Ash of Gods: Redemption Rapid Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Title: Ash of Gods: Redemption
Developer: AurumDust
Publisher: Ravenscourt
Website: https://ashofgods.com
Genre: RPG Strategy
Platform: PS4
Age Rating: PEGI 16
Release Date: 31/01/2020
Price: £24.99 – Rapid Reviews was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.

Ash of Gods: Redemption is a fantasy, story-telling RPG, turn-based battle game. Not sure that is going to catch on as a genre but that sums up what you are going to find in this game. It is developed by AurumDust and based on a translated Russian novel about the end of the world. 

I don’t want to go into too much detail about the story, but I will try and set the scene. The return of an ancient evil known as the Reapers has come to Terminus. With them they bring death to everything as they travel across the land. You take on the role of three characters and their journey to stop the Reaping. These are Thorn Brenin, Hopper Rouley and Lo Pheng, all of which have their own story. This is a dark story that does not hold back so not one of the kids. 

The game is played out in chapters across a fairly decent sized map. You can select the route you want to take and visit different locations along the way. Not much is given away to what route offers the best path or what you might find at the locations. This is where you might want to replay the game so you can visit different places. 

One of the best things about this game is the fantastic art style used to tell the story, whether this is for character interactions, cutscenes or the map. All of the artwork is a treat and it continued to be throughout the game. Throw in the orchestral audio that perfectly accompanies your gameplay to build the atmosphere and you have a winning combination.   

There is a lot of reading to do with this game and it is not shy about it. You are thrown in the deep end from the start with references to people, events and places with little explanation. You will gradually pick the story up as you go through. Every now and then you will need to select a response to a conversation, pick a place to visit or engage in a battle sequence. 

Unfortunately, the dialogue isn’t always great, and I found it really hard to grow any sort of connection with the characters. Every now and then you are told that this decision will have lasting implications on the game. However, it was hard to really guess what the potential outcome of your choice was. Most of the dialogue options offered seemed pretty similar and there wasn’t an obvious good/bad response.

On occasions you will be asked to fight in a turn-based battle on a grid battlefield. By now, most of us have probably played a game with similar mechanics. Your party has a choice of offensive and defensive skills to use. There is your health bar and an energy bar that is used for extra attacks/movement. You also have access to magic cards that are introduced as if they are going to be rather powerful, but end up not being too useful. 

Now, I have played a few games with this battle set up, but I still struggled to find a flow here. There was something about the way you selected your players and attacks that didn’t seem to come together. I always found myself selecting an enemy because I had not selected the attack beforehand. Hard to explain without playing it, but it is just something to be aware of. 

The game has a wound system that you have to manage as well. If a character ‘dies’ in combat they get a wound. 4 wounds and that player dies permanently. I had to replay a few battles early on while I was still figuring everything out. You can clear wounds at certain locations, but it takes resources and only clears 1 at a time. Later on, it will impact who you take into battle with you as you don’t want to risk losing someone. 

There is a skill tree for each of your party members. You may find a certain way to play the game and you can develop your characters to support that. Increase the damage a skill does or reduce the cool down, for example. It was nice to see each character got their own skill tree and not just the 3 story characters.

Ash of Gods: Redemption will be for a certain type of player. You are not playing this game if you need action and lots to do. Between the battles, this is a slow-paced story telling game that asks you to follow a winding story, and to make a choice here and there. Visually this game has a beautiful artistic finish to it that I could look at all day. It is just a shame that the rest of the game doesn’t quite match up to the look. 

Rapid Review Rating

You can buy Ash of Gods: Redemption for the PlayStation from the following link:
PlayStation