What is new in Emberward 1.0?

A fifth region called Void Depths, the Void Flame, the Volcano Tower and Sentry Tower, 15 new achievements, eight new languages, Steam Trading Cards, main menu backgrounds, block skins, Dopamine Mode and a large balance pass.

Why can't I use event characters or Infernal Shards after 1.0?

They now unlock only after completing the entire game, which includes the new Void Depths region. Clear Void Depths on any difficulty and they become available again.

Will Emberward keep getting updates after 1.0?

Yes. The developer said updates continue with new towers, relics and maps, alongside work on console ports. A level editor is possible later if enough people keep playing.

Emberward 1.0 Update: Patch Notes Summary and What's Next

What’s new in Emberward 1.0?

New region: Void Depths — the fifth Adventure region, after Sealed Citadel. It leans on void zones, portals and support items; the developer describes it as a return to maze building.
New flame: Void Flame — unlocked by clearing Void Depths on Normal or higher.
2 new towers: Volcano Tower (3x3) and Sentry Tower (1x1). The Basic Tower was removed.
15 new achievements, bringing the total to exactly 100 — full list with unlock rates.
8 new languages: Korean, French, German, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.
Steam Trading Cards, awarded retroactively to existing players.
Main menu backgrounds (unlocked by clearing areas or reaching Endless waves) and 12 block skins bought with spare EXP.
Dopamine Mode in Settings: defeated monsters burst into decorative coins.

New towers

Volcano Tower (3x3) — fires multiple magma orbs that explode on impact, with a high chance to apply burning.
Sentry Tower (1x1) — enters Alert Mode after a while without attacking, then greatly increases attack speed when a monster appears.

Tower balance changes

The developer explained the balance approach: towers that are awkward to use (unusual range or shape, or needing combos) get slightly higher numbers, while towers that work anywhere — the Missile Tower is the example given — get slightly lower base numbers.

All tower number changes in 1.0

Tower	Change
Torch	Bounce chance 40% → 50%
Magic Arrow	Cost 15 → 20
Laser	Charge speed −20%
Dice	Range 4 → 5
Giant Dice	Range 4.5 → 5.5
Drone	Red upgrade detection range +50% → +100%
Dart	Range 4 → 4.5; attack speed 1.25 → 1
Earthquake	Range 4 → 5; damage 8 → 10
Decimate	Red upgrade damage +20 → +25
Landmine	Damage 30 → 35
Hammer	Blue upgrade speed +40% → +30%
Chomp	Red upgrade damage +20 → +30
Sniper	Now 50% base crit chance; cost 90 → 80
Frost Ray	Damage 6 → 5
Fan	Range 8 → 12
Electro Gate	Damage 5 → 6
Bomb	Damage 30 → 35; red upgrade damage +15 → +20
Poison	Damage 25 → 35; blue upgrade cost 50 → 40
Slime	Damage 6 → 5
Scrap	Damage 2 → 4; ammo 30 → 20
Barrage	Cost 85 → 95; bullets per second 20 → 15
Boulder	Red upgrade: boulders now roll along the monster path

Towers whose element is changed by the Chameleon Shell relic now apply Charge and Fragile in line with other Lightning/Arcane towers.

Relic reworks

Ten relics were reworked: Flash Freeze Device, Sacrificial Pact, Chaos Transmuter, Ember Guardian, Frost Venom, Explosive Demolition, Volatile Poison, Giant Lizard Fang, Lava Bucket and Venom Satchel. Three of them — Frost Venom, Volatile Poison and Giant Lizard Fang — now trigger off poisoned monsters.

New relic text (as written in the patch notes)

Flash Freeze Device: When a monster first comes within 10 tiles of the fire source, immediately apply 7 stacks of Chill. While it remains in range, apply 1 stack of Chill per second.
Sacrificial Pact: When the fire source is attacked and its remaining HP falls below 5, consume this relic and immediately recover up to 10 HP.
Chaos Transmuter: The number of towers transformed increases by 1 after each round.
Ember Guardian: At the start of each stage, 5 buff tiles with random effects appear within the fire source’s attack range.
Frost Venom: While a monster is poisoned, apply 1 stack of Chill per second.
Explosive Demolition: Selling a tower during battle creates an explosion dealing 10x the gold gained to nearby monsters.
Volatile Poison: Once every 5 seconds, when a poisoned monster is affected by Burn, it explodes, consuming half its Poison and dealing twice that as Fire damage split among monsters within 2.5 tiles; it chains to other poisoned monsters.
Giant Lizard Fang: While a monster is poisoned, it gains 1% Fragile per second, up to 20% (5% for bosses). Resets when Poison wears off.
Lava Bucket: Fire damage has a chance to create lava dealing 3x the current round number per second to monsters passing through.
Venom Satchel: Every 5 seconds in battle, applies the Poison Bottle buff to a random tower without a buff card effect.

New runes

Mirror Rune — place a 1x1 tower on it and weaker copies appear on every other Mirror Rune.
Precision Rune — greatly increases a tower’s critical chance and critical damage.
Upgrade Rune — greatly reduces the cost of upgrades of the matching color.

Character changes

Belloc the Pyroguard no longer reduces the fire source’s starting HP.
Tana the Sorcerer gets buff cards more evenly.
Chrono Traveler: time limit is 60 seconds in round one and 15 seconds afterwards; with Shard of Confusion, Overcharge costs 3 gold.
Scrap Master: the S.C.R.A.B. moves more easily, is no longer restricted by enemy territory, and Focus Fire now has a 5-second cooldown instead of once per round.

Other changes

The last group of stages before a boss now always offers a Mini Shop or Abandoned Forge as a clear reward.
Infernal Shards: Shard of Fragility (Lv 3) now sets HP to 3 instead of 1; Shard of Nightmares (Lv 2) no longer spawns Werebeasts and Frost Elementals as large otherworld monsters.
Challenge Mode after clearing the game: monster speed increase capped at 30%; HP growth raised from 25% to 30% per wave.
Quality of life: ESC skips boss intros you have already seen, Q/E rotates the camera, the drawing tool gained erase and grid lines, the damage chart shows relics, fire source, burning and S.C.R.A.B. damage, and tower placement shows a grid highlight.

Post-launch fixes

September 20, 2026

Fixed hotkeys and recall breaking when switching windows with both “Auto Pause In Background” and “Stealth Mode” on.

September 21, 2026

Scythe Tower’s attack effect now scales with its attack range.
Spitopus uses its skill less often.
Silas, Tiny and Chunk are slightly easier to unlock.
Fixed wrong card selection when applying runes in the Workshop with identical blocks, missing numbers on some relic icons, and translation errors.

What comes after 1.0?

From the developer’s own plan in the announcement:

A short break, then a return to a regular update schedule with new towers, relics and maps.
Console ports, with work time split about fifty-fifty with new content until all ports are done. No platforms or dates were announced.
Possibly a level editor — only if the game keeps enough active players, since it would take three to four months.

Translation into 13 languages means updates will be slower than during Early Access. Platform details are on the Steam Deck and platforms page; new players should start with what Emberward is. Every earlier version is summarised in the full update history.

Sources

Emberward 1.0 Is Out Now!! — Steam announcement, 2026-09-17 (including post-update fixes dated 9/20 and 9/21; checked 2026-09-23)