Press kit
Everything you need to cover Ember Line. If something is missing, write press@newfires.org — we answer within a business day.
Fact sheet
| Title | Ember Line |
|---|---|
| Developer | New Fires Studio G.K. — Nakameguro, Tokyo |
| Publisher | Self-published |
| Platforms | PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch |
| Release | Q4 2026 (PC, Switch simultaneous) |
| Price | USD 9.99 / JPY 1,400 / EUR 9.99 |
| Engine | Custom (Rust + wgpu). Yes, really. |
| Length | 8–14 hours for a full run |
| Languages | English, Japanese (day one). |
| Rating | ESRB T (Teen) — applied for. CERO B expected. |
| Website | app.newfires.org |
| Press contact | press@newfires.org |
Short description (25 words)
Ember Line is a hand-drawn narrative adventure about returning to a small town the year after a fire, and helping decide what to rebuild.
Long description (90 words)
Ember Line is a hand-drawn narrative adventure about the slow, stubborn work of rebuilding. You are Auren, a cartographer called home to the mountain town of Ashfold the autumn after it burned. There is no combat, no fail state, and no optimal ending — only 31 reconstruction sites, 200 memory fragments, and forty-three neighbours who stayed. The game is short (eight to fourteen hours), deliberately paced, and scored for solo piano and cello. From New Fires Studio, three people in a room above a konbini in Nakameguro, Tokyo.
Key features (for bullet lists)
- Four-verb design: walk, pick up, place, talk. No combat.
- 31 rebuildable sites with 2–7 valid end-states each. The town you leave behind is the one you made.
- 200+ optional memory fragments, triggered by objects — no forced cutscenes.
- Original score by Ito Saeko for solo piano and cello.
- Real latitude-accurate day/night. The sun rises at 06:18.
- Full accessibility pass: rebindable controls, slow-read mode, high-contrast palette, all audio cues mirrored visually.
History
New Fires Studio was founded in April 2024 by Lin Harada (art / writing), Ito Saeko (music / sound), and Tomoya Kuroki (programming / design). The studio exists to make one game at a time, slowly, and then see whether there is energy for another.
Ember Line is our first game. It began as a 2022 short story Lin wrote while caring for her grandmother, who lives in a town that burned in 2017. Lin has never set foot in the story's town. The geography of Ashfold is entirely invented, the furniture is real.
Thank you for reading this far. Writing for other people who write is one of the most useful things an indie studio does, and we take this page seriously.