Do you enjoy narrative focused RPGs where the story always changes? Do you like tactics games akin to Fire Emblem where death can be permanent? Then you might be the targeted audience for Ash of Gods: Redemption. With a complex story that always changes based on choices and engaging tactical RPG gameplay, Ash of Gods: Redemption doesn’t allow for any playthrough to feel similar. If you want a title that will tell a dark story where no hero is safe, then you’re going to enjoy Ash of Gods: Redemption.

Ash of Gods: Redemption mixes TRPG elements as well as roguelike narrative gameplay to make for a rather unique title. Every choice, action and death affects Ash of Gods: Redemption’s story and in turn, changes the ending. In battle, maneuver your troops to take down enemies but be weary, 4 deaths in different battles causes that character to die. Talk to various characters where dialogue can change the very course of fate itself. Ash of Gods: Redemption aims at delivering a game where multiple playthroughs will always give different endings.

Legend foretold of a cataclysmic event known as the Reaping that would eventually spread across the lands. However, as time passed, the Reaping faded into just a dark myth which many forgot. Three heroes are about to learn that the Reaping is here and thus the reapers have begun to appear. Captain Thron Brenin, wandering scribe Hopper Rouley and bodyguard/assassin Lo Pheng are about to cross paths as they come face to face with a possible world changing event. Can these heroes prevent a travesty from befalling the lands and possibly killing them in the process? Death stops nothing in the dark world of Ash of Gods: Redemption.

We love tactical RPGs here at Honey’s Anime and equally love roguelike games. Rarely, have the two genres combined though and that is what intrigued us with developer AurumDust’s newest game Ash of Gods: Redemption. We entered the dark world of Terminum—where Ash of Gods: Redemption takes place—to see if this game that we previewed was now perfected in the final build. Now, sit back and listen to what we thought of our time with Ash of Gods: Redemption. Welcome to our review of Ash of Gods: Redemption for the PC.

Ash of Gods: Redemption throws players into Terminum where a powerful threat is spreading across the land called the Reaping. Players will assume the role of three different heroes who have been caught in the maelstrom of chaos following this event and now must survive. Every choice and every consequence alters the story in Ash of Gods: Redemption which leads to the story taking different narrative paths with numerous possible endings. Now, let us discuss the gameplay portion of Ash of Gods: Redemption.

In Ash of Gods: Redemption, the premise is simple enough. Lead the heroes to various destinations all while doing battles with enemies. Similar to games like Fire Emblem, Ash of Gods: Redemption does have permadeath but in a strange way. Dying in battle or taking certain forms of damage lead to a counter being placed on the character targeted. Get 4 counters and that character, whether they are a small part character or one of the main three heroes, dies off forever. There are options to remove counters via Strixes—points that are earned in various ways—that will allow the party to be healed of their counters. However, Strixes are also used for events and travel meaning if you run out of them your party will suffer and sometimes take additional counters chosen by you. Ash of Gods: Redemption’s travel elements are just a minor point of the main game yet as you can already see, it shows how choices matter quite a bit.

Battle is another major element of Ash of Gods: Redemption—unless you choose to do auto battle for a more story-based experience—where even attacks and damage can change the story. Players will control one of several warriors on a grid-based map picking spots to move to and where to attack enemies from. Every attack—whether special or normal—has two choices with the damage portion. You can either dig into an enemy’s health to kill them or you can attack their defense which in turn causes more substantial wounds to occur from attacks you unleash. A clever player will realize that mixing up normal attacks and defense-based ones can really help a battle that seems tough end quickly with minimal casualties occurring on your end. Be warned though, the enemy can also do the same to your characters and when you lose your defense you also face a higher chance of getting hit with death counter attacks.

