Ashwalkers Reviews
What could have potentially been a good hybrid of walking simulator and multiple choice adventure is instead buried under boring gameplay and eye-straining visuals. Ashwalkers squanders any narrative replayability by being an all-round drab experience that is as uninspiring as the wastelands it’s set in.
Ashwalkers attempts to do something new with its blend of survival and storytelling, but it fails to be both compelling and a challenge for those who play it
As a concept, Ashwalkers is fascinating, mixing the survival genre with a visual novel. The world created in Ashwalkers is one of hope surrounded by despair, but the execution lacks the polish to make this one a game that I could suggest. The technical issues alone should have been caught before the release. But even with that aside, the lack of character development and a risk and reward system makes for a very dull experience.
Ashwalkers flaunts a system of choices, which only matter as a means to an end. The gameplay tends to be repetitive, and the story rarely strays from being formulaic and familiar. Despite all this, the environments are fairly unique and the run time is mercifully short.
Ashwalkers does a good job in presenting a wide variety of possible endings as well as creating a gloom, somber post-apocalyptic world for the players to dwell in. Ashwalkers doesn't deliver the same positive elements when it comes to technical execution and controls, thus contributing for a rather frustrating experience that makes it difficult to explore and to try to find all the different endings, while also harming the player's connection with the characters.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If I had to use one word to sum up all of the paragraphs above, it would be “boring.” Ashwalkers takes some intriguing prose and some truly difficult decisions and casts them all into a dull world design with tedious gameplay. The visuals and interactivity presented here do so little to prop up the relatively decent writing that I can’t help but wonder if this game would’ve been better off as a book instead.
All style and very little substance, Ashwalkers feels as cold and lifeless as the world it portrays.
Ashwalkers is a low priced, brief survival adventure that offers neither satisfying decision making nor engaging gameplay mechanics.
The honesty and delicacy with which Ashwalkers builds its world is truly remarkable. The conflict is presented by its mechanics, which manage to keep us distant from what should be a survival experience worth remembering.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Ashwalkers had the potential to be a very peculiar experience. Unfortunately, its sluggishness and superficiality end up turning its excellent proposal into something very limited. To make matters worse, the Switch version still has performance issues that make everything noticeably slower. Thanks to all these factors, it is a game that is difficult to recommend, but one that players more inclined to intimate and solemn adventures may still be able to enjoy.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Ashwalkers is nothing but a seedling of an idea that is struggling to grow in the fields of ash that surround it.
I started following the development of Ashwalkers long before it hit the stores. So naturally, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on a copy to review. Unlike many games I take, I had high expectations going into Ashwalkers. The real question is, does it live up to the hype I built for it, or did my enthusiasm disappear like smoke? Keep reading this rapid review to find out.
Ashwalkers is still a fascinating little narrative experience. There's an interesting and at times surprisingly uplifting world to explore, and it's worth playing through the game multiple times to see where its branching pathways lead. That said, its brevity means that there's not quite enough meat on the bones to really envelop anyone in its atmosphere, which could leave some explorers wanting more.
As it stands I finished the game without a lot of desire to repeat the journey to flesh out the many endings (34 in total). Because while there are enjoyable moments, it’s spread across a sparse and long hallway to move through. Ashwalkers has the bones of some good ideas. I’m hoping to see more from this studio as there are unique things to be found here, Nameless XIII just never really hits their mark. There are plenty of walking simulators out there that make you forget what they are. Ashwalkers, unfortunately, is not one of them.
The core game of Ashwalkers is a great, atmospheric experience that takes classics like The Oregon Trail and transports them to a vividly realised post-apocalyptic setting. Characters are nicely defined, resource management is clearly presented, and I genuinely wanted to find out more about the world and its inhabitants. However, the actual process of playing the game is just too slow and becomes boring after the first couple of runs. There is a good survival and choice-filled game here, but you have to walk a long long way to get to it.
Ashwalkers is an odd one, first and foremost deserving some credit for being distinctive with its narrative-driven approach to survival rather than being action-oriented...
Each successful run of Ashwalkers takes about two hours, so you do not have to sink in a ton of time into each playthrough. The management of the Squad is engaging, but not inherently difficult, barring any lack of resources. Ashwalkers: A Survival Journey is a chill, but engaging game with a ton of reasons to come back for more.
While Ashwalkers has an interesting art style and atmosphere, it does little to capitalize on its survival mechanics, choice based narrative, and is far too easy for what it wants to be. While Ashwalkers may be worth a single playthrough, there's not much to motivate repeat visits to this wasteland.
Ashwalkers is a rather unique take on the survival genre that relies on narrative and choice rather than outright combat. Sadly, its slow paced exploration can quickly wear out its welcome, pushing players away before they complete their journey.
Ashwalkers provides a great first impression through its atmosphere and mechanics, but each playthrough weighs on that experience. The repetitive nature of this adventure simply has you playing until you wear yourself out after so many of the different endings are similar to each other. These 2-hour game loops had me wishing for longer paths or something else because there’s a good foundation here but it’s repetitive nature ultimately leaves the adventure unfulfilling.