0.9.2 Update notes
Hi everyone! The Ember Guardian is going to Tokyo Game Show 2025 this week, and to prepare for this special occasion, I am pushing a substantial update to the demo, including visual polishing, combat balance, building improvements, and Japanese localization. Here are some highlights of this patch:
Visuals
The first thing you will notice right after starting the game: you can now play as a female character, completed with new sounds and animation. You can also switch the player character whenever you like using main menu settings.
In addition, The Ember Guardian has a new logo! You can now find it on the main menu, and it matches the ambiance very well!
Combat
Combat being a core mechanic of The Ember Guardian has always been a focus of community feedback, and I’ve taken this change address some of the issues. To begin with, rolling now no longer cancels reloading and this should make combat a lot more fluid.
Enemies now react to players in a more natural manner – crawlers and wasps do not always immediately swarm the player, allowing more breathing room during combat. But don’t be too comfortable, as crawlers have learnt to flank you from both sides, and the armored slugs can shrug off your bullets with their tough shell.
Buildings
Upgraded towers can now host two hunters to double their firepower. You can also work on buildings during the night, even when you’re under attack. Having the option to build new towers or barricades and even repairing damaged ones should give players more tactical flexibility.
These are only a few of the numerous updates introduced in this patch, ranging from gameplay balancing to bug fixes. For the full list of changes, you can see the full patch notes below:
Balancing:
Barricades are now fully repairable at night
Level 2 towers can now host 2 hunters instead of 1 (localization)
“Slug” type creature’s shell now makes bullets bounce off!
Spam QTE progress/key pressed + 10%
SMG accuracy debuff when moving and running decreased
Decreased rifle accuracy when using semi-auto mode
Crawlers and Wasps chance to aggro player on weapon shoot : 100% → 50%
Crawlers can now flank the player
Reduced teleportation skill delay between activation and teleportation : 2s → 1.5s
Trainer’s Max HP upgrade is now capped at level 3
Visuals
Added female player character
New logo! Title screen has been updated.
Replaced the Hunter Shrine visuals
Changed fire visuals when fueling it with orbs
Improved the Eternal Flame’s look
Added talk lines to the player that replace some of the tool tips
Reworked the SMG visuals
Improved hunter arrows trajectories & visuals
Changed gem visuals : newly collected gems now look “raw”, and dropping them in the chest “purifies them”, making them usable for the merchants
QOL
Gun chests no longer replace your weapon completely : you can now swap back to your initial weapon using “tab”
Rolling doesn’t restart the whole reloading process anymore
Towers & barricades are now upgradable at night
Paying an orb to fuel the fire now instantly adds fuel (removed the part with the orb falling into fire)
Doggo now doesn’t growl or bark if set on “Stay” behavior
Crouching now reduces the player’s collider vertical size
Improved gamepad aiming (auto aim, gamepad axial deadzone, rest cursor position…)
Current day displayed every morning
Decreased SFX volume for shotgun hit sounds
Added an SFX when player starts changing weapons
Weapon cursor is now hidden while the player is swapping weapons and cannot shoot
Surge window:
Fixed surge window stacking
Damage numbers are blue when under surge window buff
Crit hit no longer stackable with surge window damage buff
Added minimum delay of 60s between surges
Localization
Added Japanese localization
Optimization
Creatures far away from player are now set in hibernation
Optimized audio memory usage
Fixed some performance bugs when the backpack was too full of small orbs
BugFixes :
Petting dog does not change the dog’s state anymore (follow ↔ stay)
Fixed a bug with weapon precision when swapping weapons
Objective UI correctly displayed at the center of the screen
Fixed animals die animation looping indefinitely
Auto aim now also works on wasp nests
Fixed a bug where the last bullet of a surged weapon would not deal increased damage
Fixed a bug where interacting with a weapon chest while opening would re-trigger the opening SFX & animation
Fixed a bug where trap slots would display as buildable even when the player has no traps in his inventory
Fixed a bug where a destroyed barricade could be upgraded at night
Fixed a bug where the ammo bar would not show when reloading close to the ammo crafter
Fixed accuracy values drifting during a run
Fixed an animation bug where dying would not turn the player transparent