Ash of Gods: Redemption’s combat also has a card-based system which is very interesting to say the least. Players will obtain various cards that can deal damage directly to enemies, boost stats on their warriors and or even heal a player near death. However, cards take one turn to use—just like every attack in Ash of Gods: Redemption—meaning reliance on them is a mixed bag. They might help you survive one extra turn but an ill placed enemy might make that heal card a waste as they go after the character just healed. The enemy also has access to their own cards too meaning be prepared for some fights being truly random but in a clever way. Ash of Gods: Redemption never feels unfair in combat and always makes you question how a situation can change on the battlefield at any given time. It’s a rare element in TRPG titles, but in Ash of Gods: Redemption, it is one of the strengths from keeping battles from feeling tedious even after hours of play.

Now as we mentioned before, choices matter in Ash of Gods: Redemption. Besides travel and combat, narrative moments in Ash of Gods: Redemption are also extremely important. Talking to a character incorrectly or even being overly kind can have repercussions as you go about the story in Ash of Gods: Redemption. There are times when saving a soldier meant we had them join our party later and provide help and then we’ve also had moments where saving a life led to an unnecessary battle from occurring. What’s clever about how Ash of Gods: Redemption handles choice too is that it’s never something you can predict. We redid scenes over and over at times to see what changed and it never was so simple to say what choices were correct or not. Ash of Gods: Redemption is one of those games that replaying it over and over will always yield different results which is a great for those who seek replayability in their RPGs.

Sound and graphics are another excellent element to Ash of Gods: Redemption. Music wise, Ash of Gods: Redemption is epic in every sense with the OST making every moment feel important and surprising. Very rarely will you grow tired of hearing the same track since Ash of Gods: Redemption uses numerous songs and knows just when to play them. In terms of graphics, Ash of Gods: Redemption is incredible. Everything from the environments to character designs feels fantasy-like but in a way unseen by many gaming titles. The best game we can compare Ash of Gods: Redemption to is The Banner Saga which had a similar design but Ash of Gods: Redemption looks a bit darker in true comparison. Nevertheless, both the music and graphics work in perfect harmony to create a truly beautiful game for your eyes and ears.

We wish to mention Ash of Gods: Redemption has a multiplayer element but we didn’t dabble with it much. Despite our better efforts, there weren’t many people playing multiplayer. From what we learned, Ash of Gods: Redemption’s multiplayer plays like the main game with skirmishes being based on player’s choice as you can choose who to bring into battle and what cards to use. There were some elements of the multiplayer that aren’t yet released either so if we have an update review for Ash of Gods: Redemption we’ll make sure to try out multiplayer and talk in greater depth. Even if the multiplayer isn’t populated in Ash of Gods: Redemption, just having there is truly impressive to see.

Ash of Gods: Redemption easily might be one of the more impressive adventure tactical RPGs we’ve played in some time here at Honey’s Anime. When we previewed it a while back, we had anticipated Ash of Gods: Redemption would be good, but the final product has gone above and beyond. With a thrilling narrative, truly engaging tactical RPG battles and a plethora of choices that make every choice count, Ash of Gods: Redemption is a truly remarkable game. Ash of Gods: Redemption is very roguelike so be prepared for times where you won’t fully understand what choice caused what in a playthrough but half the fun of Ash of Gods: Redemption is retrying a scene later and seeing how it differs because of an action taken or a death avoided. We truly recommend Ash of Gods: Redemption if you loved games like The Banner Saga or just need a truly engaging RPG that will make you want to play through it multiple times.

Ash of Gods: Redemption truly took some risks in its gameplay approach. Fusing a roguelike story with a tactical RPG adventure game shocked us as it truly is a different spin on a gameplay genre. Ash of Gods: Redemption from moment to moment leaves you glued to your screen as the story unfolds and you watch deaths and choices create consequences you couldn’t see coming. We loved Ash of Gods: Redemption and we know you guys will too if you are tired of the usual ho-hum TRPGs out there and need a fresh new game to enjoy. Are you excited now to pick up Ash of Gods: Redemption or have you already done so? Tell us in the comments below and for all your gaming reviews and article needs, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.