Version 0.6.0 · playtest

EMBERWILD

Survive the island. Build a home. Find what lies beyond.

A low-poly survival game for Mac and Windows. Gather, hunt and build, hold out through wolf moons and hard winters, then dig down through the sea cliffs to the Cove. Alone, or with friends on a server you run yourself.

Download free Watch the trailer Read the guide

For macOS (Apple silicon and Intel) and Windows (64-bit).

The trailer

Under a minute, recorded in the game.

What you'll do

Every tree, animal and hut is built from low-poly shapes in the game's own code, under a lot of weather.

A sunny meadow with deer among the trees

Survive

Gather, craft and cook. Keep warm, fed and dry, and eat a mix of meat, fish and greens. Food goes off; salt and smoke keep it.

A wooden hut with a campfire at dusk

Build

Floors, walls and roofs that snap together, in wood and then stone. A roof, a fire and a bed make a home you'll be glad of at night.

Wolves circling a campfire under a red moon

Hold out

Wolves move in, and every seventh night the moon turns red. There's a bear in the deep woods, a barrow, and the Old Stag at the standing stones.

A marker stone in the Cove's hills at dusk, with a drowned sailor among the trees

Explore

Dig through the sea cliffs to the Cove: a sandy bay, a pier for sea fishing, a wreck, and a pirate treasure for each player, guarded by the drowned crew.

New in 0.6.0

The Cove gets its own. This is a playtest build: thanks for trying it.

  • A wreck on the Cove's beach, with a treasure map in the captain's sea chest for each player.
  • Your own X on your map: dig up the pirate chest for a ship's compass, a spyglass, a cutlass and gold.
  • The drowned crew rise to guard it. Dig by day if you're wise.
  • Crabs on the sand from dusk till dawn, and gulls after any food you leave out.
  • Build a rowing boat from driftwood, seagrass rope and pitch, and tie it up at the pier.
  • Report a bug, straight from the pause menu.

Straight from the game. Click one to see it full size.

The Cove's bay and pier on a clear morning, a rowing boat tied up
The Cove, and a boat at the pier
Red crabs on the sand at dusk
Crabs come up the beach at dusk
A hut in a snowy clearing in a blizzard
Weather the winter
A wooden hut with a campfire at dusk
A home of your own
Wolves circling a campfire under a red moon
The wolf moon
A marker stone and a mound of loose earth in the hills at dusk
X marks the spot

Download version 0.6.0

Free. Released 2026-11-07. The game tells you on its title screen when a newer version is out.

macOS · your computer

Apple silicon and Intel · 71 MB

Download for Mac

Unzip it. The first time, right-click the app and choose Open (it isn't notarised by Apple yet).

Windows · your computer

64-bit · 49 MB

Download for Windows

Unzip, then run Emberwild.exe. If SmartScreen warns, choose More info > Run anyway (it isn't signed yet).

All releases, release notes and checksums.

Playing with friends

No accounts and no company servers: one of you hosts, on your own computer.

  1. Host Game on the title screen. Pick a name, a rules preset (co-op, rivals or adversarial) and a password if you like.
  2. Friends choose Join Game and type your address. Everyone needs the same version.
  3. On the same network, or over Tailscale, that's it. Over the internet, forward the ports below on your router.
The Cove runs as its own server on the next port, started when someone first goes there.
UDP portFor
24242The Valley (the server you join)
24243The Cove

A spare computer can run a dedicated server from the same download: Emberwild --headless -- --server. More in the guide.