- Patch 1.2.0.4: Orb Alchemist Fix & Demo Update! - 1 September 2026
Hi everyone!It's been a little while, but rest assured, we're still at work on the next update for The Ember Guardian! In the meantime, we're putting out a small patch to address a few issues recently flagged by you guys. Bug FixesFixed a bug where the player would become unable to navigate the Orb Alchemist's shop after refreshing the items.Demo UpdateIt had been a while since we'd updated the demo, and a lot of QoL fixes that we'd implemented on the main game hadn't made it through to it yet. With this update, the demo should now have parity with the main game, and the settings should carry across seamlessly!That's it for today, but we'll be back in touch as soon as we have anything else to share. Thank you for supporting The Ember Guardian!Stay fiery! 🔥
- Patch 1.2.0.3 : Late game buffs & progression fixes! - 21 July 2026
Hi there Emberlings!We have a new patch for you this week, aiming to fix some new issues that were unearthed by recent players. If you're one of the players who picked up The Ember Guardian during Tacticon, or as part of the "Bullet Bundle" with Pathogenic, thank you very much for playing our game and helping make it better for everyone!Balance ChangesB4rk-9 was having issues with target acquisition. He should now pick up targets from further away.Increased the range of B4RK-9's missile ability by 40%The Bone Reaper wasn't quite as threatening as we would want a final boss to be. We're giving him a tall glass of milk to make him sturdier and harder to slow down.Increased the Bone Reaper's health from 6000 to 8000Reduced the penalty applied to the Bone Reaper's attacks while inside the fire area from -150% to -50%Bug FixesFixed a bug where the player would not be able to heal at camp aft…
- Patch 1.2.0.2 : More Bug Fixes! - 16 July 2026
Hi Emberlings!We found a couple more bugs hidden in the latest patch, so we're releasing another small hotfix to address them. Thank you to anyone that's taken the time to report them, whether it's here on Steam, on our Discord, or anywhere else!Bug FixesFixed a bug where the German Shepherd would not use its dig ability.Fixed a bug where the Fire overlay UI would remain visible and not update across the game in Horde Mode.Fixed a bug where resetting Horde Progression with a non-default base layout wouldn't correctly reset your base layout.Fixed a bug where the Orb Alchemist would offer wrong wares after the player saved and loaded back into a game.Thank you again for your support and for playing The Ember Guardian.Stay fiery! 🔥
- Patch 1.2.0.1: Horde Mode Bug Fixes - 14 July 2026
Hi Emberlings!We're putting out a small patch today as some issues were highlighted in the wake of last week's patch. Check out the full list of changes below!Bug FixesFixed a bug where players wouldn't be able to save in the middle of a Horde Mode run.Fixed a bug where red orbs would still drop in Horde Mode, even after the Crimson Alchemist was removed from the player's camp.Fixed a bug where enemies could leave the combat area after the player triggered an Ambush Chest, which could lead to a softlock.OtherWe mistakenly reported in the announcement post last week that B4RK-9 would be unlocked after completing the Corrupted Core level. This was a mistake, as B4RK-9 actually unlocks after completing the following level, Corrupted Heart. We apologise for the confusion this caused, and the original Steam post has been edited accordingly.Thank you for your continued support and for playing…
- Update 1.2: The Iron Companion! - 9 July 2026
From the ruins of the corrupted city, it awakened. Driven by long-forgotten directives, it finds you. Under your command, it will fulfil its purpose.Hi there Emberlings!We have an exciting new update for The Ember Guardian today. Read on to find out about all the changes in version 1.2.0!New Dog: B4RK-9B4RK-9 is a mechanical hound, crafted by an unknown artificer with technology beyond your reach. This new dog is ideal for spending long days exploring the wastes, with its Overclock Pulse ability increasing your mobility, as well as its ability to craft ammunition when you're far from your base. It's also equipped with a missile launcher that will track and shoot down aerial enemies, to keep the skies clear while you focus on grounded targets.B4RK-9 is unlocked in the "Corrupted Heart" level, and will be retroactively awarded to all players that have completed that level already. We hope…
