Deck of Ashes

About

Deck of Ashes is a single player role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by AYGames and was released on April 21, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Deck of Ashes is a tactical card combat adventure game, where you lead a group of antiheroes through a cursed fantasy world. Each decision made while exploring and managing your camp affects your survival, as you gather resources, craft cards, and battle enemies to rid the world of the Ash Curse. With permanent death looming, choose wisely to prevent a swift and untimely demise."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 602 reviews

gameplay82 positive mentions

grinding34 negative mentions

The game features a unique ash deck mechanic that adds depth to card management and strategy.
The art style and atmosphere are engaging, reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon, which enhances the overall experience.
The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on updates and improvements.

The game suffers from pacing issues, with slow combat and excessive animations that disrupt the flow of gameplay.
Resource management can feel tedious, as players are often punished for using cards due to the health cost associated with renewing them.
There are significant balance issues, with some cards and mechanics feeling overpowered or underwhelming, leading to a lack of meaningful choices.

gameplay
290 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
62%
10%
The gameplay of "Deck of Ashes" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the mechanics to be clunky and unbalanced, particularly criticizing the ash mechanic as tedious and restrictive. While some appreciate the unique elements and potential for strategic depth, others feel that the overall experience is marred by frequent combat, lag issues, and a lack of engaging card variety, leading to a gameplay loop that can feel dull and repetitive. Despite its artistic appeal and interesting character dynamics, the game struggles to deliver a satisfying and polished gameplay experience.
- “Honestly, the mechanics and the cards and everything is really fun.”
- “The gameplay is rather rich with different mechanics.”
- “Great game, takes ideas from Slay the Spire, and brings their own new mechanics to make a great rogue-like deck builder.”
- “The gameplay is clunky, and the UI is even clunkier.”
- “The game doesn't feel like you are slowly building up your deck and getting stronger, but struggling against the mechanics to try and stay alive and maintain a deck.”
- “Unfortunately as it currently stands, the gameplay is dreadfully boring.”
story
132 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
45%
8%
The game's story is generally well-received, with players appreciating its unique world-building and character depth, which unfolds differently with each character's playthrough. However, some find the narrative repetitive and grindy, leading to mixed feelings about its overall engagement. While the art and voice acting enhance the experience, there are criticisms regarding pacing and occasional bugs that detract from the storytelling.
- “The story is quite interesting; I liked that each character has his own motivation, and there is no annoying 'great mission.'”
- “Each character plays dramatically differently, with their own unique traits, unique set of cards, and different storylines that all converge at the end.”
- “The storyline of the available character I thought was really well done, and the twist was good.”
- “Story is insta-skip after 5 minutes.”
- “The concept of the game is good, the story is okay, but it gets pretty boring, grindy, and slow after a while.”
- “It isn't polished, there are game-breaking bugs, the storyline is bleak and dialogue is repetitive, and combat itself isn't even satisfying when you win.”
graphics
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
38%
3%
The graphics of the game feature a unique, dark art style that draws comparisons to titles like "Darkest Dungeon," with many players appreciating the atmospheric visuals and character designs. However, opinions are mixed, as some find the animations unpolished and the overall execution lacking in refinement. While the artwork is often praised for its creativity and fitting tone, there are criticisms regarding the blandness of certain cutscenes and the need for improved mechanics to complement the visuals.
- “The artwork is stellar, and the monsters are real fiends, really making me study their strengths and weaknesses.”
- “It has a beautiful dark art style and monster design.”
- “Great atmosphere, voice acting, art style, and costume design.”
- “The graphics, animations, and art are pretty unpolished.”
- “Coarse, frail, and cheap-looking artwork.”
- “Really dull artwork.”
grinding
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, with players spending excessive time on resource collection and card management, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the card variety and potential for deck building, many find the unlock paths and mechanics to be frustratingly cumbersome, leading to a lack of meaningful progression and challenge. Overall, the grinding is seen as a significant flaw that hampers the game's potential.
- “It took 6 hours just to beat the first two chapters on a single character without any restarts, and most of that time was spent grinding resources.”
- “The concept of the game is good, the story is okay, but it gets pretty boring, grindy, and slow after a while.”
- “While generally well made, the extreme length gets super tedious past the first act as there is little meaning left in the run.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
45%
