Incline Play Ashes 2063 and Ashes: Afterglow

[baturinsky]

 

[MasterofThunder]

I wish these games had a vanilla or MBF21 port available. They seem interesting, but GZDoom is such a shitty, bloated engine that anything made for it tends to crash, while the Helion Engine runs like smooth butter and is much lighterweight by comparison.

 

[HansDampf]

This wouldn't be possible in MBF. I also never had any performance issues with the Ashes games except for one map in Afterglow (but running in 4K).

 

[NecroLord]

I wish these games had a vanilla or MBF21 port available. They seem interesting, but GZDoom is such a shitty, bloated engine that anything made for it tends to crash, while the Helion Engine runs like smooth butter and is much lighterweight by comparison.

Does this one work in Doom Retro, or just GZDoom?

 

[MasterofThunder]

I wish these games had a vanilla or MBF21 port available. They seem interesting, but GZDoom is such a shitty, bloated engine that anything made for it tends to crash, while the Helion Engine runs like smooth butter and is much lighterweight by comparison.

Does this one work in Doom Retro, or just GZDoom?

Just GZDoom.

 

[MasterofThunder]

This wouldn't be possible in MBF. I also never had any performance issues with the Ashes games except for one map in Afterglow (but running in 4K).

I understand that some custom elements aren't possible. But custom weapons and enemies are in fact doable in the MBF21 format. "Ad Mortem", a Halloween-themed hack released in 2021, showcases this fairly well, and there is an entire expanded bestiary set that wadders can use. I just dislike the fact that a lot of cool wads are reliant on GZDoom, rather than modifying or cutting back on certain elements to make it playable on better source ports.

 

[NecroLord]

I wish these games had a vanilla or MBF21 port available. They seem interesting, but GZDoom is such a shitty, bloated engine that anything made for it tends to crash, while the Helion Engine runs like smooth butter and is much lighterweight by comparison.

Does this one work in Doom Retro, or just GZDoom?

Just GZDoom.

Damn.
Really not a big fan of GZDoom, though I only rarely use it.

 

[HansDampf]

This wouldn't be possible in MBF. I also never had any performance issues with the Ashes games except for one map in Afterglow (but running in 4K).

I understand that some custom elements aren't possible. But custom weapons and enemies are in fact doable in the MBF21 format. "Ad Mortem", a Halloween-themed hack released in 2021, showcases this fairly well, and there is an entire expanded bestiary set that wadders can use. I just dislike the fact that a lot of cool wads are reliant on GZDoom, rather than modifying or cutting back on certain elements to make it playable on better source ports.

Ashes isn't just Doom maps with custom enemies and weapons. The entire scripting, dialogue, weapon upgrades, level continuity, vehicles, dynamic lighting, and probably a lot more stuff I can't think of, requires GZDoom. This isn't even Doom anymore.
Get over it. Install GZDoom and play Ashes.

 

[pOcHa]

you don't even need to install gzdoom and mess around in it - the mod comes already bundled with it as a standalone package

 

[f2a]

LInux users: once this is out, it will soon get on Lutris.

Lutris is a game manager for Linux, it makes so much easier to run games and install games (in this case it will pick and install the correct zdoom version, download the game itself, create all necessary stuff in ~/.local).

So excited for this, I liked Afterglow but kind of preferred 2063 cosy linearity.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Mod is out
https://www.moddb.com/mods/ashes-2063/downloads/ashes-stand-alone-version-101
https://www.moddb.com/mods/ashes-2063/downloads/ashes-episode-2-prequel-ashes-hard-resetpk3-only-v10

 

[Darth Roxor]

Looks like I picked the perfect time to finish Afterglow.

 

[Avonaeon]

Looks like I picked the perfect time to finish Afterglow.

I too recently finished it. Super hyped for this

 

[baturinsky]

Playing Hard Reset now. Was a bit disappointed with the first level, as it consists of kinda empty-ish and same-ish rooms. But then it gains the steam.
Mirror hall was impressive, though very small. Also,

 

[f2a]

Was a bit disappointed with the first level, as it consists of kinda empty-ish and same-ish rooms.

Yes, I have never liked “high school” levels. Indeed later levels like the farm one are much better.

 

[baturinsky]

Was a bit disappointed with the first level, as it consists of kinda empty-ish and same-ish rooms.

Yes, I have never liked “high school” levels. Indeed later levels like the farm one are much better.

I think it could be salvaged by adding some unusual elements. Such as, having part of the school destroyed by battle/explosion/crashed plane/etc. Maybe add more environmental storytelling, so it could be possible to figure some details of that recent battle (who fought who etc).

 

[Darth Roxor]

Not a fan of the limited flashlight. In a game where I can't see shit more often than not and with no gamma adjustment (or at least I can't find it), giving me finite light is bullshit.

 

[Zeem]

Started playing Hard Reset on Apocalypse and man, some of the new enemies are absolute ass to fight. I don't think it's even possible to 100% the first level on Apocalypse with how little ammo there is on the level and how absurdly tanky the Withered are. Hell, they can survive 2 pipe bombs exploding right in their faces, and you can't even get close and personal with a crowbar since they will just instantly irradiate you. Wendigos in the amusement park also feel like bullet sponges - to take just one of them down you need 6 shotgun shells, and they once again can survive a pipe bomb to the face. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so fast and jittery on top of their massive HP pool making them hard to hit consistently.
I do like the empties, though, especially when you're fighting a lot of them and some start crawling on the floor instead of outright dying, getting mixed in with the already dead.