- The Ember Guardian is now Steam Deck Verified! - 18 June 2026
Hi there Emberlings!We're happy to say that The Ember Guardian is now Steam Deck Verified! You can now take The Ember Guardian on the go, for all your wanderlust needs! Ideal if you need to walk your dog, or go scavenge the nearby grocery store for supplies!Speaking of dogs... We've been working on the next update, and will have more news to share very soon.Thank you again for your support, and stay fiery!🔥
- Update 1.1: The Firepower Update! - 1 June 2026
Hello there Emberlings!We're happy to present the first major update for The Ember Guardian today: the Firepower Update! This update adds a slew of options for dispatching Darklings, as well as multiple QoL and balancing fixes. Read on to find out more!Gameplay ChangesNew Weapon AbilitiesDid you ever dream about a fully automatic Shotgun? Want to feel like a Wild West pistolero with bullets ricocheting between foes? Or simply crave dangerously large explosions? Visit the Armorer today and make your dreams come true!Each weapon now has a new alternate fire mode! These can be unlocked at the Armorer, just like the existing options, and the Armorer will also let you switch between alternate fire modes before heading into a level. Just like the original cast, these upgrades cost 5 red gems and cannot be refunded.Rifle: Charged ShotCharges shots to deal 2.5x damage, but greatly reduces fire…
- One month since The Ember Guardian released! - 20 May 2026
Hi Emberlings,It's been a month since we released The Ember Guardian, and we've been both humbled and awestruck at the reception our little game has received. Now that the game is in a good state and we've had some time to breathe, we wanted to take a moment to look back and share some numbers with you guys!Since The Ember Guardian released, we've had: We couldn't be more grateful for all of you. Whether you played for 10 minutes or 100 hours, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.We also want to reassure you: we might have slowed down the patch cadence, but we're far from done! We have more content in the works, and we're committed to making The Ember Guardian the best it can be.See you in the wastes, and stay fiery!🔥
- Patch 1.0.4 : Optimisation & Worker Improvements! - 12 May 2026
Hello Emberlings!We've taken some time to work on some long-requested QoL changes, and we used this opportunity to fix a few bugs in the process! Read on to find out what's new in The Ember Guardian!Gameplay changesGuard survivability improvements:Guards now head back to safety when they reach less than 30% health. When back at full health, they head back outside to defend.Health refills over time at a rate of .3/s.You can now reassign hunters at dusk & at night ! Doing so will prioritise hunters that are still on the ground, before giving orders to ungarrison to hunters in towers. Careful, this could cause your hunters to put themselves in danger !Added a new upgrade at the Architect, allowing to increase number of Orb Processor slots by 1.Added Special Ammo and Regular Ammo icons for weapons in the inventory and the Armorer's UI. Balance changesMinigun : We're increasing the Minigun's…
- Patch 1.0.3.5 : Weapon Balancing Changes! - 5 May 2026
Hi there Emberlings!We have a new patch for you today, which focuses on giving some love to the more neglected weapons! A perfect opportunity to try out a new loadout or two...Gameplay Changes Weapon balancingMinigun : The minigun's damage was underwhelming for the point in the game where you unlock it. These changes should give it a bit more stopping power.Base damage per bullet 3 → 5Added a 3rd level of Damage per Bullet upgrade (costs 8 red gems).LMG : The LMG is currently too punishing for the setup it requires to perform, so we're adjusting its mobility upwards.Base Reload time 4.5s → 3.8sReload time upgrades -10%/-20%/-30% → -10%/-15%/-20%Weight speed modifier 0.8 → 0.85Reload speed modifier 0.8 → 0.9Time to deploy bipod 0.9s → 0.75sTime to remove bipod 0.5s → 0.4sRevolver : The revolver has a long reload time which we want to keep, but it could benefit from packing more of a punc…
