to be adj |
| Game Update! (v0.3.3) | 2024-10-18 | Special Update!! Recently, besides the new towers, I've also been working on some new features that I wanted to find a way to gather feedback, but...it just didn't feel right to put out test features even though we're still in Early Access. Since Halloween is around the corner, I decided to combine these features into a special event! Since this is mostly about gathering feedback for future content, the plan is to keep it around for maybe 1-2 updates, but that really depends on everyone’s feedback. After you play, feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions here or on Discord! By the way, since someone asked last time, I want to mention t |
| Game Update! (v0.3.2) | 2024-10-01 | New update!! As mentioned before, this update adds arcane towers and relics, along with a new character! However, this character is quite different from the others. Since the early access launch, there have been many requests for a faster-paced mode. However, I understand that it might not suit everyone, so the Chrono Traveler is here to offer more exciting and dynamic gameplay, while not affecting those who prefer a relaxed experience or wish to play without a timer. So, don't worry if the new character's playstyle isn't for you! There are (at least) 4 more coming in the future. Recently, I’ve been working on and testing the endless mode. Af |