Game Update! (v0.4.8)

New Update!

So…this update ended up being nothing like what I originally planned! °∀°

I've always felt that Emberward has one big issue that's really hard to solve: whether you play Roguelite Mode or Endless Mode, a full run takes a loooong time to finish. But TD games are naturally time-consuming, and when you add maze-building on top of that, the thinking time makes the game even longer. It's kind of a built-in limitation of the genre, so it's very difficult to find a fix for it.

But a few days after the last update, Youtube randomly showed me a video about chess endgame puzzles (…I don't even play chess, no idea why it showed up but it was interesting). And it made me think: Is there a way to create a faster game mode using a puzzle-like structure?

So I spent some time messing around with the idea, and it ended up being pretty fun and felt like it had a lot of potential! That's why I decided to add this totally unplanned new mode.

Basically, unlike the other modes where you gradually scale up your power, this one gives you a limited set of towers, blocks and resources right away. (More like a puzzle instead of a roguelite) Your only goal is to squeeze out the absolute best defence you can from that fixed set and survive as long as possible in each wave. Since every player gets the exact same setup, the leaderboard becomes a much clearer reflection of actual skill. It's great for players who love optimizing and pushing limits, or people who don't have much time to play.

Anyway, just go try it out and let me know what you think! I'll be checking everyone's feedback to see if I should spend more time expanding this mode or not.

- Refi

New Features

Game Mode

• New Game Mode: Enigma Sanctum!

  A sacred domain built within the academy. Conducting endless simulations for the one flawless strategy.

  • This mode includes Daily Challenge, Weekly Challenge and Random Challenge.

  • In Daily and Weekly Challenges, all players face the same stages and are given the same towers and cards.

  • Each game consists of three rounds. At the start of every round you receive a new set of towers and cards and must maximize the defence using this loadout.

  • Once battle begins, monsters spawn continuously until one of them reaches the Fire Source, then the battle stops and the next round begins.

  • Killing monsters awards points, and the leaderboard is ranked by your total score.

  • Since the rules are very different here, only Feri, Chunk and Tana are available in this mode.

Talents

• Added the final talent: Royal Emblem

  • At the start of each adventure, you can pick the cards you want from the Royal Library!

  • To keep the rules simple, the Academy's unlimited reroll mechanic has been removed. (Edit: It's back)

Game Adjustments

Elemental Effects

• Arcane element rework

  • Arcane towers now apply Fragile to hit monsters, increasing their chance of taking critical hits.

  • Different towers apply different amounts of Fragile. (Bigger, slower or close‑range towers apply more per hit.)

  • Fragile gradually decays over time.

  • The Arcane Missile Tower keeps its original effect (always critically hit against enemies with more than 80 % HP)

  • Relic Forbidden Grimoire reworked: applying Fragile to monsters below 40 % HP has double effect, and Fragile decays at half speed on monsters below 20 % HP.

Leaderboard

• You can now see screenshots of other