Building To Beta 2

Welcome back! With Beta 1 in our rear-views, it’s time to turn our attention to what’s in store for Beta 2, and we think you’ll agree – we have some incredible stuff in the works.

We have the next weapon, a bigger map, more creatures, some new game mechanics and more, so get ready to feast your eyes on all this glorious Ember Sword goodness.

Staff Up

Ember Sword is all about rich, mechanically satisfying combat, and we kicked Beta 1 off with the completely revamped sword and shield – but that was only the beginning. In Beta 2 we’re taking things up a notch and putting the upgraded staff weapon back into players’ hands. Just like with the Sword and Shield, we are not just bringing back what we had before – the Staff has been totally reworked with updated abilities, animations, and visual effects.

As you play, you’ll unlock new abilities as you level up your skill, adding more and more powerful tools to your arsenal.

Staff Abilities

• Abyssal Orb: Cast a ball of energy that explodes on impact dealing damage to enemies in an area
• Aether Pulse: Emit an energy pulse damaging and slowing enemies around you
• Gravity Well: Create a vortex of gravitational energy for 5 sec that deals damage over time (in 1 second intervals) and slows enemies
• Void Ray: Channel a beam of energy damaging enemies per 0.2 seconds. Each time Void Ray deals damage, it increases
• Falling Star: Call down a meteor that deals damage to all enemies in the area
• Crystallize: Encase yourself in a crystal cocoon for 4 seconds. The crystal blocks all damage and heals you for 2.5% maximum HP per second
• Chaos Bolt: Hurl a flaming bolt, dealing damage and Igniting the target and dealing damage over time
• Astral Shard: Launch a bolt of crystalized energy dealing damage and slowing movement speed

Give Me Moar!

But what about Sword and Shield users? Well no have fear, we’re adding more abilities for you as well, and these two are my favorites so far:

• Shield Throw: Throw your shield at the enemy. The shield ricochets to additional targets before returning to you
• Shield Rush: Charge through enemies in the target direction, dealing damage

We’ll keep refining weapons and abilities as we move forward. In Ember Sword, abilities are linked to your weapon type rather than a predefined class, giving players the freedom to explore each weapon’s unique potential and adapt their playstyle as they see fit. We're excited to see how players adapt, mastering each weapon and seamlessly switching between them depending on the situation.

Okay, so new weapons and abilities: check, but what about the world of Thanabus itself? Well, good news there as well:

The World Gets Bigger

Beta 1 launched without a map, which, admittedly, made it a bit tricky to find your way around. We fixed that pretty quickly, and then even added the ability to see where you were on it (breathtaking!) and for Beta 2 we are of course going to keep building on that progress.

As mentioned in previous updates, Solarwood is truly massive, and we're only beginning to unveil it to players, piece by piece. Our aim is to create a world that feels rich and rewarding to explore, with diverse areas and compelling reasons to visit them. This time, the world and its map have expanded significantly: more regions, creatures, resources, and loot—tons of new content to discover.

We’ll do deeper dives into the new areas in future content (did someone say new Dev Stream?!) But we wanted to highlight one of the most exciting additions: Trade Packs. It’s more exciting than it sounds, we promise.

Trade Packs

Trade Packs are a versatile new feature that brings together multiple game elements like exploration, combat, rewards, and social interaction. We’re excited about the gameplay moments this will create, so here’s a breakdown:

What is a Trade Pack?

A special item equipped on the player's back. It exists both as an inventory item and a world object.

How do Trade Packs work?

Basic Gameplay Steps

1. Acquire a Trade Pack
2. Get the delivery info
3. Deliver the pack
4. Profit

You’ll be able to obtain Trade Packs in various ways via crafting recipes, loot drops and quest rewards. Once you’ve got one, you’ll get some essential information including delivery Location (a Regular Trade Post, Settlement, Town, City, or even a Capital Plot), travel distance (which influences the difficulty of the journey) and reward details.

What are you hoping to achieve with Trade Packs?

• Exploration: Encouraging players to journey to different Trade Posts, discovering new and diverse locations throughout the game world.
• Combat: Delivering Trade Packs isn’t just a simple walk in the park. Players will face both PvE challenges, such as creatures attempting to stop deliveries, and PvP combat, especially when carrying Contraband Packs.
• Rewards: Successfully delivering Trade Packs offers significant rewards, ranging from crafting materials to rare items, making the risk well worth it.
• Social Interaction: Whether facing PvP challenges or traveling in groups for protection, the social aspect of this feature encourages players to team up and support each other on dangerous deliveries.

What extra things are we thinking of to enhance Trade Packs?

• Location Restrictions: Not all Trade Packs can be delivered just anywhere. Specific Trade Posts are designated for different types of packs.
• Distance Traveled: Players must travel a minimum distance from the origin point to deliver their Trade Pack, adding a strategic layer to the route planning.
• PvE Waves: As players carry their Trade Pack, creatures will periodically spawn and attack, requiring players to stay vigilant and defend their cargo.
• Contraband & PvP: For those daring enough to transport Contraband Packs, the risk escalates. Equipping a Contraband Pack triggers a PvP mode, where other players can attack you to steal your goods, making for high-stakes deliveries.
• Much more to come…

This is only the start of us sharing information on Trade Packs, and like with everything else, please stay tuned to our channels for more information soon.

Vending Machines

One of the main bits of feedback we have from the first Beta test was that players’ inventories got full pretty fast. Towards the end of the test, we added bank chests to help, but we’re adding something cool for the next test as well” Vending Machines. These nifty machines will allow you to buy, sell or buyback any equipment you want or want to get rid of. They are a super-convenient way to get missing crafting ingredients or to make money when clearing space in your pack.

Quests

Our goal with Ember Sword is to create a deep sandbox that allows players to forge their own adventures, without linear progression and lots of hand-holding, and as a result, the subject of quests is an interesting one.

We’re kicking off with some simple ones which are focused on guiding players through points of interest or on learning the game, but this will be an area that we keep thinking about and iterating in future releases.

Let us know what kind of quests you’d like to see in Ember Sword in the future, by joining our Discord server!

Skins

As we gear up for the upcoming Beta test and, shortly after, Prologue, we’re thrilled to showcase more of the incredible collectibles that will be featured in the game.

To celebrate the growing excitement and creativity within Ember Sword, we are excited to announce our partnership with Rarible. More info on this very soon!