News

Kickstarter-funded Ash of Gods sounds... ambitious (and beautiful)

Upcoming Switch promises new take on rogue-likes. But will it deliver?

Kickstarter-funded Ash of Gods sounds... ambitious (and beautiful)
|
| Ash Of Gods

Coming to Nintendo Switch in March 2018 is Ash of Gods, a new medieval fantasy rogue-like turn-based RPG from Aurum Dust. Well, it’s also part visual-novel, part spiritual successor to The Banner Saga with a dash of the diabolical tendencies of a relentless Dungeon Master.

yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

Ash of Gods follows the story of a rag-tag group of brave souls from Terminum who band together to stop their once peaceful world from descending into further chaos and ruin after the arrival of The Great Reaping. The story was written by Sergey Malitsky and a novelization of the game written by him will be released some time after the game launches.

The folks over at Aurum Dust stress that all choices will have consequences coming at great risks, some good and some bad. Sacrifices will have to be made, but at what cost? All dialogue choices, battle outcomes, and what areas you choose to explore impact how the plot unfolds. Apparently, there are many moral dilemmas to be had.

It’s a turn-based RPG with tactical battlefield layouts akin to the battle systems of The Banner Saga or Fire Emblem. There are card deck battle elements at play too, where cards impact character classes and battle strategies. Aurum Dust hints that the game learns your fight patterns and adapts, meaning the AI might stop you from making a so-called invincible team. Ash of Gods also has multiplayer capabilities with PvP and PvE options.

Ash Of Gods by Aurum Dust

Besides a fiendish approach to the rogue-like model, Ash of Gods offers up visuals inspired by the animation of Ralph Bakshi (of animated Lord of the Rings fame) and 60s era Soviet cartoons. Composers and musicians from Polish legends Music Imaginary (who did music for The Witcher and Eve Online) lend their talents to the medieval-sounding folk score.

Ash of Gods was birthed from a Kickstarter campaign which got fully funded in March 2017. From the likes of it, Ash of Gods is a massively ambitious project that backers certainly believed in.

A game that doesn’t play the same way twice? Where the plot is determined by every choice you make? With an AI system that learns how you fight? With impressive visuals and a stellar folk score to boot? It almost seems too good to be true. So, here’s hoping Ash of Gods lives up to the hype.

Ria Teitelbaum
Ria Teitelbaum
Ria is our newest editorial intern hailing from America. After her dreams of becoming Sailor Moon were ruined, she decided to write about games instead. She also studies art history... sorta kinda.