Developed by A44, an independent team from New Zealand,
Ashen is an action RPG that shares many similarities with the Souls series.
Though it may seem a bit too familiar at first glance,
aspects like its world design, quest system, and seamless co-op
help Ashen stand on its own.
Ashen takes place in a world that has gone through several cycles of light and dark.
After a long period of darkness, the world is once again ready to be brought into an age of light
with the coming rebirth of the Ashen,
a bird-like deity that brought light to the world long ago.
It’s now up to you to find the Ashen and ensure its awakening.
Ashen’s many similarities to the Souls series are apparent in several forms
like the Crimson Gourd, your main source of healing
which has a limited number of charges and is refilled by resting at a Ritual Stone.
Items can be consumed to gain currency, and when you die,
you leave your currency behind which must be retrieved afterwards.
The combat also sticks closely to its inspiration.
You can use light and heavy attacks with a one or two-handed weapon,
carry a shield to block, or evade enemies with a dodge roll,
all while keeping an eye on your stamina meter.
It can feel a bit stiff at times, but overall its core mechanics are enough to keep you going.
There are a decent number of different enemies like giants and wolves,
and while one enemy isn’t much of a threat on its own,
you’re often thrown into situations where you’ll need to battle several at a time.
If you aren’t careful, you can be quickly overrun, so you’re encouraged
to take your time and wait for the right moment to strike.
There are also a few bosses along the way, although the first two are pretty boring and they aren’t very strong.
Thankfully the quality of the bosses improves a bit as you progress,
though they never really reach great heights.
While Ashen may borrow ideas from other games, it does introduce some interesting concepts of its own.
Instead of leveling up in a traditional sense using experience points,
players increase health or stamina
by completing quests or finding Ashen feathers scattered throughout the world.
Since the side quests and exploration are already some of the game’s strongest features,
it feels like a natural way to reward progression.
Ashen’s world has clearly divided zones, each with its own theme and enemies to fight.
Instead of focusing on tight spaces, most of the areas are vast and varied.
While the world is portrayed largely in dark greys,
desaturated color palettes add character to different locations
and there are tons of interesting structures with loot inside.
The first zone you get to really explore
is a calm mountainside dotted with autumn trees and a flowing river.
Later on, you traverse a broad and desolate land covered in ash and ancient ruins.
Exploring these areas is enjoyable and rewarding
since many of the weapons, armor sets, and Ashen feathers lie off the beaten path.
There are a few dungeon-like areas that are often very dark
and require you to hold a lantern to navigate, preventing you from using shields
or two-handed weapons since you need to keep one hand free to carry the light.
While the layouts can be decent, these dungeon sections drag on for way too long.
Even though you unlock fast travel between Ritual Stones fairly early in the game,
you can't fast travel inside of dungeons.
You have to run all the way through a dungeon again if you leave and wish to return.
This wouldn’t be a problem if there were shortcuts you could unlock
to make it faster the second time through or if you could simply run past all the enemies,
but you have to retread the same lengthy routes
and some areas require you to kill enemies to progress.
It’s a baffling design that doesn't add any meaningful challenge,
it just makes the dungeons even more annoying to traverse.
Once you gain control of an area called Vagrants Rest,
it acts as your main hub in the game.
It starts off small and sparse, but as you progress,
new structures are built that house some of your companions and other characters.
It’s nice to see your town grow over time, and it serves
as a visual representation of your hard work.
Here you can perform tasks like upgrading your weapons
and equipping runes that add passive effects like granting more stamina
or additional charges on your Crimson Gourd.
More features, such as potion crafting, can be added by helping characters and completing side quests.
There are also relics that give even more beneficial effects
like Gefn’s Blessing which adds damage resistance
or Umbral Veil which lets you survive one killing blow.
It’s great to see Vagrants Rest develop over time,
and these additions allow for some player customization.
The side quests given to you by the world’s various inhabitants are fairly simple tasks like
killing a specific foe, but most are enjoyable ventures.
Besides the more tangible rewards, each character’s questline helps to flesh out the world,
contributing to Ashen’s efforts to tell an intriguing story.
These characters also join you on your adventures and aid you in combat,
although their AI can be pretty frustrating and unreliable, especially in boss fights.
Thankfully, real players can also replace your AI companions at random when you visit a Ritual Stone,
though it didn’t happen often for us.
Oddly enough, when a player does join your game,
they look exactly like your AI companion, and the game
doesn't give you any indication that you’re playing with a real person,
making interactions feel more confusing than exciting.
There is a decent amount of flexibility within the game’s options, like being able to disable AI companions,
disable multiplayer, or to get rid of a companion altogether if you wish to go it alone.
There’s also an additional mode called “Children of Sissna”
that can be unlocked around the halfway point of the game
that reduces your health and stamina meters,
which is nice if you’re looking for more of a challenge.
Ashen won’t light the world on fire, but it’s a decent RPG with a mysterious setting.
While it follows a well-known formula, it has worthwhile side quests,
and the larger spaces are enjoyable to explore.
Though it may never come close to the heights of the games that it takes inspiration from,
Ashen is still an entertaining expedition overall.
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