Instructions
Ember Horde
Walk a lantern-bearer through eight minutes of shadow-moths. Your fire fires itself; pick one of three upgrades at each level-up. Your light is your health.
- Year
- 2021
- Era
- Daily Puzzle
- Genre
- Action / Survivor
Free, no sign-up. Keyboard, touch or gamepad.
How to play
- Arrows or WASD to walk.
- Attacks are automatic.
- On a level-up, arrows move the highlight and Space takes the card.
- P pauses.
On touch
- Drag anywhere to walk.
- Tap a card to take an upgrade.
Every run starts on the title screen. Pause any time with P or the pause button; calm mode removes flashes and screen shake.
Maker’s note
The twist is the lantern: the radius of your light is your health, and everything you throw only reaches as far as it shines. Every touch from a moth shrinks it; wisps from fallen moths bring it back. Survive eight minutes to see dawn. The moth waves, wisp drops and level-up cards come from the run's seed, so a run can be replayed and checked. Score is time, moths, level, and a bonus for reaching dawn.
The Eracade workshop
Target scores
- 1250
- 2400
- 3700
- 41,400
- 52,000
- 62,900
- 73,800
- 85,500
Each target is a step up. Beat them all and you have outplayed the workshop.
The Daily Puzzle era, 2020–2026
One shared puzzle a day and a result worth passing on, in calm colour with soft, rounded edges.
High scores
The top ten runs are saved in this browser with your three initials. Nothing is uploaded unless you submit a ranked run, so clearing site data clears the table.
