Emberwall

Emberwall is a top-down roguelite tower defense game about shaping enemy routes, managing resources and combining defenses. Enemies march south from the darkness toward your castle, but you control the paths they take by placing tetromino-shaped wall pieces. Redirect waves, split them between equal routes and create positions for your towers; if you completely surround the castle, enemies choose the weakest route and can break through its walls and any towers built on them.

Explore and expand

Your castle lights only a small part of an endlessly expanding map covered in fog. Build Bonfires to push back the darkness, find resource deposits and force enemy spawn points farther north. Wood and stone deposits block movement and construction, so place Sawmills and Mines on matching deposits to produce resources during waves. Spend those materials on walls, defenses and further expansion.

Build your defenses

Choose from Bow Towers, Cannons, Tesla Coils, Inferno Spires, Mortars, Flamethrowers, Sunbeam Lasers and Repeating Crossbows. Each defense has its own attack pattern, strengths, weaknesses and tower-specific upgrades. You can set targeting priorities to focus on enemies closest to the castle, highest-health enemies, lowest-health enemies or enemies furthest from the castle.

Enhance towers with one base element each: Splash, Scorch, Hitch, Blitz or Ice. Combining elements can unlock advanced effects, including Steam, Flash Freeze, Thermal Shock, Backdraft, Electrolysis, Whiteout and Plasma Link. Since each tower can hold only one base element, your upgrade and combination choices shape how your defenses work.

Upgrade between waves

After each wave, choose from three upgrade cards. They can improve damage, range and attack speed, grant tower-specific abilities, strengthen connected walls and production lines, or offer dangerous challenges for greater rewards. Cards come in Rare, Epic and Legendary tiers with increasingly powerful effects, while special upgrades can transform an entire defense.

Face stronger waves

Later waves bring faster Runners, armored enemies, powerful elites and increasingly massive armies. Enemy routes are visible, giving you a chance to reshape the battlefield and prepare your defenses before the next wave begins.

Progress across runs

Gold earned during a run contributes to permanent progression. Use the Keep and Armory to upgrade your castle, improve resource production, unlock new weapons and increase their starting power. Every run has a different seed, which changes the map, resource layout, wall hand and sequence of upgrade choices.