Tl;dr after finishing the game (and the DLC), including the Children of Sissna mode. Steam really needs a yellow sideways thumb, but since there isn't one, this goes into the not recommended bargain bin if you want to check it when it's on sale. Greatly unepic after shedding the mantle of Epic exclusivity. It earns enormous merits in art, visuals, sound direction and world building. But it's marred by iffy, erratic and sluggish combat, janky hitboxes, mostly terrible AI companions, unrewarding exploration and levelling, overabundance of weapons that don't make much difference, an atrocious final boss and something called the Children of Sissna mode, which is anything but a fair game. It boggles me that anyone thought that would make for a fun experience. And all of this, somewhat miraculously, still makes it an okish game inspired by a long line of soulslikes. But not a great recommendation.

And now, a slightly longer thought pattern. Greatly unepic after shedding the mantle of Epic exclusivity (yes, I'm repeating this one). It's just ok. It could be recommended just on the merits of its art, sound direction and world building, but it has gameplay issues and bad design choices that take it down a few notches. It's visually stunning, adopting a cartoonish look that still conveys all the desolation, dread and haunting atmosphere as easily as it does the warmth and colors of your slowly emerging town. The story is served to you through exposition, conversations with characters you don't much care about and in descriptions of items, like a lot of soulslikes, meaning it has the same storytelling flaws that come with that. Ashen at least has a more positive outlook overall.

The game in general seems to be easier and much more gentler, if I can call it that, than its inspirations. You still lose your souls, or scoria in this case, when you die and have to backtrack to get it but I found myself not caring that much because it was oftentimes easier to farm it if needed then go back and get the lost ones. There are two ways to level up your character. By doing quests, story and sidequests, that grant larger permanent bonuses and by finding large feathers that grant very slight permanent bonuses. None of that requires scoria. Scoria is used for upgrading your weapon, your gourd (healing flask), buying items and potions and equipping talismans and relics which require you to pay for them when you equip them and any time you want to exchange them for another talisman or relic. There are 4 talisman slots and 1 relic slot. Your town grows organically as the game progresses, no need for investing anything, armor and shields cannot be upgraded and as I mentioned, there's no levelling by using scoria.

The combat is iffy, janky and feels overly sluggish. You are easily stunnable and broken out of attacks, enemies a bit less. Their movements are erratic, it's sometimes hard to judge when and where to dodge and it seems there's a slight hitbox problem. There were times when the enemies would just stop doing anything or get stuck on a slightly raised rock, and then there were times when they'd jump and attack from so far away there's no way you'd expect it, there was a lot of wall and mountain phasing spears that hit me when they shouldn't have and the enemies would sometimes respawn out of nowhere. It seems they respawn even when you're in the same area based on some kind of a timer or if you move far enough from the spawn points. The two main game dungeons, which are basically long runs to the boss, feature no checkpoints until you get in front of the boss door. And they're loooong. This becomes even more annoying in Children of Sissna mode.

The shield gets a mention just for it's uselessness the further you are in the game. Spears are your best friends. Seriously, anything is exploitable with spears, even the final boss. The final boss gets a special mention, without spoiling anything, because it's attacks and behaviour are atrocious. You can have an AI companion (it can be turned off), but it's usually more trouble than it's worth because they're unpredictable, sometimes surviving great odds and even a boss almost untouched and sometimes getting stuck on rocks, falling of ledges and even worse, drawing enemies far from you because they decided to attack them. And in that iffiness, the game usually relies on throwing multiple enemies just to make it "harder".

I haven't done much co-op, but it's a weird Journey like experience, with your co-op partner taking over for your AI companion. It doesn't seem to really work well and the normal game only gets easier if you manage to grab a good partner.

There's a lot of weapons in the game, but there's not much difference between them. Slightly different movesets and a new visual are not compensation for the same weapon you've been using from the start. I finished the game by just upgrading a mace and two-handed axe that I found at the beginning. They all upgrade with the same materials. As you move through areas, the armors you find become better, if you find them. They're usually lying on the ground like any other loot. There's no reason not to equip the latest one you found. The heavier ones reduce your stamina regeneration, but I haven't noticed much impact in a normal game. In Children of Sissna mode, it's noticeable, but considering how easy it is to die there, any armor doesn't make much of a difference.

