Dev Note: On the Demo and the Road Ahead

This is the Embers of the Uncrowned team.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to play the demo and leave honest feedback.

We'd like to share the improvements we're currently reviewing for the three most commonly raised areas:

UI, Controls, and Camera.

1. UI Overhaul

Our original intent was to keep the interface clean and let the combat speak for itself, while still delivering the quality-of-life features that matter most during gameplay.

That intent didn't fully come through in the actual play experience. Essential combat information such as cast bars wasn't surfaced clearly enough, and some mechanics weren't communicated through the UI in the way we'd intended.

We'll be doing a full review of the HUD and UI — reworking the layout, icons, information hierarchy, and overall menu structure to better suit hands-on PC play.

2. Controls

Our goal for the control system was to deliver a high-quality action experience in both PvE and PvP.

In PvE, we aimed for sweeping, hard-hitting combat against groups of enemies — while one-on-one boss fights and PvP called for precise timing and tight combos. In trying to balance both, the overall responsiveness ended up feeling sluggish.

We'll be sharpening the input response for dodging and mouse clicks so actions feel more immediate and precise. Alongside that, we'll be addressing:

• Click-to-move mapping — free swapping of left/right mouse button assignments for movement and attack

• Keybinding flexibility — broader rebinding support across the board, including the dodge key

• Controller support — full UI navigation via controller, including menus and the map

• Controller remapping — full key remapping support for controller users

3. Camera

Embers of the Uncrowned is an isometric action RPG, and we built the camera to give players the best view across multiple contents — large boss fights, raids, arenas — while still letting you appreciate your character up close.

That said, we've heard from many of you that the current camera felt uncomfortable during the demo. To deliver a smoother and more refined action experience, we're planning the following improvements:

• Rotation controls — a camera rotation speed slider, plus a hold-to-rotate input mode

• Maximum zoom distance — expanded zoom-out range so large bosses fit fully on screen and the full battlefield stays visible

• Camera angle — pitch tuning closer to top-down for a more appropriate field of view in isometric action combat

• Character screen position — at maximum zoom-out, the character will sit slightly above center, opening up more forward visibility in the direction of travel

• Dodge zoom-in fix — we'll fix the sudden zoom-in effect on dodge for the Executioner and Spectral Blade. As a temporary workaround, this can be reduced under Settings > Environment > Graphics Quality > Skill Effects. The root cause will be fixed in the full release.

The feedback you're sharing during this demo is essential to making Embers of the Uncrowned a better game, and we're reading every word.

We'll do everything we can to have the items under review in place by official launch. We'll continue to share progress through Q&As, future Dev Notes, and other updates so you can follow how things are coming along.

Your feedback is making Embers of the Uncrowned a better game. Keep it coming.

Sincerely,

The Embers of the Uncrowned Team