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"How shape does grief leave us in?"
"What does it mean to 'survive' loss?"
"What is it that we leave behind when we die?"

A standalone third-person action RPG currently in development in Unreal Engine 5.

What is
Embers Amongst The Pyre: Widow's Peak?

Widow’s Peak is a standalone third-person action RPG set within the world of Embers Amongst the Pyre. Players explore an isolated coastal settlement through the intertwined journeys of Nyx and Zafeiri, uncovering the conflicts, histories, and unresolved grief that have taken root across the hamlet.Combat, traversal, exploration, quests, and character-driven storytelling are woven into a world designed to change alongside the people who inhabit it. Progress is not defined only by defeating enemies, but by understanding the community, discovering what can be repaired, and deciding what deserves to be carried forward.

Widow’s Peak is being developed independently as both a complete standalone experience and a foundation for the larger Embers Amongst the Pyre project. I am responsible for the game’s creative direction and the majority of its design, programming, art, animation, technical art, UI, audio, music, and production.The project is being developed iteratively, with each system built to support both the immediate experience of Widow’s Peak and the larger world that will follow it.

The Characters

Nyx is a half-elven warrior who fights with a light greatsword, claw gauntlets, and fire magic. Agile and deceptive, she controls battle through pressure and misdirection, inviting opponents to expose themselves before striking.Guarded and often distant, Nyx hides a deep capacity for empathy beneath her callous exterior. Widow’s Peak will challenge the principles she has chosen to live by, and the role she wants to play in the world around her.

Zafeiri is a human guardian knight who wields a massive magical greatsword alongside resonance magic and abilities inherited through her lineage. She meets danger head-on, using her strength and training to protect others before harm can reach them.Open, optimistic, and quick to help, Zafeiri is equally prone to carrying more responsibility than she should. Widow’s Peak will force her to confront why she fights, and who she is ultimately fighting for.

Widow's Peak

A cliffside settlement surrounded by coastline, forest, farmland, caves, ruins, and older places the town has learned not to disturb. Widow’s Peak is small enough for faces to become familiar, but layered enough that its history is rarely visible all at once.Its spaces are designed around repeated discovery: routes reconnect, environmental changes accumulate, and locations that initially serve one purpose can gain new meaning as the player learns more about the people who live there.

Gameplay Pillars

COMBAT

Combat is built around character identity rather than interchangeable movesets. Nyx favors deliberate pressure, timing, and controlled aggression, while Zafeiri approaches encounters through defensive oppression. Dodging, guarding, parrying, abilities, target management, and environmental positioning are designed to reward mastery without divorcing combat from character.

MOVEMENT & EXPLORATION

Widow’s Peak is designed to be explored through movement rather than simply crossed. Running, sprinting, climbing, wall-running, ledge traversal, jumping, and other mobility systems allow previously familiar spaces to reveal new routes as the player’s capabilities expand. Exploration rewards curiosity through optional spaces, environmental storytelling, hidden encounters, and opportunities to return to earlier locations with new possibilities.

ART & MUSIC

The art and music of Widow’s Peak are designed to change with the emotional state of the world. Stylized characters, strong color relationships, and evolving environments allow the island to visually reflect its stories, while an adaptive score blends orchestral fantasy with modern metal influences, character-specific instrumentation, and layered music that responds to location, time, and conflict. The goal is for both disciplines to do more than establish atmosphere: they should quietly tell the player how the world is changing around them.

A WORLD TRYING TO HEAL

Widow's Peak is built around a small community whose stories overlap. Quests are intended to reveal relationships rather than exist as isolated errands, allowing the player to gradually understand how individual losses, loyalties, mistakes, and hopes connect across the town. Some changes are intimate. Others can visibly reshape the town itself.

Development Screenshots

'EMBERS AMONGST THE PYRE: WIDOWS PEAK' DEVLOGS

Development videos documenting the design, art, animation, and technical development of Widow's Peak.

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VIEW FULL PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE
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