You eventually get a storage box built in town. It has limited inventory slots, but there's no need to actually keep anything apart from upgrade and potion materials.

A few words on the Children of Sissna mode. Your health and stamina are halved, feathers only give +1 health or stamina, upgrade rewards from quests are scaled down completely and you die very, very easily. This is the mode where farming for scoria makes sense, so you can buy all the stuff that'll you need to make this bearable if you're drunk enough to even give it a try. All the combat iffiness and all the bad design choices are so pronounced here, it's amazing that anyone thought this through. It's passable, patience is a virtue, but it's not fun. If you can get a good co-op partner for this (perhaps someone with a lot of experience in soulslikes, everyone needs a soul lv1 friend) this probably becomes much easier. Most normal players won't be playing this mode anyway.

I know that every game can't be Dark Souls and it's dumb to compare them, but if Dark Souls didn't exist (or for purists with a lot of game knowledge and years under their belt, King's Field, perhaps even Severance: Blade of Darkness, but I'm getting derailed) Ashen probably wouldn't. And there's a lot of bad design and gameplay choices in Ashen. If it was a walking simulator or something, the art would get it recommended. But it's not, it's copying Dark Souls in a lot of gameplay points, it will ultimately always be compared to it, and it's failing.

If you're a die hard fan of soulslikes (like me, unfortunately), give it a spin, but wait for a sale. Avoid the Children of Sissna mode unless you're an average achievement hunter (again, like me), have controllers to spare, are a practitioner of Zen Buddhism (no offense intended to anyone that is) or have brushed up on your patience waiting for George Martin to write Winds of Winter. If you're itching for pretty vistas and visuals, there are better ways to spend €30.

Take a peek inside the newly opened Cabinet of Curiosities if you like to walk off the beaten path and only sometimes return to the main roads. You might find something worth exploring.

Follow the Average Achievement Hunter Curator for reviews and useful information on Steam achievements: There's only 2 problematic achievements, finishing the game and the DLC in Children of Sissna mode. An exercise in patience if there ever was one.

