ARPG creator Zizaran sat down with members of the Emberville team for an extensive discussion about the game’s voice cast, pixel-art direction, combat design, difficulty options, Early Access roadmap, pricing, planned co-op, and community-driven development.
The interview features Cygnus Cross founder and game director Cygnus, performance and casting director Alex Jordan, and voice actor and community ambassador Cahlaflour. The complete conversation runs for approximately 70 minutes and was published on September 20, 2026.
Building Emberville’s Voice Cast#
The opening portion of the interview focuses heavily on Emberville’s voice acting. Alex Jordan explained that he initially joined the project as an actor before offering to serve as its performance director. He later became closely involved with casting, reaching out to experienced actors he trusted both professionally and personally.
Jordan also reflected on one of his more unusual previous roles. During his work on Baldur’s Gate 3, he spent roughly two hours recording intimate character sounds, including kissing the back of his hand to create part of the performance. He joked that this relatively small contribution left him feeling out of place when he was invited into a group photograph with actors who had recorded hundreds of hours for the game.
Emberville’s cast combines established performers with streamers and newer actors receiving an opportunity to enter the industry. The team created a dedicated Discord community where developing performers could participate in workshops and learn from more experienced voice actors. Cahlaflour’s involvement grew through that process, eventually leading to a major role in the game alongside her work as a community ambassador.
Cygnus described a production process closer to animation than the traditional approach used by many games. Characters, writers, artists, and performers influence one another throughout development instead of voice actors receiving completed characters and isolated lines near the end of production.
Alex Jordan Voices Adeos#
In addition to directing Emberville’s performances, Jordan voices Adeos, the elderly man encountered near the beginning of the game. Adeos lives with dementia, but the condition is treated as one part of the character rather than the sole purpose of his story.
Jordan said that distinction made the role especially interesting. Adeos may not remember a previous conversation when the player returns, creating interactions where he can greet an established acquaintance as though they are meeting for the first time. The game acknowledges his dementia naturally while allowing him to remain a complete character with his own place in Emberville.
Impressions, Johnny Depp and Voices Around the House#
When Zizaran asked whether voice acting ever slips into everyday life, Jordan said he constantly moves between silly voices and impressions, including when speaking to his dog. Cahlaflour said the same habit has begun appearing in her streams and conversations with her cat as she gains more voice-acting experience.
Cygnus then asked Jordan to recount a story involving Johnny Depp. Jordan could not discuss the underlying project because of a non-disclosure agreement, but explained that Depp prefers to hear someone read a script before performing it. Jordan was assigned to record that reading and decided to perform the entire script in his Johnny Depp impression.
Impressions, particularly his Captain Jack Sparrow voice, had helped Jordan enter voice acting in the first place. The gamble paid off: Jordan was later told that Depp loved the recording.
Cahlaflour’s Move Into Voice Acting#
Cahlaflour described her transition from content creation into professional voice acting as a part of the industry she has fallen in love with. Before Emberville, she wrote and performed advertisements for Star Trucker. Her work on Emberville helped her realize that voice acting could become a larger part of her career.
Jordan advised her on converting a closet in her streaming room into a small recording booth. The dark, sound-treated space also became popular with her cat, although she said the cat occasionally gets stuck inside and can be heard nudging the door.
Cahlaflour also confirmed that she has recorded a role for another game that has not yet been announced.
The team said the completed version of Emberville is currently expected to contain roughly 268,000 written words. Approximately 34,000 words are planned for the Early Access release, with that material receiving voice acting.
Pixel Art Is a Creative Choice#
Cygnus stressed that Emberville uses pixel art because the team loves the medium, not because its budget forced the decision. The studio wants to contribute something visually distinctive through dense environments, animation, sound, and character detail.
As an example of that attention to detail, Cygnus said each hairstyle requires approximately 300 animations. Many players may never consciously notice every individual movement, but those details collectively support the game’s intended sense of life and immersion.
Combat Draws From Dark Souls and League of Legends#
Emberville’s combat takes inspiration from Souls-like games, including Dark Souls and Elden Ring, while its enemy-group behavior draws from League of Legends.
