Ashen Reviews
Ashen is one of the best indie games of the year, drawing heavily from past RPGs like Dark Souls and Legend of Zelda.
Ashen could have done more to make itself stand out, and also could have been optimized better for the Xbox One, but at the end of the day, it's still a great game.
Ashen is a very good action-adventure game sporting interesting lore, good character development, and solid gameplay features like combat and exploration. Unfortunately, the game does almost nothing to separate its gameplay loop from the one seen in the Dark Souls series and therefore ultimately feels like a lite version of the series developed by From Software. The well-made overall experience does make it easy to look past this issue, but if you're looking for something innovative, you won't find it here.
Ashen was just a brilliant surprise at the last days of this year. It's a perfect balance in the genre of Souls Like games which both please the fans and also gives newcomers a chance to know what they were missing.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Ashen is a soulslike, but to call it a clone would be a betrayal of the awesome job A44 have with their debut project.
Through an embrace of more traditional game design, Ashen's take on the Souls formula ends up feeling welcome, even after countless imitators. A solid quest structure and top-notch world design make this beautiful low-fi title a worthy homage to a quickly aging series.
As I continued to make my way through Ashen a calm of complacency washed over me. It doesn't have quite the same highs as a lot of its predecessors, but it maintains its tranquil equilibrium throughout. If you have an adventurous spirit and the patience and time to put into it, Ashen will pay dividends.
Ashen's subtle additions to its obvious inspirations make it greater than the sum of its parts. If you're a fan of Dark Souls or found it and many games inspired by it too daunting, Ashen is well worth checking out.
Aurora44 managed to build a distinctive and unique game on mechanics, which has long become familiar. Do not blindly copy other people's achievements, but embody familiar things in your own vision. I look forward to what the authors will do next.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Ashen is a game that saddly ends being halfway between what promised and what it actually delivers.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Basically, Ashen is like a Souls-clone and of course a highly recommended game for souls like fans and hardcore gamers. Compared to the best games of 2018, Ashen is an average game and for sure, it's not a game for everyone, but if you are a souls fan, don't miss it at all, because death is so close to you in Ashen! You can feel the death shadow in every steps and every battles of this game.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Ashen tries too hard and not hard enough to be both a Dark Souls clone and something different, and loses a lot in the process.
Dark Souls serves Ashen's premise but does not define its conclusion. By instilling senses of community and devotion inside its narrative, Ashen proves Souls' discourse expands beyond punishment and brutality. Once separated from its inspiration, Ashen has plenty to show off inside of its common space.
Ashen is a Souls-like that succeeds despite its lack of originality. The simplified progression, tracked quest objectives, and a persistent companion make it a great way to get into this challenging sub-genre.
Ashen uses the Souls-like formula to tell a very different, optimistic story about community. Whether you're playing alone, with an AI companion, or with another person, combat with the game's varied enemies and bosses is challenging and satisfying. Ashen's world feels real and lived-in, and getting to carve out your own settlement and watch it prosper is truly satisfying.
I’m not a huge ‘Souls fan, at least not since bouncing off Dark Souls 2, and I tend to shy away from these games as I get older; however, even though Ashen has some difficulty spikes that remind me of those games, the vibrant world, likeable characters, companion system, and soothing soundtrack all kept me coming back.
I like Ashen, it's a good game, it would just be nice to see it building upon the foundation of its muse rather than almost copying and pasting it. The world of Ashen is its biggest attraction, the lore is deeply entrenched and really pulls everything together into something that is worth playing through. That being said, if you have played Dark Souls and don't want to replay Dark Souls, then you aren't going to get on with this. It is an odd one as I am a huge fan of this style of game, but we need games that build a more exciting game on top of the ideas that have been put down. It isn't enough to be the same but with a different look. Ashen is good, but nothing revolutionary.