This is a big one! 🐾

We’ve been working hard on making Ember feel like a more active partner throughout every expedition, from exploration and random encounters to Danger checkpoints and finding your way home.

This update adds new ways to work together, improves Ember’s commands and responsiveness, introduces new checkpoint mechanics, and includes a big pile of fixes and polish.

• Quick Pats - Give Ember a quick pat without entering a separate mode! Ember will sometimes look for a little validation after being helpful. Rewarding her with a pat increases your Bond and makes her a little less grumpy.

• Streamlined Encounters - Ember now actively spots and initiates random encounters. You can choose whether to investigate or press on, but ignoring her discoveries may make her grumpy.

• Traps & Rescue - Danger checkpoints in the Middle and Deep zones now feature traps instead of thunderstorms. Ember can become trapped and lose confidence if she gets too close. Use Smoke Bombs to disarm traps ahead of time, and stay close enough to free Ember if she gets caught.

• Portal Activation Pads - Every checkpoint now requires Ember's help to activate the exit portal. Bring Ember to the pawprint-shaped Activation Pad and use the Go command to have her activate it.

• Portal Key Hunting - Danger checkpoints now contain hidden Portal Keys needed to unlock the exit Activation Pad. Use the new Find command and let Ember help sniff them out.

• Bully Mosslings - Bully Mosslings appear less frequently, and Ember now reacts more reliably when confronted by them. These encounters can shake her confidence, so stepping in quickly will help restore her spirits.

• Manual Item Handling - Interacting with a resource now places it in your hand before stowing it. Throw it, ask Ember to find more of it, or press interact again to put it in your backpack.

• Tell Ember to Find - Ember can now sniff out items for you! While near Ember, hold a resource or Portal Key and press the Find command. She’ll catch the scent and guide you toward matching items nearby.

• The Backpack - Items can now be retrieved from your backpack and placed back into your hand. Pull something out to ask Ember to Find it, or grab a toy or snack for her.

• Go Command Improvements - The Go command now gives visual feedback on its target, and Ember will investigate or interact with whatever you send her toward. Usually.

• Come Command Improvements - Ember is much more responsive to Come and will follow you more reliably after using the command.

• Contextual Echo Wisp - Echo Wisp now uses the standard interaction button instead of having its own dedicated command. The old input is now used for Find.

• Echo Wisp While Grumpy - Ember can now cast Echo Wisp even while Grumpy, although timing bonuses remain disabled until her mood improves.

• Accessory Bond Costs - Bond costs for equipping accessories have been slightly increased to account for the additional Bond you can now earn through Quick Pats. Existing saves will receive a small Bond boost when loaded into the public beta to help account for the change.

• Random Encounter Balance - Using the Come command shortly after a random encounter begins, within roughly 1.5 seconds, now counts as abandoning the encounter and adds a Grumpy mark.

Thank you to the community for helping report bugs! We have taken care of a lot of them! A few of the bigger fixes included in this update:

• Fixed an issue that could cause Ember to become completely unresponsive while investigating a random encounter.

• Fixed several Danger checkpoint navigation, trap, and spawn issues that could interfere with progression.

• Fixed resources such as cotton and dye flowers expiring based on real-world time instead of in-game time.

And there’s plenty more bugfixes under the hood:

• Items are now more clearly selected for interaction.

• Improved the visuals for Magic Obstacles and Echo Wisp UI elements.

• Fixed Ember's walking and running pace while traveling alongside the player.

• Fixed Ember getting stuck looking at nonexistent targets and improved how naturally she looks at the player

• Fixed Ember not playing her breathing animation while sitting.

• Fixed Ember floating in certain checkpoints.

• Fixed missing boundary collision in certain checkpoints.

• Fixed floating flowers in certain checkpoints.

• Lightning now pauses while you are in a UI screen.

• Ember is now more immediately responsive to commands, and command spamming has been reduced

• Ember will no longer teleport behind the player unless she ends up somewhere she cannot escape from.

• Improved how naturally Ember looks at the player while using Echo Wisp.

• Fixed journal entry typos referring to "Otherlands" instead of "Shimmershift."

• Fixed missing set dressing in certain checkpoints.

• Fixed Ember not rolling over during long petting sessions.

• Fixed cooking UI text typos and other UI issues.

• Fixed Ember failing to return to the player and the ReactToBully action resetting incorrectly.

• Fixed Bully Mosslings spawning outside the nav mesh or chasing unreachable creatures.

• Fixed Mosslings not fully fleeing and despawning.

• Fixed an AI action not being cleaned up properly before setting Ember's AI inactive.

• Fixed the Brush Ember tooltip appearing outside of caretaking mode.

• Fixed Ember becoming unresponsive during the Investigate Random Encounter behavior.
  
  Pause Menu

• Fixed the Credits menu scroll bar and close button not being properly navigable.

• Fixed the Pause Menu becoming unnavigable after closing the Help or Credits submenu.
  
  Levels & World

• Fixed floating safe spots in Danger entrance checkpoints.

• Fixed floating resources in outdoor and Blockade checkpoints.

• Fixed a floating campsite in the Scenery Deep checkpoint.

• Fixed navigation mesh issues in Danger Middle 2 and restored missing traps.

• Fixed Smoke Bomb plant placement so Bully Mosslings can always be cleared.

• Fixed Bully Mossling spawn points in Blockade and End Goal checkpoints.

• Fixed an awkwardly positioned random encounter in Danger Middle 2.

• Fixed the Portal Key's throwing physics caused by its collider being on the wrong layer.

• Fixed the Falling Star material appearing pink in builds.
  
  Other

• Fixed resources such as cotton and dye flowers expiring based on real-world time instead of in-game time.

• Fixed the Brush Ember tooltip sharing a duplicate identifier with an existing tutorial tooltip.

Thanks for being here and helping us continue to make Ember better.

We’re excited to get all of these changes into your hands, and we’d love to hear what you think. Share your feedback with us here on Steam or over on Discord! 🐾

• End goal checkpoint lighting tweaked for better visibility

• The thorn vine now goes away after completing Event in Choked Path

• Fixed ember walking through tunnel walls in the Start checkpoint of the expedition

• Fixed washed-out ember when HDR is on

• Fixed brush jittering and clipping into Ember's head when grooming Ember

• Fixed unintended red dots on bully mosslings

• Sounds added for "Echo Wisp" and "Stay" commands

• Fixed a floating magic obstacle in Rocky Gorge

• Fixed some magic obstacles being hard to clear near the waterfall area in the cabin level

• Toys added in scenery checkpoints for more chill playtime during expeditions.

• Fixed the clear expedition objectives not completing after returning from a cleared expedition

• Ember is no longer distracted by thieves while attempting a magic blockade

• Tutorial video added to the pop-up for magical blockades to improve teaching