Ascent of Ashes Review Summary

High potential for future growth: Players consistently highlight the game's immense potential, especially for an Early Access title. They believe it has a strong foundation and can evolve into a top-tier colony simulation game, potentially rivaling genre leaders.

Responsive and dedicated developers: The development team is highly praised for their responsiveness, transparency, and dedication. Players appreciate the rapid bug fixes, frequent updates, and open communication, which instills confidence in the game's future.

Unique 3D Rimworld alternative: The game is frequently compared to Rimworld, often seen as a 3D alternative with a more combat-focused approach. Players appreciate its unique blend of features from various colony sims and its intuitive controls for genre veterans.

Appealing art style and graphics: The game's art style and overall graphical design receive positive feedback. Players find the visuals pleasant, well-executed, and believe the chosen style will age gracefully.

Engaging and fun gameplay: Despite being in Early Access, players find the game engaging and enjoyable, offering a good amount of content and replayability. They report having fun and getting absorbed as they discover its systems.

Numerous Game-Breaking Bugs: Players report a high number of critical bugs, including game-breaking issues like corrupted saves, characters getting stuck in loops, and frequent crashes. These bugs severely hinder playability and lead to frustration.

Unfinished and Lacks Content: The game is widely perceived as unfinished and lacking in core content and features, even for an Early Access title. Many players feel it was released prematurely and needs significant development to be a complete and enjoyable experience.

Missing Quality of Life Features: The game is missing many fundamental quality-of-life features, including basic settings like resolution and keybinds, effective UI for resource monitoring, and essential hotkeys for common actions.

Poor Colonist Control: The control scheme for colonists is clunky and unintuitive. Issues include the inability to drag-select multiple colonists, difficulty in assigning specific tasks, and colonists getting stuck or not responding to commands.

No Tutorial or Guidance: A significant complaint is the complete absence of any tutorial or in-game guidance. New players, especially those unfamiliar with similar colony-sim games, struggle to understand basic mechanics and progression.

Strong Rimworld resemblance: The game is frequently compared to Rimworld, often described as a 3D version or an early alpha/beta of it. While it shares core colony management systems, players note it's currently less developed and has a distinct focus on expeditions.

Manual task assignment: Players need to manually assign tasks and manage survivor priorities, as colonists don't automatically take on jobs or have 'nothing' assigned by default.

Unique Z-axis and vision: A distinct feature of the game is its implementation of a Z-axis and a vision system, which adds a unique dimension to the gameplay compared to similar 2D titles.

Limited early farming: Initial farming options are limited to berries and cactus, with potatoes and flax becoming available only after research.

Interface lacks hotkeys: The user interface currently lacks essential hotkeys for various actions, making navigation and interaction less efficient and intuitive.

Poor game performance and optimization: Many players are experiencing significant performance issues, including stuttering and fluctuating frame rates, even on high-end systems. This is particularly noticeable in certain areas like forests, and while some acknowledge it's Early Access, they emphasize the need for optimization.

Stable performance for some users: Some players report a smooth experience with no major crashes or frame drops, indicating that performance issues are not universal and may depend on specific hardware configurations.

Support developers; game has potential: A significant portion of the community expresses a desire to support the developers and the game's potential. They are willing to be patient and hope the game will improve over time, often buying it as an investment in its future.

Game is unfinished; wait to buy: Many players feel the game is not a finished product and advise against immediate purchase for a complete experience. They suggest waiting for significant updates and fixes before buying or playing.

Avoid review bombing: Some players urge others not to engage in review bombing, believing it harms the game's chances of success. They advocate for an open mind and constructive feedback.

Good for colony sim fans: Players who enjoy colony simulation games, especially those familiar with 'Rimworld' or its 'Combat Extended' mod, are more likely to recommend the game. However, some warn that it's not a direct 'Rimworld 2.0' and may disappoint those expecting it.

Very early access state: The game is currently in a very early, unpolished state, resembling an alpha or proof-of-concept build. It requires significant development time, content additions, and bug fixes to reach a more complete and enjoyable experience.

Major development hurdles: The development team has faced significant challenges, including financial struggles, a publisher defaulting on them, and being forced to switch game engines (from Unity to Godot), requiring them to rebuild the game from scratch.

Developer inexperience noted: Some players acknowledge the developers' inexperience, which has led to certain issues. However, they believe the developers deserve a chance to iron out these problems and improve the game.

Premature negative reviews: Some reviewers, who typically do not write negative reviews, feel that current negative feedback is premature given the game's very early stage of development.

Considering refund: One reviewer is considering a refund due to a potentially isolated issue, suggesting their experience might be an anomaly rather than a widespread problem.