Following a year of Epic Games Store and Xbox One exclusivity, developer Aurora44's brooding co-op action-RPG, Ashen, will be shaking off its shackles and heading to PlayStation 4 and Switch on 9th December - and it'll be arriving on Steam and GOG the same day.
Ashen wonderfully stylish fantasy action blends stamina-based third-person melee combat and open-world exploration, and casts players forth on a journey out across a bleak, time-ravaged world. While on their travels, adventurers can encounter and recruit comrades to help them tackle Ashen's challenges, defeat imposing bosses, and expand their slowly growing settlement. The twist, however, is that these anonymous friends might, at times, be other fellow human players, and not just NPCs.
Despite the fact that Ashen, almost inevitably, sometimes struggles to escape from the shadow of From Software's Souls series, which remains a heavy inspiration throughout, there's still much to appreciate in its solid combat and, sombre, meticulous landscapes.