Enemy groups are intended to operate like coordinated companions rather than isolated targets. Members can react to one another and perform group abilities, so identifying the tracker, spellcaster, or another supporting enemy may change how the entire encounter unfolds. As players learn those relationships, they can decide which targets to eliminate first and make difficult fights more manageable.
Crafting has different influences. Cygnus compared Emberville’s broader crafting focus with Valheim and discussed ideas inspired by Path of Exile. The team wants players to have meaningful control over prefixes and suffixes when improving equipment, reducing the likelihood that upgrading an item will simply make it unusable. More dangerous risk-and-reward modification systems may appear later in the endgame.
Three-Month Updates and Development Beyond Version 1.0#
The team plans to release a substantial Emberville content update approximately every three months during Early Access, with smaller updates and patches arriving between those larger releases. Major updates may introduce new classes, biomes, characters, weapons, and other systems that give returning players meaningful new content.
Cygnus initially described the path from Early Access to version 1.0 as lasting 12 to 18 months, then corrected that estimate to 18 to 24 months. He emphasized that Emberville will not leave Early Access until the team considers it ready.
Development is also intended to continue after version 1.0 through free updates. Cygnus cited long-supported games such as Terraria and Stardew Valley as examples of the approach the studio hopes to follow.
Co-op and modding support remain planned for version 1.0 rather than the beginning of Early Access. The studio is developing Emberville with modding in mind and has begun speaking with experienced modding groups.
Fishing is also confirmed, including plans for fishing-related bosses. Other long-term activities discussed during the interview include estate building, blueprint and equipment-set collection, boss farming, and additional endgame systems.
Spoiler: Death, Revival and a Boss Created by Greed#
Open the Emberville story spoiler
When the complete system is added during Early Access, a mysterious NPC will appear after the player dies and offer an immediate revival at the place of death in exchange for certain materials. Players can refuse the offer and return through the normal waypoint system instead.
Accepting the bargain repeatedly changes the NPC. Additional limbs, eyes, and other features begin to appear as the creature consumes more materials. Over time, the player effectively creates a boss through their own greed. How much the player feeds the NPC will determine the resulting boss’s power.
The image below shows Cahlaflour’s Emberville character. The character’s in-game name has not been confirmed publicly.
Four Difficulty Options Let Players Choose Their Experience#
Emberville is planned to include four difficulty options. The available choices modify factors such as experience earned, incoming damage, enemy resistance, loot quality, and material rewards.
Cygnus said the studio is not trying to maximize the number of hours players remain logged in. Its priority is making a game that players and developers genuinely enjoy. Someone interested primarily in Emberville’s story should be able to choose a gentler experience, while players looking for a severe challenge can select a much harsher setting.
A Dedicated Controller Interface#
The controller interface is being designed specifically for controller and console players rather than merely reusing the mouse-and-keyboard layout. Cygnus said games should not feel as though an interface made for one platform was awkwardly transferred to another.
The example shown during the interview uses a radial menu for functions such as inventory access. The surrounding HUD also changes to display controller inputs. The team is targeting full controller support and Steam Deck verification for the first day of Early Access.
$29.99 Price, No Pre-orders and No Paid DLC#
Emberville’s standard price is planned to be $29.99 USD, with a 10% discount at the launch of Early Access bringing it to $26.99 USD. Regional pricing will follow Steam’s regional recommendations.
Cygnus explained that the studio would like players to see regional prices before launch, but Steam would require pre-orders to make those prices available now. He does not want Emberville to use pre-orders and would rather let people play the demo before deciding whether to purchase the game.
The developers also said Emberville will not include microtransactions or paid downloadable content. Cygnus argued that years of separate DLC releases can create an expensive barrier for people discovering a game later. The studio instead plans to support Emberville through sales to new players and free updates available to the existing community.
A Small Team Built Around Passion#
Cygnus said the core development team will not grow beyond 20 people. Although outside partners and supporting contributors increase the number of people involved with Emberville, he wants the central studio to remain small enough to protect its working relationships and creative focus.
