5 Beginner Tips & Tricks for Into the Emberlands

As the Lightbearer of Into the Emberlands, saving frightened Knacks from the Miasma and restoring your village will send you out on a resource-gathering journey that will put your planning skills to the test. If you find yourself stuck, embarking only on short hikes away from your home base, then take these handy beginner tips with you! I’ll cover precautions you can take to avoid getting lost so you can make more progress at repairing the town.

Rescue Villagers on Your Way Back

When you see little red dots on your compass or plumes of smoke nearby, indicating that a scared little Knack is waiting for rescue in the distance, it might seem tempting to pick them up immediately. Any time you rescue lost villagers, you’ll be rewarded Ember, giving you more fuel to get back home, which is exactly why I think you should do your exploring first and then grab them on your way back to town or on your way back to a Metro Station.

In my playthrough, I found this allowed me to explore further before turning back, as I could use most of my lantern’s Ember, knowing that I left a trail of Knacks to pick up and restore my fuel on the way home. This strategy also works with the little balls of Ember you’ll find while exploring, which yield fuel and resources. It can be a risky way to go about things because you need to remember where to grab Knacks and/or Ember, but if you’re careful, it can do wonders for your progression.

Rotate Your Camera Cautiously

Rotating your camera is an expected feature in most games, but who knew such a simple control could get so confusing? Knowing which direction you’re going is very important in Into the Emberlands, and I found that it’s easier to get lost if you’re constantly switching which way your camera is facing.

Whether you’re trying to remember where your Metro Station is or what direction the village is in, you’ll need to avoid getting turned around too much. So, if you must rotate your camera, do it cautiously.

Be Mindful of Metro Station Placement

Metro Stations give me a huge sigh of relief as they allow you to transport yourself to your village and back again, serving as a checkpoint when you travel deeper into Biomes. However, you’ll always be returned to your most recently used Metro Station, so be mindful of which ones you travel with.

Early on, I definitely suggest making sure you have a Metro Station next to a Distillery once you get to the point that quest givers are requesting Distilled Petals. Each time you use the Distillery, you’ll have to spend a lot of Ember, and you want to reduce the number of steps you need to take before transporting yourself back home. This allows you to hold more Distilled Petals and safely spend your fuel with an exit strategy. At one point, I only left myself with about 15 Ember and no Station in sight, so of course, I became lost and had to start over. Don’t be like me! Choose a Metro that’s close to items or machines that you need to use.

Prioritise Ember Lantern & Inventory Upgrades

Upgrades come in many forms in Into the Emberlands, from increasing the size of your coin purse to improving the amount of crystals you can hold. It can be tough to know what to get first. In my experience, the two most important early on are the inventory and lantern upgrades.

Filling your bag space is extremely easy at all points in the game, as there are so many items you’ll find during your journey. The more you can hold, the better, as you’ll often run into NPCs or machines that will reward you with tools, upgrades, and more if you have an item they want. Getting more inventory space as soon as possible will definitely make progression a smoother experience.

Increasing your lantern’s fuel capacity will make your life much easier as you can explore more with less stress. It’s also necessary when quests start requesting items that you’ll need to spend Ember to get, such as the aforementioned Distilled Petals.

Turn in Rescued Knacks at the Inn

While I love saving cute little Knacks, sometimes I’ll have a long train of them following me and no quests actually requesting rescued villagers, so if that’s the case, what do you do? Well, I highly recommend turning them into the Inn, a building you’ll repair early on your playthrough.

For every rescued Knack, you’ll get one coin, which can be helpful if you’re frequently going back and forth from Metro Stations or need to buy more tools. Always turn in your Knacks before upgrading your village, too. For me, any extra followers disappeared when I levelled up the town, and I wished I would’ve gotten coins instead of nothing at all.

If you’re just getting started in Into the Emberlands, these five tips will make your journey into the Miasma a breeze. Do you have any other progression or survival tips? Let us know in the comments below!