Ashen - a new Souls-like

[cvv]

https://www.ashen-game.com




https://af.gog.com/game/ashen?as=1649904300
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/ashen/home

Spoiler

So apparently the new Epic Games store is open right now and they have some exclusives. Ashen looks like a Souls-like with hipster art style. The mechanics, chardev and itemization looks very good tho. Someone buy it and tell me what's what.

 

[V_K]

15 years ago every other RPG was a Diablo-clone, now it's a Souls-clone. Yawn.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

15 years ago every other RPG was a Diablo-clone, now it's a Souls-clone. Yawn.

If only there were some good ones.

 

[cvv]

15 years ago every other RPG was a Diablo-clone, now it's a Souls-clone. Yawn.

If only there were some good ones.

Depends on your expectation. Every Souls-like gets obviously compared to Souls and - obviously - falls short. But some of them - Lords of the Fallen, Surge, Darksiders 3 - are fun games on their own merit.

I for one had a huge blast with LotF and can't wait for my second playthrough. I rate both Surge and Darksiders 3 much lower, p. much everything about them except the combat sucks...but the combat in both is so good they held my attention until the end.

Similarly if Ashen turns out to be at least average, I'll give it a shot. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Souls-likes.

 

[SpoilVictor]

If only there were some good ones.

Exactly. Will they ever learn that one does not simply takes some indie studio, gives them like 1/100th of Dark Souls budget and make a clone.

My educated guess: it will come out at some point, a few dudes will review it saying it has interesting bits, everyone will forget it or miss it, end of story.

Hope I'm wrong but that's how it will be.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

Yeah, I played The Surge and it was good, just not what I wanted from a Souls-clone, so I didn't even bother with LotF, since it looks worse imo. Darksiders doesn't interest me at all, neither does Ashen. Code Vein also looks mediocre at best. Then there is utter shit like Immortal: Unchained, lel. Maybe Hellpoint will be worth playing?
I think my problem is that I expect a Souls-clone to build on the strenghts of Souls, which for me are a dark, depressing atmosphere, interconnected imaginative level design, good character customisation, good difficult combat encounters and environmental storytelling (i.e. not cinematic/narrative).
Well, I guess it's a once in a lifetime game, so I don't have much hope. None, in fact. :D

 

[cvv]

Just try LotF for a bit. As a huge Souls-fan I held off on that for a long time too, after all the bad reviews and rap, but it's probably the closest to the Souls experience of all the clones you can find.

Again - you can approach it with the expectation "I want it to be like Souls but better" and then proceed to bash every aspect of it that's worse than Souls. Or you can say "I expect it to be bad" and then be surprised by all the ways the game is actually fun and well thought out.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

Yeah, I'll probably try LotF sooner or later, should be worth getting in a sale.
Still, just like so many other (even older) classics, I find it puzzling that Dark Souls will probably never be surpassed.

 

[cvv]

Yeah, I'll probably try LotF sooner or later, should be worth getting in a sale.
Still, just like so many other (even older) classics, I find it puzzling that Dark Souls will probably never be surpassed.

You can find LotF keys on G2A or elsewhere for like 2-3 bucks. It's a no brainer imo.

And yeah, no idea why making a decent Souls-clone is so hard. Nobody is even asking for that unique art or narrative style, I think everyone would be perfectly fine with just great combat, itemization, build variety and level design. That should be more than doable, goddamit.

 

[SpoilVictor]

I think my problem is that I expect a Souls-clone to build on the strenghts of Souls, which for me are a dark, depressing atmosphere, interconnected imaginative level design, good character customisation, good difficult combat encounters and environmental storytelling (i.e. not cinematic/narrative).
Well, I guess it's a once in a lifetime game, so I don't have much hope. None, in fact. :D

I couldn't agree more. Especially when only original Dark Souls did it for me.

I've bounced of LotF hard, but maybe 'cause I've chosen Daggers and it was so slow that even after dodge I couldn't safely land a hit. My brother went with 2H and had a blast.

 

[cvv]

I've bounced of LotF hard, but maybe 'cause I've chosen Daggers and it was so slow that even after dodge I couldn't safely land a hit. My brother went with 2H and had a blast.

Oh yeah, that's important - DON'T play a Rogue. Go with Warrior (or a Cleric).

 

[thesheeep]

15 years ago every other RPG was a Diablo-clone, now it's a Souls-clone. Yawn.

Once Dark Souls 4 releases and is utter shit, shortly followed by a mobile-Souls, we will have come full circle and the next cycle can begin.

 

[Villagkouras]

It's difficult to make a souls clone because most devs want to make an action game, not a dungeon crawler.

I see the reviews of this are fine.

 

[Jenkem]

give your personal information to the chinese government, breh

 

[aweigh]

Examina's better.

