Mechanics first
Every hero starts as a movement test on a grey box. If it isn't fun with no art, no audio and no UI, it doesn't ship.
Austin, Texas · Independent since 2018
We make shooters
worth getting good at.
Cindercrest Studios builds competitive multiplayer games with fast hands, loud colours and a community we actually talk to. Two titles shipped. Fifty-two people. One very argumentative playtest channel.
Who we are
A small studio with a very specific obsession
We started in 2018 with three people, a rented office above a taco place, and a stubborn belief that arena shooters deserved another decade. Today we run Riftbound Arena as a live game with seasonal ranked play, keep Emberfall alive for the people who never left, and write patch notes that our own QA lead describes as "legally distinct from comedy".
Community first
Designers answer their own threads. Our trust team reads every report. We publish what we changed and, more importantly, what we broke.
Fair matches
Ranked is the whole point. We invest in matchmaking, in reporting, and in making cheating expensive and boring for the people who sell it.
Flagship
Riftbound Arena
5v5 hero shooter. Free to play. Seasonal ranked.
Twelve heroes, three lanes of vertical map space and a rift that reshapes the arena mid-round. Built in Unreal Engine 5 and updated on a roughly ten-week season cadence since launch in 2023.
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