- Patch 1.0.3.4 : Upgrade & Dark Companion bugfixes - 1 May 2026
Hi guys,We accidentally introduced a couple bugs with yesterday's patch, so we're releasing this hotfix to sort them out, as well as correct a couple of dog behaviours.Bug FixesFixed a bug where the player would not be able to upgrade turrets after an engineer reloaded them.Fixed a bug where engineers would sometimes idle in front of a turret instead of climbing in.Fixed a bug where the Dark Companion would forget to use its abilities midway through the level. He's a silly boy.Fixed a bug where dogs would sometime try to target an enemy behind an obstacle and get stuck in the process.Thank you again for playing The Ember Guardian, and stay fiery! 🔥
- Patch 1.0.3.3 : Smarter Engineering! - 30 April 2026
Hey Emberlings!We've got a new update for you today! This patch includes a round of upgrades focusing on Engineer AI, since it's been one of the most requested improvements from the community. Engineer AI ImprovementsEngineers now reevaluate their working priority when an Engineer tower is built, avoiding Engineers staying on drills at dusk when they could be helping defend the base.Engineers will now craft ammo and refill towers at night rather than staying idle (if all other slots are filled).Engineers will no longer hold onto ammo if there are structures that could still be refilled (towers and containers alike).Engineers will now pick up ammo from the crafter and go refill structures even if an ammo container hasn't been built.Engineers heading to refill a structure no longer stop and drop their belongings to the player.Gameplay ChangesUpgraded engineer towers now have expanded ammo…
- Patch 1.0.3.2 : Achievement Fixes & Smarter Companion - 28 April 2026
Hey there Emberlings!We hope you didn't miss us too much! We've been hard at work to bring you more bug fixes & changes, read on to find out all the details!Gameplay ChangesUsing the “Return To Hub” button now brings your hard-earned gems back with you to the hub.Note: We had a few complaints about the fact that losing in a level let you keep your gems, but exiting early didn't. This discrepancy is now fixed! Sure, it'll make farming gems easier, but this is a single player game, and if someone wants to spend time farming gems, they can do it if they want! Dark companion AI improvementsThe Dark Companion now uses his abilities more intelligently, depending on the number of targets.The Dark Companion's Ground Stomp and Laser Beam now only target grounded creatures.The Dark Companion no longer gets stuck into a rolling animation. Rolling around is fun, but the Guardian needs you!Balance C…
- Patch 1.0.3.1 : Dog Buffs & Storage Options! - 23 April 2026
Hey there Emberlings,We've got a new patch for you today! This one brings a long awaited feature... Read on to find out more!Gameplay changesGolden Retriever's Loyal Radiance now also affects engineers.Note: The Golden Retriever's niche feels less clear than the other 2 dogs. Letting its aura affect engineers (and making it clearer that it also affects scavengers) makes it more flexible, and opens up interesting gameplay patterns like sitting the dog down next to a car that needs breaking down, for example.The Crimson Alchemist now graciously allows players to use his 2 red orb containers... For a time.Note: Many players complained about red orbs taking too much space in their inventory, so we've added some containers to the Crimson Alchemist. These containers can store as many orbs as you desire, but you will need to take orbs out of them to buy anything. These containers are not saved…
- Patch 1.0.3.0: Gem Trading & V-sync! - 22 April 2026
Hi there Emberlings,Another day means another patch, and this one brings multiple requested features! We hope they will make your journey into the wasteland more enjoyable.Gameplay changesTrading: The Gem Trader got bored of players not interacting with him after maxing out his upgrade tree, so he now exchanges gems at a rate of 3 to 1. Yes, it's an unfair rate. No, you can't get a discount because you're "saving the world" or whatever.Engineer and Scavenger shrines now respectively display the total amount of Engineers and Scavengers recruited !The mouse wheel now allows players to swap between their primary and secondary weapon. OptimisationV-Sync & Max FPS settings have been added.Note: These settings were by far the most requested when it comes to optimisation. We're not expecting them to be a miracle fix, but please try playing around with them and let us know if your performance i…
