The questions that come up again and again in Emberward's discussion threads, answered for the 1.0 build.
Controls and settings
Can I rotate the camera? Yes — Q and E rotate the camera in the 1.0 build. It does not change the maze, only your view of it, but it makes corner placements much easier to judge.
Does Emberward support a controller? Full controller support is listed on the store page, including DualShock and DualSense pads. Steam Cloud saves are supported as well, so a run started on one machine continues on another.
Is there a way to start a wave without clicking the button? There is a start-wave hotkey, and if it does not fire for you the usual cause is a UI element holding focus — click empty grid space once and try again. A wave-start binding that works no matter where focus sits has been requested repeatedly in the forums.
What is Dopamine Mode? A cosmetic setting added in 1.0. Defeated monsters burst into decorative coins. It changes nothing about the run.
Damage and mechanics
Should I skip critical hit builds? Critical chance interacts with a few towers more than others — the Sniper Tower in particular now carries a 50% base critical chance, which makes crit support unusually efficient on it. A pure crit build is a real strategy, but it is a strategy for a tower that benefits, not a general-purpose stat.
How does the damage chart work now? The damage chart button cycles through Show All Damage, Show This Round's Damage and Hide, and it reports relic damage, fire source damage, burning effects and S.C.R.A.B. output — not just tower damage. If a tower looks weak, check the chart before blaming the tower.
Why did my Scrap Tower disappear? Scrap Towers are destroyed when they run out of ammo. This is working as intended. The Scrap Master's Note relic raises their ammo by 50%, to 45 shots.
Can I ban relics from the pool? Not in the 1.0 build. It is one of the most requested quality-of-life features on the forum, and the answer today is no.
What is a relic game? A separate mode where the run is built around relics rather than towers. It is the fastest way to satisfy "use 20 different relics" style achievements, because you are forced to take relics you normally skip.
Progression and saves
My special event characters and Infernal Shards disappeared — did I lose progress? No. They are gated behind completing the whole game, and the 1.0 update added a new final region. Clear Void Depths on any difficulty and they are available again.
The game is in the wrong language after the update. The game checks your Steam language only on the first launch. Change it in the settings menu; it will stick from then on.
Is progress tracked across runs? Unlocks, talents, block skins and main menu backgrounds persist. Talent points and relic unlocks are permanent, which is why a run that "fails" still advances your account.
Are trading cards available now? Yes. Steam Trading Cards shipped with 1.0, and players with existing playtime received retroactive drops.
Difficulty
The demo felt easy — is the full game harder? Considerably. The first region teaches maze building, not survival; Normal difficulty and the later regions assume you have already learned to fold a corridor back on itself. The Heroic tier and the Void Depths Conqueror achievement exist above that.
What are the difficulty tiers called? Casual, Normal and Heroic, with the region achievements following that ladder — Traveler for a Casual clear, Explorer for Normal, Pioneer for Heroic.
Performance
Which settings have the biggest effect on frame rate? Large mazes with many towers are CPU-bound rather than GPU-bound, so reducing the visual effects and the damage chart's "Show All Damage" mode does more than lowering resolution. If a very deep endless run starts stuttering, hiding the damage chart is the first thing to try.