How to play › ADVENTURE
EMBER TRAIL
One autumn night every beacon in the three lands went out at once. Only the hearth in your house still burns. Ember Trail is a creature role-playing game: carry the last ember across two lands and an island, befriend the creatures of the wild, and relight the five dark beacons.
PLAY NOW ▶The goal
Relight the five beacons by proving yourself to each Warden, then follow the Gilt Society, the gold-pinned collectors who want your lantern, to Cinder Isle, where one last choice waits.
How the journey plays
Walk through the wild grass and creatures come to meet you in side-view battles. Nobody catches creatures here. Fight fair and they come to trust you: wear a wild one down without overdoing it, guard its blows, then OFFER a gift it likes. When its trust is high enough, it walks beside your ember. There are 23 hand-drawn creatures to befriend.
Battles are a rhythm. When your strike winds up, a ring closes on its target: press as it closes for a stronger blow. When the foe strikes, press as its ring closes on you to guard. In battle you choose from SKILLS, TEND, OFFER, SWAP and FLEE; swapping or using an item costs a turn.
Every creature has an element: FLAME, TIDE, THORN, STORM, CRAG, RIME or PLAIN. Strong matchups hit much harder and resisted ones much softer, and the journal's ELEMENTS page shows the chart. If your team is knocked out, you wake at the hearth, an inn or a beach with your team healed; after your first beacon, that costs part of your coins. The game saves your progress.
Controls
| Keyboard | Pad | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows | Stick / d-pad | Walk, choose |
| Z | A | Talk and confirm; in battle, press as the ring closes (hold to hurry text) |
| X | B | Team and bag, back |
| C | C | Journal: almanac, map, journey, elements; in battle, OFFER |
| Q / E | L / R | Cycle your lead creature, turn journal pages; in battle, SWAP / TEND |
| Space | START | Confirm |
On a phone or tablet, a see-through joystick and A, B, C, L, R and SPACE buttons appear over the game and do the same as the keys above.
Gamepad: the stick or d-pad moves and the buttons follow the Pad column (Start is START). Esc, P or Back pauses, and the HOW TO PLAY button over the game shows the basics any time.
Modes
- CLASSIC JOURNEY: the full adventure.
- EMBER RUN: a harder way to play the same journey. Knocked-out friends go home for good, you can make one new friend per place, and a blackout ends the run.
- DAILY CUP: see below.
Mastery stars
Each star pays tickets the first time you earn it.
- Bronze: First Friend: befriend a wild creature.
- Silver: The Hollow Beacon: pass Warden Orla's trial and relight the first beacon.
- Gold: The Summit Beacon: win the Summit Trial.
Daily challenge
Yes. The DAILY CUP is the same cup for everyone today: you draft three of six rental creatures and play four rounds under a house rule. Your own team and save are untouched.
Beginner tips
- Use a status move before you try to befriend. It does no damage, but a creature under a status is calmer and needs less trust.
- Do not overdo it. Wearing a creature down helps its trust, but a single hit that takes almost half its health costs trust.
- Watch for the hint about what a creature likes. The right offering builds far more trust than any other gift.
- Practise the timing. Pressing as the ring closes adds power to your strikes and turns the foe's blows into guards, and a good guard also builds trust.
- Check the element chart in your journal and keep a mix of elements on your team.