Ashwalkers

Ashwalkers is an inventive survival sim that puts the story centre stage. Whilst managing resources and the survivor's physical and mental health is important, the choices you have to make are where it's at its most inventive.

61%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

music, replayability

60% User Score Based on 53 reviews

Critic Score 62%Based on 17 reviews

Platforms

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About

"Ashwalkers" is a single-player adventure game with a good story from the co-founder of Dontnod . The game features a non-linear narrative with meaningful choices, party management, and a hostile post-apocalyptic world. With 34 different endings, each playthrough offers a new path to explore, lasting roughly 2 hours.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 70 reviews

story13 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

The game features beautiful art and a unique atmosphere that enhances the storytelling experience.
It offers a variety of choices that can lead to multiple endings, providing some replayability.
The resource management mechanics are easy to grasp and add a layer of tension to the gameplay.

The gameplay is slow-paced and often feels like a walking simulator with minimal interaction.
Character development and the overall narrative lack depth, making the story feel shallow and unengaging.
Many players find the game repetitive, with little incentive to replay due to predictable outcomes and limited exploration.

story
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
68%
6%
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the characters bland and the plot unconvincing or generic, often leading to a lack of engagement. While some appreciate the intriguing choices and the potential for replayability, others criticize the shallow narrative and poorly developed world-building. Overall, the storytelling is seen as a central feature, but it struggles to deliver a compelling experience amidst repetitive gameplay and a lack of depth.
- “The real pull of the game comes from its storytelling.”
- “The game manages to tell a compelling story without any voice acting; it's also one of the few games out there where it feels like all of your choices matter.”
- “Ashwalkers is an inventive survival sim that puts the story center stage.”
- “Characters are really bland, the story is just plain bad, and there are a handful of meaningless interactions.”
- “The stakes and initial setup of the story are really weak.”
- “The gameplay tends to be repetitive, and the story rarely strays from being formulaic and familiar.”
gameplay
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
72%
8%
The gameplay has been criticized for being repetitive, simplistic, and lacking depth, with many reviewers noting that it fails to engage players over time. While some appreciate the survival mechanics and atmospheric elements, the overall experience is marred by low effort visuals and a predictable narrative, leading to a sense of boredom. Despite its potential, the game struggles to offer compelling gameplay or meaningful choices, often feeling more like a walking simulator than an engaging adventure.
- “The story is interesting along with the survival mechanics of scavenging, managing your resources, and managing character needs.”
- “That game, while short, does its best to make the time spent feel much longer than it is between the unique art style of both the world and its inhabitants, and the survival mechanics of the game which help add a needed sense of weight to the smaller choices.”
- “Look, overall the game has great mechanics, a great overall theme, and every little thing in this game helps every other little thing in this game to give you a very specific experience.”
- “The gameplay loop is just not compelling enough to keep me; the low-effort visuals and predictable narrative cry out of biased polish and lack of creative writing.”
- “The gameplay tends to be repetitive, and the story rarely strays from being formulaic and familiar.”
- “While Ashwalkers has an interesting art style and atmosphere, it does little to capitalize on its survival mechanics, choice-based narrative, and is far too easy for what it wants to be.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
50%
15%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a minimalistic and abstract art style that some players find visually appealing, contributing to a unique atmosphere and worldbuilding. However, many reviews highlight issues such as low-effort visuals, clipping problems, and a dreary grayscale palette that can detract from the overall experience. While the art style is praised for its uniqueness, it often feels underdeveloped and lacks the polish needed to elevate the gameplay.
- “Graphics and sound are great.”
- “The graphics look very cool and I like to make all those decisions.”
- “The art style and music give this game its unique feel.”
- “The gameplay loop is just not compelling enough to keep me; the low-effort visuals and predictable narrative just cry of biased unpolish and lack of creative writing.”
- “You can have, I think, 40+ different endings, but once you've played the game 2-3 times, you'll be bored to death with the white and dark graphics and the slow progression.”
- “[black & white visuals can be a hindrance; a lot of ignorable mechanics]”
atmosphere
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
27%
27%
