Press start on smarter gaming.
Ember Dungeon Vanguard is a London crew grinding through RPGs, roguelikes and indie gems so you don't waste a weekend on a dud. Guides, deep-dives and no-hype reviews.
Editorial line: +44 20 7633 9275
From a single blog post to a raid party
2017
One boss guide, one broken keyboard
EDV started as a single Dark Souls boss guide written in a Shoreditch flat after 40 failed attempts on Ornstein & Smough. It hit 200k reads in a month.
2019
The roguelike vault opens
We launched weekly roguelike breakdowns — Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire — with seed strategies and build math. Readers started calling us the vanguard.
2022
Indie spotlight & a real studio
We moved into a proper editorial space on Curtain Road and began covering unreleased UK indie titles, interviewing devs before launch day.
2025
30,000 members strong
Today the guild is 30k+ members reading daily guides, joining Friday game nights and voting on what we review next. No sponsored scores, ever.
Before & after: our capture upgrades
Drag the slider on each shot to see how we colour-grade and denoise raw gameplay captures for our reviews. Left is straight-off-console, right is EDV-graded.
Elden Ring — HDR tone-map & grain removal
Baldur's Gate 3 — shadow lift & sharpening
Everything a serious player needs
Frame-perfect guides
Step-by-step boss and dungeon walkthroughs with timing windows.
No-hype reviews
Scores we can defend, with playtime logged before we publish.
Friday game nights
Members-only co-op sessions and dev Q&As, hosted from Shoreditch.
We patch our guides within 48 hours of a game's major update. Every article shows the game version and patch number it was verified against, so you never grind an outdated meta.
Never for scores. We accept review copies but disclose them clearly, and our rating is written before we know any embargo terms. Sponsored posts are labelled and kept separate from editorial.
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch, plus Steam Deck performance notes on most PC titles. Each guide flags the platform it was captured on and any control-scheme differences.
Yes. Vanguard and Raid tier members get a monthly vote on our review queue and can submit indie titles directly. Roughly a third of our coverage now comes from member suggestions.
What members are saying
"Their Elden Ring boss order guide got me through the DLC in a weekend. No filler, just the fights and the runes. Worth the sub alone."
Liam H. — Manchester
Raid tier · March 2025
"I trust EDV scores more than any big outlet. They flagged the launch bugs everyone else glossed over and saved me £60 on a broken port."
Priya R. — Bristol
Vanguard tier · January 2025
"The Friday co-op nights are the best part. Met my whole Deep Rock squad through the EDV Discord and the dev Q&A with a Brighton studio was brilliant."
Sofia M. — Glasgow
Vanguard tier · February 2025
Membership tiers
Scout
For the casual reader
£0/mo
- ✓ All public reviews & news
- ✓ Weekly newsletter
- ✓ Community forum access
Vanguard
For the dedicated player
£7/mo
- ✓ Everything in Scout
- ✓ Full frame-perfect guide vault
- ✓ Monthly review-queue vote
- ✓ Friday game nights
Raid
For the completionist
£14/mo
- ✓ Everything in Vanguard
- ✓ Early access to reviews
- ✓ Private dev Q&A invites
- ✓ Submit titles to review queue
Get in touch
Pitch a guide, request a review or just talk shop. We read everything and reply within two working days.
Phone+44 20 7633 9275
Email[email protected]
Studio55 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3PT
HoursMon–Fri 10:00–18:00 · Fri game nights till 23:00
55 Curtain Road, Shoreditch
London EC2A 3PT · near Old Street station