 

[Be Kind Rewind]

Ashes isn't just Doom maps with custom enemies and weapons.

I was there when id Software, a hollow shell of a company at that point but with a prestigious past record attached to its name, dropped the turd that was Rage. Doom 3 had already disappointed people by being System Shock 2 light with better graphics but now the company had reached stages off ass hitherto unseen. It met a poor response and Bethesda did the Altman scam scheme and bought up id for cheap, I don't think the game sold very well.

The Doom (more like TrooN) modding community after having had free reign with the source code for decades now spent all this time to built up to the same shit that doomed id Software. A dull collectathon in one of the most over-saturated genres besides zombies, the post-apocalypse, where you collect literal junk and drive a terribly janky vehicle in large empty maps. Piece by piece they've built another Rage with the sole difference being that the faux-Build presentation giving Codexers a soygasm where Rage left them dry.

Yeah, it's not Doom anymore, it's Rage, it's Fallout 3, it's poor man's Metro, it's all the reasons for why I hate modern shooters made manifest like a cancer on an old game that was good once. Downloading the stand-alone package even bloom is on by default. All roads lead to the same decline it seems, whether professional game dev or amateur modding. Ashes is the worst thing that happened to Doom since Brutal Doom, which managed to shit up the reboot somehow, not that it would have been much better without stealing wholesale from the mod. Given enough time we'll see Doom modders go for the troon-neon of Rage 2 complete with open world Ubishit outposts. At the end of the day Ubislop, Bethesda garbage and the rest of modern AAA is what gamers, modders and Codexers want, while FPS fundamentalists like myself are in the absolute minority.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Ashes isn't just Doom maps with custom enemies and weapons.

I was there when id Software, a hollow shell of a company at that point but with a prestigious past record attached to its name, dropped the turd that was Rage. Doom 3 had already disappointed people by being System Shock 2 light with better graphics but now the company had reached stages off ass hitherto unseen. It met a poor response and Bethesda did the Altman scam scheme and bought up id for cheap, I don't think the game sold very well.

The Doom (more like TrooN) modding community after having had free reign with the source code for decades now spent all this time to built up to the same shit that doomed id Software. A dull collectathon in one of the most over-saturated genres besides zombies, the post-apocalypse, where you collect literal junk and drive a terribly janky vehicle in large empty maps. Piece by piece they've built another Rage with the sole difference being that the faux-Build presentation giving Codexers a soygasm where Rage left them dry.

Yeah, it's not Doom anymore, it's Rage, it's Fallout 3, it's poor man's Metro, it's all the reasons for why I hate modern shooters made manifest like a cancer on an old game that was good once. Downloading the stand-alone package even bloom is on by default. All roads lead to the same decline it seems, whether professional game dev or amateur modding. Ashes is the worst thing that happened to Doom since Brutal Doom, which managed to shit up the reboot somehow, not that it would have been much better without stealing wholesale from the mod. Given enough time we'll see Doom modders go for the troon-neon of Rage 2 complete with open world Ubishit outposts. At the end of the day Ubislop, Bethesda garbage and the rest of modern AAA is what gamers, modders and Codexers want, while FPS fundamentalists like myself are in the absolute minority.

imagine being this wrong

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Finished Hard Reset.

Either I'm missing something, or they are. This felt like a step backwards. No hubs, just linear progression full of the same things that people wanted to forget about Ashes.

I'll admit that I may not have looked hard enough, but the only time I saw a potential alternate path for something, was in regards to the chainsaw. I didn't bother trying though.

The atmosphere is there, but the writing felt forced, and is in need of proofreading. But mostly I just don't see a point to this entry, it adds next to nothing.

I liked the school level, but overall the levels just felt off somehow, with the sole exception of the mall. That one ain't gonna leave ya for a while...

And Roxor is right about the flashlight. That screws up the game harder than the flashlight screwed up Doom 3.

 

[Scrounger]

I'm in the Outskirts, at the abandoned amusement park. Gotta say, I like it so far although the battery system is kinda irritating.
In any case I remember that Voystok once said that this a testing ground for some new ideas and that they would axe the bad stuff in future episodes.
We can safely add batteries in here...

 

[f2a]

I'm in the Outskirts, at the abandoned amusement park. Gotta say, I like it so far although the battery system is kinda irritating.

I understand why the mechanic can be annoying at times, but scarcity was what made the original Ashes stand out to me — specifically, severe scarcity in ammunition.
It made the world and the post-apocalyptic scenario work in my head, much more than any backstory or explanation-text. Things are rough, production broke down, if you are trigger happy you will survive today but become a shelless critter tomorrow. It created additional tension, and enormous relief when I found stashes and secrets.

I ran out of torch batteries at the end of Outskirts and it and it was frightening: you are almost blind and a wendigo luring in the dark can be your untimely fate. A bit like permadeaths in roguelikes, adds to the game in my opinion.

For sure devs will keep players feedback in mind, as they did for Afterglow.

Yeah, it's not Doom anymore, it's Rage, it's Fallout 3, it's poor man's Metro, it's all the reasons for why I hate modern shooters made manifest like a cancer on an old game that was good once.

No need to be upset, there are a lot of free maps and episodes for Doom that keep the same vibe of the original ouvre. We live in the age of abundance mods/expansions wise.

 

[Avonaeon]

I've definitely hit the ammo scarcity more this time, and was down to my very last bullet when i killed the two wendigos in the quarry. that was a tense fight

 

[f2a]

Which lines are you people taking at Somerville? I don't have money for a map, went with green, "fun" times ahead.