Emberstorm Entertainment

Emberstorm Entertainment is a studio (Indie, Deutsches Studio, Indie) based in Berlin, Deutschland, founded in 2020. PlayInsider covers 1 game by Emberstorm Entertainment: REKA (75).

Emberstorm Entertainment is a small indie studio from Berlin developing its first game, REKA . The witchy adventure with a house on chicken legs already earned the team plenty of fans during Early Access. In this studio profile, we look at who's behind Emberstorm Entertainment, how the studio came together and what makes it special.

The Story of Emberstorm Entertainment

Emberstorm's roots go back to university. According to the studio's own website, most of its members met in 2016 at a Berlin college where they were studying game design. Even back then they worked on several projects together, learned from each other and grew into a team.

After graduating, they took the plunge and went independent. Emberstorm Entertainment UG (haftungsbeschränkt) was entered in the commercial register at the Charlottenburg district court on August 4, 2020, and the studio is still based in Berlin today. According to its legal notice , Tobias Hermann and Jonathan Kees run the company.

Founders and Team

Emberstorm was founded by five people: Julietta Grunewald, Tobias Hermann and Jesco von Puttkamer mainly handle the art, John Kees takes care of programming and game design, and Marcel Lisowski handles management. Julietta Grunewald, for example, is responsible for REKA's concept and 3D art.

A small team has grown around the founders. Sebastian Grunewald composes the music and handles audio, joined by sound design, QA and extra help with Unity and art. The studio describes itself as young and small, with the goal of making high-quality, inclusive and beautiful games that are fun to play.

The REKA Breakthrough

The studio's first and so far only game is REKA. You play a young witch apprenticed to Baba Yaga who builds a house on giant chicken legs. The idea has a special backstory: because Berlin sits on land once settled by Slavic peoples, the team wanted its debut to draw on Slavic culture and mythology.

REKA entered Early Access on Steam on September 12, 2024, and went down well. Over the following months came big updates with new areas, building parts and quests. REKA currently sits at “Very Positive” in Steam user reviews, with players especially praising the atmosphere, the music and the freeform house building.

Working with Fireshine Games and Shochiku

For the release, Emberstorm teamed up with Fireshine Games . The London publisher, whose catalog includes Core Keeper and Shadows of Doubt, handles marketing and distribution for REKA. In Japan and Asia, Shochiku is also on board as publisher and has shown the game at Tokyo Game Show, among other events.

Things didn't always go according to plan. Version 1.0 was first announced for August 18, 2026, but then got delayed. The team used the extra time for an open beta to hunt down bugs with players. I find it endearing that a small studio would rather launch later but in better shape.

Emberstorm Entertainment Today

REKA 1.0 releases on October 26, 2026, wrapping up the story of Reka and Baba Yaga. It brings new building tools, a reworked UI and plenty of bug fixes. For Emberstorm it's the biggest moment yet, because now we'll see whether the debut holds up as a finished game.

The studio hasn't revealed what comes after REKA. On its official studio site , though, the team stresses that it wants to make games full of atmosphere and artistic craft. For us, Emberstorm is a great example of a German indie studio getting noticed internationally with a clear vision. You'll find more studios in our developer overview.