 

[Skdursh]

Did Ashen just get released or something? I heard about this game being in development like a year ago and bookmarked it to check back to see what progress, if any, was made.

Edit: I just checked Steam and it still says a release date is TBA. So is the game released on Epic or is it just a pre-order? In any case, there isn't a fucking chance in hell that I'm signing up with Epic or any of the other Steam clones. Put it on Steam or GOG or fuck off.

 

[deama]

I might give this a go, looks kinda dull though, it's as if they ripped off dark souls mechanic by mechanic and didn't really try to change it up much.
They could have at least tried to vary the combat a bit, like maybe mix up dark souls with severance blade of darkness' combat.

 

[The_Mask]

I don't know... Dark Souls is more than just stamina management. If it was just stamina management everyone could do it.

(Apparently) Simple elements like parry/ripose or plunge attack make a huge difference.
Move sets too.


I didn't see any attention to detail in that regard, but maybe I'm just being picky.


Also the very fact that the game has a map tells me, albeit indirectly, that whoever designed this game has no confidence in their own design, as pertaining to areas being memorable.
If that is not the case and I am wrong, it still is a dumbing down of the genre. One that I will not accept.


And straight up starting with a companion feels a bit pandering. One of the ideas behind the souls games were the moment of triumph against adversity (no matter the shape of which that happened), most of the time - alone - without the crutch of "a helping hand".
The video is weird to me, if I look at this as a souls-like. It feels more of a Soul Reaver-like, I guess. Where Raziel can wear a shield.



Anyway, maybe at the end of the day I'm just a grouch and a purist. Who knows? This game might be just as amazing...

 

[Wunderbar]

Ashen looks like multiplayer game with focus on pve rather than singleplayer game with optional multiplayer element.

 

[Background Character]

Nowadays anything can be Souls-like. Come by my bathroom later when I will take a huge Souls-like dump

 

[Siveon]

Depends on your expectation. Every Souls-like gets obviously compared to Souls and - obviously - falls short. But some of them - Lords of the Fallen, Surge, Darksiders 3 - are fun games on their own merit.

I thought Lords of the Fallen and Surge played like absolute slime. Literally, slow as hell. Wasn't fun at all really. Best one is probably Nioh, that actually had combat that didn't hurt me.

Yeah, I played The Surge and it was good, just not what I wanted from a Souls-clone, so I didn't even bother with LotF, since it looks worse imo. Darksiders doesn't interest me at all, neither does Ashen. Code Vein also looks mediocre at best. Then there is utter shit like Immortal: Unchained, lel. Maybe Hellpoint will be worth playing?
I think my problem is that I expect a Souls-clone to build on the strenghts of Souls, which for me are a dark, depressing atmosphere, interconnected imaginative level design, good character customisation, good difficult combat encounters and environmental storytelling (i.e. not cinematic/narrative).
Well, I guess it's a once in a lifetime game, so I don't have much hope. None, in fact. :D

Might take a look at Soul & Sanctuary or Nioh. Although Nioh isn't depressing per se.

 

[RapineDel]

Lords of the Fallen is absolute shit and if anything showed that From Software are talented and that it isn't a formula anyone can just copy and cash in on. Haven't played the Surge but LotF was poor enough that it'll be a long time before I bother having a look.

Salt and Sanctuary is fairly good from what I've played however, from memory it's a passionate husband and wife team and it's a good cross between Souls and Castlevania. Nioh has good combat but the world and level design is pretty bare bones.

 

[toro]

Did Ashen just get released or something? I heard about this game being in development like a year ago and bookmarked it to check back to see what progress, if any, was made.

Edit: I just checked Steam and it still says a release date is TBA. So is the game released on Epic or is it just a pre-order? In any case, there isn't a fucking chance in hell that I'm signing up with Epic or any of the other Steam clones. Put it on Steam or GOG or fuck off.

Release date on Steam was 2018 but got changed to TBD and the developers tweeted that the game is exclusive to the EPIC store.

Now the tweet was deleted: https://twitter.com/A44games/status/1070892596967309313

Fuck'em.

 

[Siveon]

Lords of the Fallen is absolute shit and if anything showed that From Software are talented and that it isn't a formula anyone can just copy and cash in on. Haven't played the Surge but LotF was poor enough that it'll be a long time before I bother having a look.

Salt and Sanctuary is fairly good from what I've played however, from memory it's a passionate husband and wife team and it's a good cross between Souls and Castlevania. Nioh has good combat but the world and level design is pretty bare bones.

Oh yeah Ska Studios is great. They made very fun games, mostly with a ton of just earnest edge that I can appreciate. Helps that the gameplay is genuinely good too.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Exclusive to Epic store? Won't get it because don't want my info given the Epic's chink overlords. But the game itself looks reasonably okayish