His philosophy places the team first: a strong, passionate group can make a strong game, and a strong game can sustain the company. He believes a long-term sales model similar to Stardew Valley can support continued development without requiring a massive studio or extremely high sales targets.
Seasons and an Economy Remain Undecided#
Zizaran asked whether Emberville could eventually use seasonal characters, resets, or an in-game economy similar to other long-running ARPGs.
Cygnus did not confirm any of those systems. He said the team plays seasonal and endgame-focused games and wants to develop an approach that makes sense for Emberville. Zizaran may be asked for input when that part of development becomes more concrete.
Cohh Carnage Changed Emberville’s Systems#
When asked whether Emberville had changed substantially from its original concept, Cygnus pointed to Cohh Carnage’s involvement as a major turning point.
Cohh joined the project as a co-founder and co-game director, contributing systems that were not part of the earliest design. Cygnus specifically credited him with ideas behind the class system, inheritance system, and several of the game’s gathering and crafting mechanics.
That evolution reflects the studio’s broader “follow the fun” philosophy. Concepts are tested, revised, retained, or removed based on whether they improve the game rather than simply remaining because they appeared in the original plan.
Preview Feedback Is Already Shaping the Game#
Zizaran asked whether recent preview players had identified any unexpected problems. Cygnus answered no, explaining that the team was already aware of the major issues raised by players but had not yet had enough time to address all of them.
Combat movement is one of the most significant areas under review. Changes discussed during the interview include:
- Adding more forward movement and follow-through to attacks
- Allowing players to dash out of attacks instead of being locked into animations
- Allowing movement while using the bow
- Revising abilities that did not perform as intended
- Adding an option to disable certain camera and screen-motion effects
- Making notifications more noticeable
- Allowing players to skip cutscenes, the tutorial, and spoken dialogue
- Replacing repeated continue prompts with automatic progression and an optional pause control
- Improving the pace of the opening area so players reach combat sooner
Zizaran also raised a problem in which Emberville’s audio stopped after using Alt+Tab to place the game in the background. Cygnus said that behavior had already been fixed.
The team is also considering allowing progress from the prologue demo to carry into the Early Access release, but this remains a possibility rather than a confirmed feature.
Cygnus said community involvement is one of the reasons Emberville is entering Early Access. The developers do not intend to design the game entirely by committee, but they want players to participate meaningfully by identifying friction, suggesting improvements, and helping the studio avoid poor decisions.
The Heihei Almost Did Not Exist#
The interview also revealed the origin of Emberville’s frantic chicken-like creature. According to Cygnus, the character was originally going to be a different animal and nearly did not make it into the game.
During a late-night development call, the chicken’s animation was deliberately accelerated until its movement looked slightly absurd. That moment helped establish how Emberville could tell a dark, grounded story while still allowing the game to make fun of itself.
The interview revealed another chicken-related Easter egg. Cohh Carnage received a pixel-chicken gift but accidentally left it behind at a Mexican restaurant. The developers responded by creating an in-game version wearing a sombrero.
What the Guests Are Playing#
Zizaran closed the interview by asking what the guests play when they are not working on Emberville.
- Alex Jordan mentioned Star Wars: Zero Company and Total War: Warhammer III.
- Cahlaflour discussed The Blood of Dawnwalker and her long-running interest in horror games, including Dead by Daylight.
- Cygnus said Emberville’s approaching launch leaves little time for other games, but his list includes War Dogs, Star Wars: Zero Company, STALKER 2, Mortal Shell II, and Dredge.
Steam Next Fest Comes Before Early Access#
Emberville is scheduled to participate in Steam Next Fest from October 19 through October 26, 2026. Its Early Access launch follows on October 27, 2026.
The interview provides one of the most detailed discussions yet of what the team hopes to build during Early Access. Some plans may change as development continues, especially features targeted for version 1.0, but the conversation offers a clearer look at the studio’s priorities and its intended relationship with the player community.