The atmosphere in the game is widely praised for its immersive qualities, featuring a haunting post-apocalyptic setting enhanced by evocative music and sound design. While the ambiance effectively conveys a sense of dread and complements the gameplay, some reviewers note that the overall experience can feel shallow due to limited interactions and a lack of depth in the narrative and mechanics. Despite these criticisms, the atmospheric elements remain a standout feature, creating a compelling backdrop for the game's slower-paced, decision-focused gameplay.
- “Very atmospheric casual survival game, simple resource management, decision-focused, kind of hardcore towards the end, controls and GUI are very simple.”
- “Outstanding ambience: the sound design and music really drive home the atmosphere.”
- “Atmosphere has that nice sense of post-apocalypse dread and this extends to gameplay.”
- “The music, atmosphere, and art style almost make up for the shallow and unimaginativeness of the story, dialogue, and gameplay.”
- “The management is simple, so you do not get frustrated, but it's still enough to have an eye on it and get some situations you have to solve while walking through a poisoned atmosphere.”
- “Atmosphere is depressive and sad.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The music in the game is generally praised for its outstanding quality and ability to enhance the atmospheric setting, contributing significantly to the overall experience. While some players find the environment and gameplay lacking, the soundtrack is often described as phenomenal and a key element that elevates the game's unique feel. Overall, the sound design and music effectively create an immersive ambiance, despite criticisms of other aspects.
- “The soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal.”
- “The music is great!”
- “Outstanding ambience: the sound design and music really drive home the atmosphere.”
- “It's really boring, especially since the environment is very bland and the music is mediocre.”
- “The music, atmosphere, and art style almost make up for the shallowness and lack of imagination in the story, dialogue, and gameplay.”
- “The outstanding ambiance: the sound design and music really drive home the atmosphere.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game offers significant replayability due to its numerous endings and the variety of choices that can influence outcomes, encouraging players to explore different scenarios. However, some players find that slow movement and micromanagement can detract from the overall experience, potentially limiting replay value. Overall, the combination of moral choices and multiple endings provides a strong incentive for repeated playthroughs.
- “It offers a crazy number of endings and, needless to say, offers a lot of replay value and different choices to make.”
- “With the variety of choices and how they can influence future encounters and endings, a lot of replayability is potentially available here.”
- “Unfortunately, the slow walking speed and fast decay of the characters' needs mean that moving between landmarks involves a lot of boring walking and tedious micromanagement, hampering replayability.”
- “The replayability comes from purposefully playing out those scenarios differently.”
- “+ a lot of available choices keeping replayability high”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid, with most users reporting no significant bugs or glitches. However, some players have noted minor issues, including bothersome camera angles, occasional audio glitches, and crashes. Despite these concerns, many still enjoyed their experience.
- “Overall, despite some minor bugs and glitches and the short length, I enjoyed my time with this game. If you like making choices that have real consequences, this game is for you.”
- “Camera angles can be bothersome, and I experienced a few audio glitches and crashes.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
Reviewers note that the character development is lacking, primarily due to the unappealing character design and absence of distinct voices or faces. This results in a dull experience, further exacerbated by a simplistic risk and reward system that fails to engage players.
- “The character design and story setting are surprisingly similar to one I've written a couple of years ago, which adds a personal touch to the experience.”
- “I appreciate the unique character designs, even though they may not be a popular choice, as they lack faces and voices, allowing for more imaginative interpretation.”
- “The lack of character development and a risk and reward system makes for a very dull experience.”
- “I believe that the given character designs are not a popular choice, since they have no faces or voices.”
- “Mostly because of character design and story setting, which is surprisingly similar to one I've written a couple of years ago.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect tedious due to slow movement speeds and the rapid decay of character needs, leading to monotonous walking and micromanagement that detracts from the overall enjoyment and replayability of the game.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Unfortunately, the slow walking speed and fast decay of the characters' needs mean that moving between landmarks involves a lot of boring walking and tedious micromanagement, hampering replayability.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game suffers from poor optimization, which detracts from the overall experience, and the plot is also considered unconvincing.
- “The game is poorly optimized, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering.”
- “I experienced constant crashes and long loading times, which ruined the overall experience.”
- “The optimization is lacking, making it difficult to enjoy the game even on high-end hardware.”