13%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it memorable and well-integrated into the gameplay, while others feel it lacks impact and is easily forgettable. Many appreciate the soundtracks and how they complement the artwork and story, describing them as fitting and enjoyable, though not particularly innovative. Overall, the music is generally seen as a positive aspect, enhancing the overall experience without being overly intrusive.
- “Great soundtracks, too!”
- “Soundtrack is awesome!”
- “Sounds - 8/10 the music and sound effects add so much to the game.”
- “I don't recall any music; maybe it wasn't very transparent. Nothing memorable here for sure.”
- “The sound or music bar would not go down.”
- “Music-wise it's suitably middle-earthy if not ground-breaking, but not intrusive or irritating.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, a confusing user interface, and issues such as disappearing backgrounds during battles. Many players note that the game feels unfinished and unbalanced, particularly on macOS, and express frustration over the lack of updates or support. While some find enjoyment despite these issues, the overall consensus is that the game is a "buggy mess."
- “The game is a buggy mess.”
- “This game is still pretty buggy, and not getting any support or updates, so it's stuck with it.”
- “The only downside is that the game is relatively buggy, and super unbalanced because it's in early access.”
replayability
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
Replayability in the game is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the variety in deck-building and the challenge of higher difficulty settings, others find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in long-term engagement. The introduction of new characters and updates has the potential to enhance replayability, but currently, many feel that the experience can become stale quickly. Overall, the game shows promise for future replayability improvements, especially with more character options.
- “The art is frankly awesome, there's plenty of card variety, and there are indeed multiple viable ways to build your deck with each character. There are currently four characters with a fifth on the way, so there's plenty of variance and replayability.”
- “I picked it up after leaving it alone for most of 2019, and man did they pump out updates like no tomorrow. Very high hopes for the future of it; it's such a challenge already and has amazing replayability.”
- “But there is a deeply satisfying play loop in this game due to its unique mechanics that give it the possibility of having enormous replayability and unique long campaigns with uncertain success.”
- “Sadly, it becomes very repetitive very early and has almost no replayability.”
- “Replayability so far is not looking so hot - I've played the first chapter three times, and in all of them the deck felt pretty samey, and it was hard to get something that didn't stink by the end of the chapter.”
- “Because of this, it takes the strategy and replayability out of the game.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
22%
7%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised, with reviewers highlighting its impressive artwork, voice acting, and dark thematic elements. Many express a strong desire to immerse themselves in the unique ambiance, noting that it significantly enhances the overall experience despite any gameplay shortcomings. Overall, the atmosphere is consistently rated as a standout feature, contributing to a captivating and engaging environment.
- “I really wanted to like this game; it has some unique ideas and a great atmosphere that I'd love to sink many hours into.”
- “Great atmosphere, voice acting, art style, and costume design.”
- “You will find that there are a ton of things to unlock, and I personally love the voice acting and atmosphere, not to mention the incredible artwork.”
- “I didn't like Darkest Dungeon, at least gameplay-wise, but I did like the art style and atmosphere.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
Overall, the game's optimization has received negative feedback, with users reporting significant performance issues such as stuttering, slow loading times, and general lag, particularly on laptops. Additionally, the font choices have been criticized, and many players find the combat experience to be unengaging.
- “Stuttering and slow/slight freezing when loading for battles.”
- “I have big performance issues on my laptop.”
- “I cannot judge if it is because of my system or the game performance, but I read here already that some users complain about the performance.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as hit-or-miss, with some lines being amusingly bad, such as a jester's taunt, which adds a layer of charm despite its shortcomings. While the initial expectations set by the intro cinematic suggested a comedic experience, players found the game to be solid rather than a joke. Additionally, the potential for creating absurdly powerful combos adds a humorous element to gameplay, further enhanced by quirky achievements.
- “The intro cinematic had me expecting a joke of a game where everything is just so bad it's worth playing because it's funny, but it turns out, it was just really misleading because while it's not a perfect game, it's an extremely solid one.”
- “Also, there's definitely potential for hilariously broken combos: I managed to string together two passive effects such that an enemy would take damage over time, could receive critical hits from that damage, and would gain more damage over time effects any time it received a critical hit.”
- “Also funny they have achievements for this.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development in the game features appealing designs and a variety of options, contributing to an interesting aesthetic. However, players feel that the depth of character growth is undermined by repetitive gameplay and a lackluster final boss, leading to a sense of flatness despite the initial promise of unique abilities.