Achievements in Emberward are completionist bait of the best kind: mostly structural (clear this, survive that), a few genuinely nasty. The count is exactly 100 as of 1.0, confirmed by both the Steam API and the developer's own "Exactly 100 now!" in the launch notes.
The 15 achievements added in 1.0
Official text from the launch announcement, condensed:
| Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Void Depths Traveler | Clear Void Depths on Casual or higher |
| Void Depths Explorer | Clear Void Depths on Normal or higher |
| Void Depths Pioneer | Clear Void Depths on Heroic |
| Void Depths Conqueror | Heroic Void Depths with Infernal Shard level 24, no event character |
| Gift Defender | Survive wave 20 at Snowridge Outpost |
| Frontier Guardian | Survive wave 20 at Wyrmfell Bridge |
| It's Over 9000! | Score over 9,000 in an Enigma Sanctum trial |
| Oathkeeper | On Heroic, pact with every element at the altar at once, then complete the pact |
| All In | Defeat the Void Depths boss before round 8 ends, on Heroic |
| Mad Genius | Clear Void Depths on Heroic without using any talents |
| Monster Express | Send more than 10,000 monsters through portals in Void Depths |
| The Big Five | Clear a stage (Normal+) with Volcano, Froststorm, Thunder, Starfall and Cauldron towers all on the field |
| Abyssal Foodie | Enjoy the full Academy meal during a Void Depths adventure |
| Thinking with Portals | Clear the Chaos Realm on Heroic using the Void Flame |
| Emberwarder | Without an event character, clear all five regions on Heroic with Infernal Shard level 24 |
Emberwarder is the summit: all five regions, Heroic, 24 shards, no event-character crutch. The Big Five quietly documents a valid endgame tower core for you (see towers); Monster Express turns a region mechanic into a long-term project.
Notable challenges from the base list
⚠️ Community references, unverified. These come from help threads; the full official base-set listing is pending on this page.
- Elementalist: only arcane towers built. A failed attempt spawned a Reddit thread asking whether the fire source's own attacks break the run (it had attacked, the run failed); the community verdict leaned "fire attacks do not count as towers", but nobody official has ruled.
- Solo leveling: a help thread title from launch week; requirements community-known.
- A Chinese forum thread asked how to wipe achievements for a fresh completionist run: Steam-side achievement resets are not a game feature, and the in-game recovery tool restores unlocks, not their absence.
The unlock philosophy
The developer's 2024 FAQ explained why achievements arrived late rather than day one: adding them before the design stabilized risked removing achievements people had earned, "it would be bad if people spent time on an achievement but I have to remove it". They shipped before 1.0 as promised, and the 1.0 set then froze the total at an even 100. The 1.0 notes also extended the Settings save-recovery option ("Recover Save from Achievements") to include Estelle the character, which is the official word on how achievement state and unlocks interlock.
FAQ
How many achievements does Emberward have?
Exactly 100 on Steam, fifteen of which arrived with the 1.0 update in September 2026. The store API confirms the total.
What is the hardest achievement?
By requirement weight, Emberwarder: all five regions on Heroic, Infernal Shard 24, no event character. Community clear-posts for its prerequisites (single-region 24-shard clears) are already an elite niche.
Can achievements be removed or reset by updates?
The developer's stated policy is the opposite: achievements were deliberately added only once the design was stable to avoid removing any. One 1.0 note temporarily re-locked event characters (not achievements) until Void Depths is cleared once.
Do demo or Early Access achievements carry over?
Early Access owners kept their achievements through 1.0 (retroactive card drops on the trading-card side show the same pattern). Demo play carries progress into the full game per the official FAQ; see demo.