v1.0.3 “Guiding Light Update”

Hi everyone! This update focuses heavily on improving early-game clarity, making Chapter 1 more welcoming, and tightening the pacing of a few boss encounters later on. We’ve also knocked out a handful of crashes and fixed some long-standing quirks with abilities.

Here’s a summary of the most notable improvements:

🔥 Highlights

• Chapter 1 boss rebalanced — lower health, slower attacks, and longer vulnerability windows

• Better onboarding — Ember now provides smarter, once-per-run context hints (without feeling naggy!)

• New Sun Power — helps detect foraging/crafting items

• New Plushie Upgrade — grants a free Sun Power at first dawn

• Crafting minigames require fewer inputs

• Chapter 3 boss pacing greatly improved

• Multiple crash fixes

• Lots of bug fixes including Courageon quips, Ayco’s Shield Surge, parry behavior, and more

And of course, below are the full patch notes for anyone who loves the details. Thank you so much for playing and for all your feedback. Your insights make Ember stronger. 🦊✨

If you encounter anything unexpected, please drop a note on the discussions page or in the Discord!

Stay bright, — Arden, LionArc Games

Full Patch Notes

v1.0.3 — Guiding Light Update

Chapter 1 Improvements

• Boss health reduced

• Boss attack frequency reduced

• Boss vulnerable phase lasts longer

  • Dev Note: These boss changes apply only when reaching him normally in Chapter 1

• Slight increase in the quantity of bug food spawns around the forest on day 1. (Ch1 only)

• Slight reduction in total enemies appearing during Chapter 1 nights

Onboarding, Tutorials & Player Guidance

• Reworded the first tutorial popup to better explain how to light campfires

• Expanded Ember’s contextual hint system to reinforce key concepts while avoiding spam:

  • Up to once per run, Ember hints that a campfire is too small to add more wood (until you build a large campfire at least once; tracked with a new stat)

  • Up to once per run in Chapter 1 (or until lighting 5 fires), Ember reminds you to grab a bug for a fire attack in mid-afternoon if you don’t have one

  • Up to once per run, Ember points out if a nearby campfire has run out of wood

  • Up to once per run (until reaching Chapter 2 or lighting 5 fires), Ember hints about needing a Power Strike to light a fire

  • Up to once per run (same conditions), Ember hints about needing a fire attack upgrade to light a fire

  • Up to once per run, Ember gives feedback on how to damage the Chapter 1 boss if you appear stuck

• Added a new Sun Power that helps detect foraging and crafting items

• Added a Plushie upgrade that grants one free Sun Power at the first dawn of each dream

Boss & Enemy Adjustments

Chapter 3 Boss

• Move phase duration cut roughly in half

• Added minion spawns at the end of the start of the move phase to reduce perceived idle time

• Some bullets at the end of vulnerability are now dread type

• Improved intro sequence to fix several edge-case behaviors

Other Enemy Changes

• Red spider variant health increased from 120 → 140

• Bullets that seek enemies no longer target invulnerable enemies

Crafting & Interaction

• Reduced the number of required inputs for most crafting minigames

• Added checks to prevent the game from entering an invalid “pseudo-paused” state

• Added brief input lockouts on certain menu moments to prevent accidental inputs

Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the final bedroom plushie conversation could trigger twice or not at all

• Fixed a crash when the pond gem tried to absorb an object that had despawned

• Fixed a crash when adjusting video settings that could corrupt the configuration file

• Fixed a crash during the final boss if the white gem was destroyed before its cutscene finished

• Fixed a minor trigger issue where the game incorrectly believed you were at the edge of the map while the camera was panning

• Adjusted Plush Fox's Starfall ability (minor buffs and exploit prevention)

• Fixed a bug allowing the Parry moon power to work on dread skull chaser bullets

• Fixed a bug that prevented Courageon’s nighttime quips

• Fixed a bug that disabled Ayco’s Shield Surge

Additional Fixes

Since this release, a handful of hotfixes have been released to address additional issues reported by players.

Hotfix 1 | Hotfix 2 | Hotfix 3

Things Addressed in Hotfixes

Epilogue Fixes

• Fixed multiple crashes related to Epilogue dawn events triggering more than once.

• Fixed a crash related to an Epilogue boss spawn event.

• Fixed an Epilogue dialogue issue that could cause unintended dialogue to play.

• Fixed a visual issue where some vines were not clearing correctly in the Epilogue.

• Corrected a small visual error in an Epilogue-specific vine art asset.

• Resolved a glitch that caused the Chapter 2 boss’s shield to render out of position.

Gameplay & Balance

• Updated the Dusk Treader outfit unlock requirements to reduce confusion.

• Balance: Fully evolved Vine Nests now gain additional maximum HP each day in the Epilogue, in line with difficulty scaling.

Progression & Achievements

• Steam achievements now retroactively unlock when loading save files created before v1.0, if their requirements have already been met.

• Improved the conditions for unlocking the first achievement so it triggers more reliably for older save files returning to the game.

Audio

• Fixed a crash that could occur when starting a new game with sound effect volume set to zero.

• Fixed inconsistencies where sound effect volume was not correctly respecting player settings.