Ascent of Ashes is a new colony sim where players must organize their group of survivors to survive by any means necessary. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of the demo, and more.
Everything We Know About Ascent of Ashes
Ascent of Ashes Plot
Survive at all costs.
Set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, brave the pre-collapse ruins and the many dangers that they hold. Survivors must learn to coexist despite coming from different backgrounds by building and, eventually, defending their base against the dangerous factions that inhabit the vast world.
Ascent of Ashes Gameplay
Build a base of operations for your survivors as the colony leader. Farm crops, tame animals, and create a self-sufficient home where your followers can rest and safely live through the hazards of a dangerous post-apocalyptic world.
Explore ruins and other places of interest left behind by the devastation of the collapse. Fight dynamically changing AI raiders, aliens, beasts, and even organized Remnant soldiers to take valuable supplies and materials to aid your colony.
Ascent of Ashes Release Date
Ascent of Ashes was released in Early Access on July 25, 2025 for PC (Steam). The developers have stated that the game will stay in Early Access for approximately 12 to 18 months due to its large scope. During this time, the game will undergo continual updates, featuring new maps, mechs, bases, faction diplomacy, advanced needs management, endgame scenarios, and more.
Ascent of Ashes Review (Early Access)
There’s always something special about games that can cultivate a player’s experience and turn it into their own stories. These can happen in any genre, from action RPGs and strategy to even colony sims. These are mostly evident when it comes to being able to create your characters and sometimes stories and backgrounds for them.
This is what Ashes of Ascent is trying to achieve. Developed by the creators of the popular mod, Combat Extended, in RimWorld, the game is a strategy colony sim where you’ll be creating a community of survivors that come from different walks of life. Now, that being said, does it feature enough things to separate itself from being a mod of RimWorld? Or is it still just way too early to tell?
Now Presented in 3D
Let’s talk about the game’s visuals first. Knowing the context in which the game is inspired by RimWorld, it’s a great adaptation to make it 3D. The cel-shaded and vibrant design of everything is distinct and pops out. It’s pretty well made in my opinion, and seeing it all in action makes it even better. The animations aren’t amazing, but they’re good enough that it does feel like you’re overseeing the survivors.
The audio aspect of the game is not that bad, other than one highlight. The sound effects are notable, especially the gunshots. The music is repetitive, and the lack of ambient sounds makes the game feel a lot emptier than it already is.
You may also like...
 |
UnderMine 2 [Early Access] Review | Not a Gold Mine of a Game Yet UnderMine 2 has a good foundation already, originating from the first UnderMine and most of its mechanics revamped and upgraded. It delivers a pretty solid action-adventure roguelike experience for those who want to try something new in the genre. |
 |
Killing Floor 3 Review | Reinvention Gone Wrong Killing Floor 3 is NOTHING like the older games—and while that’s not all bad, it loses much of the chaotic charm in trying to be something new. It takes itself too seriously, trading identity for polish, but without the baggage of its predecessors, there’s still fun to be had. |
Follow the Blind Leader
Let me preface this by saying that I’m no expert in colony sims or any sim for that matter. Going into the game with little to no experience is daunting, especially because there’s no tutorial. If anything, you might waste a lot of time just looking to get started on making your base of operations. You’ll most likely see your characters just running around the area to start doing their own thing.
It feels bad to waste time on a game that keeps a record of the time you’ve spent, so having nothing to guide new players will most likely have a negative effect in the long run. I hope that they plan to add tooltips or at least a short tutorial to show how to get started and how to operate the basic controls.
Like Watching Paint Dry
Even after finding the right orders to get the survivors to start working, I found that the orders weren’t exactly fulfilled completely. And even worse, they were done at an uncomfortably slow pace. To be more specific, I had ordered the crew to start building a shack with walls, doors, windows, and floors. It took almost thirty real minutes for them to almost finish the shack. Keyword: almost, as the structure was never finished.
I found out that there was a needs management system where the survivors should have basic necessities to primarily function. So I started ordering them to make beds, crafting stations, and other important things. I cannot stress enough that everything that happened took a long time, even with the fast-forward button.
During the entire time, I saw some of my survivors were idling, and I was trying to find out why they were doing so, even if there were pending orders. You can’t even force the survivors to follow your orders, which made everything a lot worse than it probably should be.
To add to the ongoing list of problems, there was no tracker to remind the player of important events or resources. I couldn’t tell if the survivors were unhappy until I clicked on every window. I didn’t know how many resources I actually had in store, and I needed to check every crate.
Real Time Isn’t Exactly a Good Time
One of the biggest elements that Ascent of Ashes advertised was the combat of the game. If you’re into CRPGs like Wasteland and the original Fallout, then you’ll see that it’s not that far off. However, it’s currently as barebones as you might imagine, and it’s not as robust as the aforementioned titles. Not to mention that the movement and controls are also not amazing; it feels like you’re manually picking things up and putting them down one by one.
It’s sluggish at the moment, and the saving grace is that combat does resolve quickly. This also means that you can lose your survivors just as quickly, even if it took you ages to move them from point A to point B. I’m not sure if it’s intentional so that the player takes advantage of pausing the game often, but as I’ve mentioned before, the player might not even know there’s a fast-forward function or pause function in the game because there are no tutorials.
More Like an Early Proof of Concept
So, does Ascent of Ashes have enough to separate itself from being a RimWorld clone? Not at the moment. Even with the minimal experience I have with the latter, I can tell that the former is using it as a foundation. Is there potential in it? Yes, definitely. Should they be charging $15 for this? Absolutely not.
To be extremely blunt: Ascent of Ashes is currently in a state where it’s not even supposed to be in Early Access. Maybe a demo or a playable alpha, more like, since this is really rough. Not to mention the fact that this is a game that can only be appreciated by those who have played or are familiar with RimWorld to an extent, and not by new players.
I hope they can address the issue regarding the tutorials earlier so that new players can at least try their hand at appreciating the game. There’s potential to be had with the game, don’t get me wrong. But with the amount of bugs and issues that it currently has, it’s probably going to take a while before it’s a game I can recommend.
Game8 Reviews
You may also like...
 |
Luto Review | Paralyzing Descent Into Grief Luto is a masterclass in psychological horror atmosphere—refined, personal, and haunting. It lingers not through terror, but through tension. However, immersion falters at times due to rough edges like placeholder text, untranslated lines, and puzzles that verge on the inscrutable. It's a powerful experience, just shy of perfection. |
 |
MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy Review | A Cotton Candy JRPG Fia and her band of lovable disasters in Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy might not cast the deepest spells, but they’ve got just enough magic to keep things moving. |
Ascent of Ashes Product Information
 |
|
| Title | ASCENT OF ASHES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | July 25, 2025 (Early Access) |
| Developer | Vivid Storm Interactive |
| Publisher | Vivid Storm Interactive |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Indie, Simulation, Strategy, |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Ascent of Ashes Official Website |
