Ashen

Wow, what a game. I know the reviews are mixed, and this is A44's first game as far as I know, but wow. There are obviously pro's and cons, the design is amazing, the art style is gorgeous, and exploring around with the sometimes-janky but fun climbing system actually rewards the player, even when your mate says you're wasting your time trying to scale that wall. I think the thing that makes this game have so many different takes on if it's good or bad is the fact that it really is a hard, onforgiving game. You could be running back to a boss site and already be mad about dying, and then die to the enemies on the way because you became inpatient, but that's what makes it great, you always need to play patiently and smart, otherwise you are punished. Still I'm not just here to glaze, among other small janky physics, or a dodging system that could see some improvement, the bosses are probably it's biggest shortcoming. While they are very creative and sometimes very fun, bosses like Sissna are tedious and not very well designed, causing you to bash your head against the wall trying to beat the boss but somehow the boss has less of a recovery time than you do. Still, it is beatable, and when you use all the tools the game makes available it might even be easily beaten. My only other complaint is the ending, it is unsatisfactory, [spoiler]you beat sissna, who just flops on the ground with no real cutscene whereas she had a big menacing intro, and you become the new gaurdian, thats it. It would have been so much mor satisfying if the player could go back to vagrant's rest, talk to the other NPC's and hear what they have to say, or even just to show more of what it means to be the new gaurdian, what new powers you have or what new responsibilities you have.[/spoiler] For a game that is this hard and unforgiving, I expected much more from the conclusion. Still, Ashen will forever be one of my favorite games, and I believe most bad reviews come from players who can't adapt to its different fighting design, or that do no apreciate how unforgiving it can be. Ashen is hard, but wow is it just an amazing experience if you give it the chance.

这掉毛游戏隔一会儿就闪退是几个意思？

SEM SISTEMA DE UPAR ATRIBUTOS, eu sinto muito mais quando procuro por jogos souls quero algum semelhante ao padrão que ja me acostumei, a recompensa nao e so upar as armas e sim se sentir mais forte, esse jogo em momento algum me senti forte mesmo colocando uma arma no maximo, a stamina e muito punitiva, mesmo usando armaduras forte mesmo com uso de poções, ainda sim foi um fardo, o jogo tem sim uma historia legal e acompanha de fato seguir quest, mais seu combate e muito prejudicado sobre o resto, não gostei sinto que foi dinheiro jogado fora, ambientes bonitos mais o combate me deixo verdadeiramente decepcionado

a lot of bugs

Great if you enjoy souls-likes. Interesting bosses and mechanics but the game is very short. Must play with a friend.

I can see this game being too hard for idiots, which at the very least 80% of players are. Played on PS4 years ago. and it was tons worse. At it's core this game plays like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Dark Souls, with a drowning mechanic, and some quests. Suffering from an identity crisis, this game wants to be an co-op action adventure game, but the co-op aspect is implemented ABYSMALLY. I'm talking, if you want to beat a boss with your friend, if you beat that same boss in YOUR world, you can't be summoned for theirs. The only way to do it would be to make an entirely new character to then go all the way back, and then hopefully not die at that boss. If your friend dies on the boss, you should too. That's how ♥♥♥♥♥♥ it is. Combat is ok, recycled sameness on everything across the board. Weapon AR values make it very clear what weapons to use, as long as you can spot the good movesets from the bad ones. Armors mean absolutely nothing, almost all of them are horrible, and generally not worth considering. On sale, this game is worth it, but only if you have the intention to play, or with a friend. 6.7/10 not great not terrible.

Сюжет куда ни шло, большего и не ожидаешь от такой игры, однако боевка - что-то с чем-то. Собрать те же механики, что и во всех souls-like в такой кусок говна это надо постараться или просто ♥♥♥♥♥ не понимать в том, как настраивать урон, ренж атак, их распространение, в целом расставлять нпс по уровням. Последний босс это вообще ♥♥♥♥♥♥. Удачи всем сюда входящим.

It's a co-op souls-like at heart. I've read that multiplayer only works on Epic Games, but better look for yourselves. It's playable solo aswell. You just get a wonky bot. They can be OP, but also 1-shots, because they have some lemming tendencies, like drowning themselves. Enjoyable game, but... It's a copy-paste fiesta. If you've seen the enemies of the starting zone, you've, in essence, seen the whole game. Heavy asset reuse and attack pattern reuse. They've been creative with it, so the zones are pretty distinct, but that's it. In addition, to stretch the game, they rely on really long walks between save points, especially when you're close to the end. Balance for the final bosses is kind of tough, but manageable. The DLC is fine, but really aggregious with the very long walk between boss tries. You basically have to run through a whole dungeon to get to the boss again. This game features a lot of verticality and climbing, but the climbing is kind of wonky. This game is also very dark. It's a feature of this game to be in dark rooms and only being able to see a small distance with your lantern. I've set the gamma as expected by the developers, but I think even cranking up the gamma wouldn't change much, since it's a dedicated mechanic. Story is kind of meh aswell. Good time, but only, if you've already played every other souls-like you wanted to play. Bonus: You can't skip the credits. It won't even progress, if you have the game not focussed. To me the devs are a bit too full of themselves, for the copy-paste low-effort they've slopped out.

I fell in love with this game on xbox and bought it here since I switched to pc but the game won't load past the beginning cutscene/story intro so... thankfully got it on sale, maybe when i get my new pc it will play, if not this review won't change.

- 7.6/10 - Did it with my boi Yakob.