Ember Road

The horde isn't coming for you. It's coming for the caravan.

Ember Road flips the survivors-like on its head. You are an immortal knight, and nothing in the dark can kill you. But the caravan you swore to protect? Everything wants it dead. Its health bar is the only one that matters, and you are the wall between the wagon and the wilds.

By day, the caravan rolls down a winding dirt road while goblins, wolves, and orcs ambush from the flanks. By night, it circles up around a campfire, and the darkness comes alive. Enemies mass beyond the firelight, glowing eyes at the edge of the black, and a shifting red warning tells you where the next push is forming. Hold the line until dawn. If the caravan sleeps untouched, it wakes rested and ready for the road.

Being hit is your job. Step into arrow paths to block shots with your body, and the damage reflects back to the archer who fired it. Stand inside curse circles to soak dark magic aimed at the wagon. Absorbed blows charge a shockwave of retribution. Every hit you take is a hit the caravan didn't.

Every fifth night, the Ashcaller comes. A goblin war-shaman on a siege platform hurls ember bolts, ash waves, and cinder volleys at your caravan from beyond the light. Your weapons barely scratch him. The only way to bring him down is to stand in the way: every attack you intercept burns him with his own fire. He will throw more than you can block. Choose what the caravan eats.

Three tanks, three philosophies:

• The Warrior holds the line, forcing enemies onto his shield with a war horn and shredding them with thrown axes and whirling steel
• The Paladin projects power, sanctifying the ground with hallowed light and hurling a blessed shield that ricochets through everything threatening the wagon (unlock: slay 500 foes)
• The Death Knight drags the fight to him, with a ghoul at his side, rotting ground that slows the horde, and dark chains that yank wagon-biters onto his blade (unlock: reach day 5)

Every run makes you stronger. Death earns Embers, spent on a permanent nine-piece armory: helm, pauldrons, cuirass, greaves, boots, cloak, gauntlets, shield, and runeblade. Level up mid-run and choose: power for yourself, or fortify the caravan with a roaring fire, perimeter torches, sharpened stakes, and armored wagons. Earn feats. Unlock tanks. Ride again.

One thumb. One knight. One caravan. How many nights can you keep the fire burning?