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Classes and Progression
September 11, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Initial version: class swapping and inheritance, equipment driven unlocks, mastery framing, class trainer design notes, named classes and dated target counts (2026-09-11)
Progression in Emberville runs on several tracks at once, and the class system sits at the centre of it. Classes are not picked at character creation. They are unlocked by levelling up weapon and armor categories, they can be changed at any time once learned, and each one carries its own skill tree. The studio markets this as the game's defining mechanic.
Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
Unlocked by equipment | Levelling up weapon and armor categories is what unlocks new classes. A 2025 devlog described the same idea as hitting milestones while using a weapon or armor type. |
Swappable at any time | Once a class is learned the player can switch to it freely, rather than committing at the start of a character. |
Inherited skills | A class can inherit passive and active skills from other classes the player has already learned, which is how the active class gets customised. |
Own skill tree | Each class comes with its own tree, so the class chosen changes both the abilities available and how they develop. |
Distinctive play | Store copy describes the selection as classes each with distinctive gameplay and abilities, chosen as experience accumulates through battle and quests. |
The class layer sits on top of several others, and the studio is explicit that combat is not the only one that moves.
Character levels come from classic experience gained through fights and quests.
Weapons level independently of the character. Using a sword enough starts unlocking sword specific skills and bonuses, and the same applies to bows, staffs and the rest, which is what makes a loadout feel like a build rather than a swap.
Armor categories level in the same way, and are half of the class unlock path.
Gathering and crafting skills level on their own track. See Life Skills.
Rescuing townsfolk and rebuilding the town unlocks mechanics and rewards, and the studio states that the game progresses through exploration, rebuilding and the player's choices as well as through combat.
Hands on coverage of a pre release build in September 2026 consistently described the progression layer as masteries, with one account listing four of them: weaponry, armor, gathering and crafting. Several accounts described levelling the specific weapon and armor being used to unlock skills, combos and passive bonuses, and one noted that armor gains passives the more it is worn. That framing lines up with the studio's own description of levelling weapon and armor categories, though the word masteries itself is not first party marketing language, and the interface around it is not confirmed for the shipping build.
Design notes published by the studio in June 2025 describe a class trainer interface run by a non player character. In those notes the trainer lets the player choose a specialization and change it throughout the game, classes carry requirements the player has to meet, and classes can be evolved into further options. The notes also describe undiscovered classes being shown as locked placeholders rather than hidden, so the player can see what they have not found yet, and each class carrying both a plain description and a piece of lore the trainer might say about it.
These are working design recommendations, written in the first person and carrying the studio's own caveats, so they describe intent rather than shipped behaviour. A class trainer is also one of the town roles named in devlogs but not yet filled by a named character: see Non-Player Characters.
Further design notes from October 2025 sketch the character sheet: vitals first, listed as hp and kymia, then attack value and attack speed, ending with defence parameters, with equipment and status effects modifying the totals. The same notes argue for keeping some values, such as attack rate, hidden from the player. As with the trainer notes, this is stated intent rather than confirmed shipping design.
Class | Status |
|---|---|
Knight | The only class the studio has named publicly. Presented in a March 2026 video as close quarter combatants who equip a sword and shield, and described there as one of the many classes in the game. |
Wanderer | Reported by two accounts of a pre release build, one of which equipped it. Not named in any studio material. |
Ranger, Apprentice, Adventurer | Listed by a single account of the same pre release build. Not named in any studio material and not corroborated. |
How many classes ship is unannounced. A June 2025 devlog named a target of 13 distinct classes alongside 16 planned weapon categories, and hedged it in the same paragraph as ambitious and still being refined. Those are dated design targets, not a shipped roster, and no later source has confirmed a count. The four names the studio marketed under the heading of The Acolytes have never been described as classes and should not be read as one.
The combat class system and the equipment and skills systems are both on the list of what is present when Early Access opens on 27 October 2026, covering gameplay from the start through the early and middle game. Balance and expanded difficulty options are goals for version 1.0, so the numbers behind progression are expected to move during Early Access. See Early Access.
