Ember and Blade is designed to play comfortably across a range of devices and input methods. The game offers full controller support, works with keyboard and mouse, and is built with handheld gaming PCs in mind, including Steam Deck. It is coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox. This page covers how to play it and where, while the schedule and store details live on Release and Platforms.
Supported Platforms
The game targets PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox. On PC it is distributed through Steam and the Epic Games Store, and it is Steam Deck supported. Xbox was confirmed in August 2026 as the second console, and free demos are listed on both consoles.
Platform | Availability |
|---|---|
PC (Steam) | Confirmed, Steam Deck supported |
Mac (Steam, Epic Games Store) | Confirmed, Apple silicon only |
SteamOS and Linux | Confirmed, listed with its own requirements |
PC (Epic Games Store) | Confirmed |
PlayStation 5 | Confirmed |
Xbox | Confirmed in August 2026; demo on Xbox Series X|S |
Full Controller Support
Ember and Blade offers full controller support, so the game can be played entirely with a gamepad. Given the fast, combo-driven combat and patterned boss duels, a controller is a natural fit for the kind of timing-based play the Combat system asks for.
Handheld Gaming PCs and Steam Deck
The studio has explicitly highlighted support for handheld gaming PCs, and the game is Steam Deck supported. This makes Ember and Blade playable on the go, with its run-based structure lending itself well to shorter handheld sessions where each The Run Loop is a self-contained burst of play.
Mac and SteamOS
The PC build is not Windows only. Both storefronts that carry the game list a Mac version, and the Steam listing publishes a separate set of macOS requirements alongside the Windows ones: macOS 12 or newer on an Apple M1 as the minimum, and macOS 15 on an M1 Pro as the recommendation. The listing notes explicitly that an Apple processor is required, so Intel Macs are not covered.
A third requirement set is published for SteamOS and Linux, which is the technical basis for the handheld support described above. Its recommended line reads as a handheld spec rather than a desktop one, calling for an AMD Zen 2 class APU with eight RDNA 2 compute units. Full figures for all three operating systems are listed on Release and Platforms.
PlayStation 5 Features
The PlayStation 5 listing spells out what the console version supports. It is a single-player game with offline play enabled, it supports Remote Play, and it uses the DualSense controller's vibration function. The storefront also advertises fifteen accessibility features, which is unusually detailed for a game still this far from release.
Category | Features Listed |
|---|---|
Visuals | Clear text, large text, colour alternatives, high contrast visuals, basic visual comfort |
Audio | Individual volume controls |
Subtitles and captions | Playable without subtitles, basic subtitles, clear and large subtitles, basic captions, clear and large captions |
Gameplay | Basic adjustable difficulty, game pausing at any point in offline play |
The colour alternatives and high contrast options are the console counterpart to the colourblind mode already exposed in the PC options menu, and the adjustable difficulty line is worth flagging for a game built around patterned boss fights.
Xbox Demo Features
The Xbox Store demo listing names Xbox Series X|S and lists 4K Ultra HD, 60 fps and above, console keyboard and mouse, Xbox achievements and Xbox cloud saves. Its accessibility section lists difficulty levels, pausing, color alternatives, camera comfort, large and clear subtitles, and clear text.
Achievements, Cloud Saves and Accounts
Both PC storefronts list achievement support and cloud saves. The Epic listing shows nine achievements in total, several of them hidden, with early ones named Beginning of the Journey, Prelude to Purification and One Who Savors Trials. It also notes that an Epic account is required to play. The Steam listing carries the equivalent Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud features, plus captions and Family Sharing.
Keyboard and Mouse
Alongside controller and handheld support, the game supports keyboard and mouse for players on PC who prefer that setup. Between gamepad, keyboard and mouse, and handheld controls, players can choose the input method that suits them best.
Minimap and Control Options
A minimap was added during the demo's 2026 updates and can be opened with the Tab key, or with LB on an Xbox controller and L1 on a PlayStation controller. The game also supports a twin-stick control option, where the attack direction follows the mouse; this is available when the attack input is set to the left mouse button. The options menu exposes settings such as a VSync toggle, a frame-rate slider, and a colorblind mode.
Options Added in Demo 2.0 to 2.2
The September and October 2026 demo updates added a long list of settings, several aimed at readability in crowded fights.
Option | Added In | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
Halftone Blessing effects and transparency | Demo 2.1 | Draws Blessing effects with a semi-transparent halftone pattern, with adjustable transparency |
Blessing sound volume | Demo 2.1 | A separate volume slider for Blessing sounds |
Boss, sub-boss and elite outlines | Demo 2.1 | Optional outlines that make key enemies easier to track |
Flash reduction | Demo 2.1 | Reduces flashing effects |
Photosensitivity setup | Demo 2.2 | A one-time screen before play on each device that offers halftone Blessing effects and toned-down effects |
Controller icons and rebinding | Demo 2.2 | Gamepad players can choose the button icon style and rebind buttons |
Bloom intensity and live preview | Demo 2.2 | A bloom slider, with option changes previewed immediately |
Minimap modes | Demo 2.2 | The minimap cycles through closed, half-open and open |
Two options went the other way. Demo 2.2 removed the Easy Mode option, switching it off for anyone who had enabled it, and the FSR upscaler option was hidden in Demo 2.1. The Flash Counter also now always follows the light attack binding.
Supported Languages
Ember and Blade supports nine languages for its interface, with full audio currently noted for English. The supported languages are listed below. As with other pre-launch details, language support may change before release.
Language | Notes |
|---|---|
English | Full audio support |
Korean | Text |
Simplified Chinese | Text |
French | Text |
German | Text |
Spanish (Spain) | Text |
Japanese | Text |
Portuguese (Brazil) | Text |
Russian | Text |
The demo has gone further than the store list. Demo 2.2 added Arabic, with right-to-left text display and a reworked UI layout, and the team noted that the demo's current translations are AI-generated and asked players to report awkward wording.
For a player-focused walkthrough of jumping in, see Getting Started, and for the broader gameplay picture, see Gameplay Overview.