- Patch 1.0.2.3 : Soft Lockpicking & Performance Improvements! - 21 April 2026
Hey there Emberlings!We have another patch for you today, which aims to tackle some major issues we've seen reported. Read on for more!Gameplay changesPlayers can now shoot through barricades.Note: We heard quite a few complaints about not being able to shoot through barricades. While the original intent was for players to climb towers to shoot over them, this ended up being more frustrating than anything else, so we're giving you the option to shoot through them now. Climbing towers is still useful to pick off high-damage ranged enemies, so we're happy with that compromise!Optimisation changesDisabled collision between multiple objects to save performance.Note: This will only affect performance issues due to large numbers of creatures on screen. We are continuing to investigate other causes & solutions, but this should already help. Optimisation remains our #1 priority. Bug fixesPlayer…
- Patch 1.0.2.2 : Creatures ignoring barricades bug fixed - 21 April 2026
The previous patch introduced a bug where the creatures would sometimes ignore the barricades and run straight to the fire. This has been fixes in this patch.
- Patch 1.0.2.1: Aim Assist Adjustments & Progress Fixes - 20 April 2026
Hi Emberlings! Thank you to everyone who's been playing the game over the weekend! We're delighted to see so many people dive into our world, and we're still working to fix every bug you guys are flagging to make your experience as smooth as possible. To that end, this patch has a new round of fixes and optimisations!Aim Assist AdjustmentsFixed auto aiming position on most creatures to target the head.Fixed auto aiming position on Sentient Traps to be lower.Fixed auto aiming position on The Colossus to be more central.Fixed irregularities when synchronizing Aim Assist range with the current weapon’s range.Fixed Aim Assist logic when leading shots, which should greatly increase accuracy on flying enemies.Note: The Aim Assist was originally intended to not target weak points, as a kind of "drawback" in comparison to manual aim. We received many comments about this, and decided to adjust i…
- Patch 1.0.2 : Frame Drop Optimizations & Black Screen Bug - 19 April 2026
We've heard your concerns about optimisation and worked on identifying sources of frame drops. Good news! We found that a lot of frame drops were caused by loading sound effects during runtime, so we managed to significantly reduce frequent frame drops due to those.We'll be monitoring your feedback on the effect those changes had - if you were experiencing frame drops and stutters please let us know if this fixes it. We'll continue to monitor and patch ASAP. Optimization :Fixed frequent sources of frame drops due to sound effects being loaded into memory during runtime. Bug fixes :Fixed level 3 towers & barricades not being upgradeable to level 4 both in Campaign and Horde Mode. (Shoutout to Cogzworth in the Steam forums for flagging this one to us!)UPDATE: When we initially released this patch, it caused an issue with black screens on scene loads. We rolled it back and fixed this black…
- First Major Patch - Bug Fixes and Flying Enemy Balancing! - 18 April 2026
Hey everyone!It's been almost 24 hours since launch and I just want to thank you all for the support so far. As of the time of writing we're still hitting new all time player counts, currently at 338 CCU which is great for such a small game like ours 🥳We've been reading every review (reminder to help us out by leaving a review - it really helps with visibility on Steam!) and every community post and have compiled some bug fixes as well as some balance changes, such as a first pass at balancing the flying enemies.Please see the full changelog below and we'll continue monitoring over the weekend and into next week working on bugfixes and balancing!Version 1.0.1.9Bug Fixes Fixed a bug where the player would get stuck between towers if towers are stacked close to eachother.Fixed a bug where creatures would spawn outside the trial area walls when opening a trial chest, blocking the level.Fi…