Tl;dr after finishing the game (and the DLC), including the Children of Sissna mode. Steam really needs a yellow sideways thumb, but since there isn't one, this goes into the not recommended bargain bin if you want to check it when it's on sale. Greatly unepic after shedding the mantle of Epic exclusivity. It earns enormous merits in art, visuals, sound direction and world building. But it's marred by iffy, erratic and sluggish combat, janky hitboxes, mostly terrible AI companions, unrewarding exploration and levelling, overabundance of weapons that don't make much difference, an atrocious final boss and something called the Children of Sissna mode, which is anything but a fair game. It boggles me that anyone thought that would make for a fun experience. And all of this, somewhat miraculously, still makes it an okish game inspired by a long line of soulslikes. But not a great recommendation. And now, a slightly longer thought pattern. Greatly unepic after shedding the mantle of Epic exclusivity (yes, I'm repeating this one). It's just ok. It could be recommended just on the merits of its art, sound direction and world building, but it has gameplay issues and bad design choices that take it down a few notches. It's visually stunning, adopting a cartoonish look that still conveys all the desolation, dread and haunting atmosphere as easily as it does the warmth and colors of your slowly emerging town. The story is served to you through exposition, conversations with characters you don't much care about and in descriptions of items, like a lot of soulslikes, meaning it has the same storytelling flaws that come with that. Ashen at least has a more positive outlook overall. The game in general seems to be easier and much more gentler, if I can call it that, than its inspirations. You still lose your souls, or scoria in this case, when you die and have to backtrack to get it but I found myself not caring that much because it was oftentimes easier to farm it if needed then go back and get the lost ones. There are two ways to level up your character. By doing quests, story and sidequests, that grant larger permanent bonuses and by finding large feathers that grant very slight permanent bonuses. None of that requires scoria. Scoria is used for upgrading your weapon, your gourd (healing flask), buying items and potions and equipping talismans and relics which require you to pay for them when you equip them and any time you want to exchange them for another talisman or relic. There are 4 talisman slots and 1 relic slot. Your town grows organically as the game progresses, no need for investing anything, armor and shields cannot be upgraded and as I mentioned, there's no levelling by using scoria. The combat is iffy, janky and feels overly sluggish. You are easily stunnable and broken out of attacks, enemies a bit less. Their movements are erratic, it's sometimes hard to judge when and where to dodge and it seems there's a slight hitbox problem. There were times when the enemies would just stop doing anything or get stuck on a slightly raised rock, and then there were times when they'd jump and attack from so far away there's no way you'd expect it, there was a lot of wall and mountain phasing spears that hit me when they shouldn't have and the enemies would sometimes respawn out of nowhere. It seems they respawn even when you're in the same area based on some kind of a timer or if you move far enough from the spawn points. The two main game dungeons, which are basically long runs to the boss, feature no checkpoints until you get in front of the boss door. And they're loooong. This becomes even more annoying in Children of Sissna mode. The shield gets a mention just for it's uselessness the further you are in the game. Spears are your best friends. Seriously, anything is exploitable with spears, even the final boss. The final boss gets a special mention, without spoiling anything, because it's attacks and behaviour are atrocious. You can have an AI companion (it can be turned off), but it's usually more trouble than it's worth because they're unpredictable, sometimes surviving great odds and even a boss almost untouched and sometimes getting stuck on rocks, falling of ledges and even worse, drawing enemies far from you because they decided to attack them. And in that iffiness, the game usually relies on throwing multiple enemies just to make it "harder". I haven't done much co-op, but it's a weird Journey like experience, with your co-op partner taking over for your AI companion. It doesn't seem to really work well and the normal game only gets easier if you manage to grab a good partner. There's a lot of weapons in the game, but there's not much difference between them. Slightly different movesets and a new visual are not compensation for the same weapon you've been using from the start. I finished the game by just upgrading a mace and two-handed axe that I found at the beginning. They all upgrade with the same materials. As you move through areas, the armors you find become better, if you find them. They're usually lying on the ground like any other loot. There's no reason not to equip the latest one you found. The heavier ones reduce your stamina regeneration, but I haven't noticed much impact in a normal game. In Children of Sissna mode, it's noticeable, but considering how easy it is to die there, any armor doesn't make much of a difference. You eventually get a storage box built in town. It has limited inventory slots, but there's no need to actually keep anything apart from upgrade and potion materials. A few words on the Children of Sissna mode. Your health and stamina are halved, feathers only give +1 health or stamina, upgrade rewards from quests are scaled down completely and you die very, very easily. This is the mode where farming for scoria makes sense, so you can buy all the stuff that'll you need to make this bearable if you're drunk enough to even give it a try. All the combat iffiness and all the bad design choices are so pronounced here, it's amazing that anyone thought this through. It's passable, patience is a virtue, but it's not fun. If you can get a good co-op partner for this (perhaps someone with a lot of experience in soulslikes, everyone needs a soul lv1 friend) this probably becomes much easier. Most normal players won't be playing this mode anyway. I know that every game can't be Dark Souls and it's dumb to compare them, but if Dark Souls didn't exist (or for purists with a lot of game knowledge and years under their belt, King's Field, perhaps even Severance: Blade of Darkness, but I'm getting derailed) Ashen probably wouldn't. And there's a lot of bad design and gameplay choices in Ashen. If it was a walking simulator or something, the art would get it recommended. But it's not, it's copying Dark Souls in a lot of gameplay points, it will ultimately always be compared to it, and it's failing. If you're a die hard fan of soulslikes (like me, unfortunately), give it a spin, but wait for a sale. Avoid the Children of Sissna mode unless you're an average achievement hunter (again, like me), have controllers to spare, are a practitioner of Zen Buddhism (no offense intended to anyone that is) or have brushed up on your patience waiting for George Martin to write Winds of Winter. If you're itching for pretty vistas and visuals, there are better ways to spend €30. Take a peek inside the newly opened [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37838664][b]Cabinet of Curiosities[/b][/url] if you like to walk off the beaten path and only sometimes return to the main roads. You might find something worth exploring. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30168383][b]Follow the Average Achievement Hunter Curator for reviews and useful information on Steam achievements[/b][/url]: There's only 2 problematic achievements, finishing the game and the DLC in Children of Sissna mode. An exercise in patience if there ever was one.