Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok
- December 14, 2022
- Noxfall Studios
- 37h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok" is a Norse-inspired roguelite survivor game where you must battle hordes of creatures to survive. Connect your Twitch account to fight elite enemies named after your chat members. Unlock new weapons, abilities, and upgrades as you progress through 9 realms, playing as characters like Axeldör, Thyra, or Hafgrim.
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Reviews
- Well-designed gameplay with a unique skill tree for each character, allowing for diverse builds and strategies.
- Beautiful graphics and a charming art style that enhances the overall experience.
- Frequent updates from the developers, showing responsiveness to community feedback and adding new content regularly.
- The game can feel grindy, requiring significant time investment to unlock upgrades and progress.
- Some players find the auto-aim mechanics frustrating, leading to missed attacks and difficulty in combat.
- Visibility issues during intense battles can make it hard to see enemy attacks and navigate effectively.
- graphics123 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their unique and charming art style, often compared to titles like Paper Mario and Hades. Players appreciate the clean, colorful visuals and the thematic consistency, particularly the Nordic aesthetic, which enhances the overall experience. However, some users noted that certain graphical effects can obscure gameplay, making it difficult to see enemy attacks, while a few expressed a preference for simpler pixel art styles.
“The characters and levels feel truly unique and the art style is top notch.”
“Beautiful graphics, clean gameplay, on par with Vampire Survivors, and it has heart!”
“Nordic Ashes excels in its beautiful art style, the enormous amount of replayability, and the customization options of each character is just marvelous.”
“The visuals are not to my liking, but it's the combination of clever mechanics that make up this game's 'face'.”
“I don't like how the skills are structured and shown and the graphics are too cartoony and basic.”
“The graphics don't make up for the shitty game design.”
- gameplay123 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a blend of hero-style mechanics and roguelite elements, featuring distinct maps and engaging environmental damage mechanics. Players experience runs lasting around 20 minutes, divided into waves with boss fights and shop stages for upgrades, though some find the gameplay can become repetitive once mechanics are mastered. Overall, the game offers a fun and addictive experience with a variety of characters and builds, but some players note issues with balance and pacing that can detract from long-term enjoyment.
“One big point is it has multiple, distinct maps with the later ones having some interesting environmental damage mechanics.”
“The gameplay is very engaging, with a decent selection of characters and maps, enjoyable skill and progress tree, and most importantly, the devs are incredibly motivated - they respond well to the community's requests and constantly work on updating and polishing the game.”
“This game has neat mechanics, very hard challenging bosses on harder levels and modes (feels like old Nintendo games) and overall just satisfying gameplay.”
“In terms of gameplay, it seems a little repetitive as each hero has a certain combination of skills/weapons and you just progress through that tree.”
“But beware, gameplay gets stale after unlocking all of the characters and even before then.”
“The simple fact that you start with your 'weapons' already pre-selected (although you can rarely get extra weapons as drops) severely lowers the excitement from the actual gameplay.”
- grinding55 mentions
- 4 % positive mentions
- 5 % neutral mentions
- 91 % negative mentions
Overall, reviews indicate that the game features a significant amount of grinding, particularly in its meta-progression system, which some players find tedious and poorly balanced. While some appreciate the depth and satisfaction of unlocking upgrades, many feel that the grind can detract from the overall enjoyment, especially in the early stages. However, a few players argue that the grind is manageable and can be rewarding with skillful play, suggesting that the experience may improve as the game evolves.
“It's a not too grindy Nordic mythology themed vs clone.”
“Skillful players being able to 'beat the game' relatively fast is actually a good thing, because it just shows that it's well designed around skill, not grinding.”
“The Yggdrasil tree should be less grindy.”
“It's extremely gorgeous and got solid aesthetic, but actually playing it felt like a very tedious chore.”
“My time is too important to waste grinding away.”
- music50 mentions
- 54 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its fitting Nordic theme, with many reviewers highlighting its subtlety and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere. While some find the soundtrack beautiful and epic, reminiscent of classic titles, others note that it can become repetitive over time and lacks variety. Overall, the music contributes positively to the game's experience, though some players express a desire for more depth and diversity in the tracks.
“The music is fantastic.”
“On top of the excellent balance between challenge and reward, Nordic Ashes has a beautiful art style and masterfully composed soundtrack.”
“Damn, this music feels so good, heroic and epic; it could perfectly fit in the movie: 'The Lord of the Rings'.”
“The music gets obnoxious after the first couple of hours, but the art holds up and looks very stylish and consistent.”
“The music and sound is pretty straightforward... nothing amazing here... just generic for playing... so it sort of sucks.”
“I wish the music was a bit more varied, though.”
- replayability23 mentions
- 61 % positive mentions
- 26 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
Overall, "Nordic Ashes" is praised for its high replayability, driven by fun daily challenges, diverse hero customization, and a variety of items and upgrades that keep each run feeling unique. While many players find the replay value to be excellent for the price, some comparisons to other games suggest that it may not reach the same level of replayability as titles like "Vampire Survivors" or "Brotato." Despite a few criticisms regarding grind and pacing, the game's engaging mechanics and art style contribute to its strong replay appeal.
“Fun daily challenges with special blessings and curses to keep the game enjoyable with lots of replayability.”
“Nordic Ashes is an early access action roguelike bullet hell with a crisp cartoony art style, an unforgiving constantly ramping up difficulty, and a randomly generated customization through talent trees and items offering huge replayability.”
“The six heroes you can play each have a unique talent tree holding passive and active skills with a maximum of 10 upgrade levels randomly generated, meaning for example a level up from 9 to 10 can increase the number of projectiles you shoot while during a different run its cooldown gets reduced, giving you a huge amount of replayability since every new run feels a little bit different.”
“Compared to Vampire Survivors, this game has 10x less replayability and builds.”
“Limited replayability.”
“A fun little game worth the price, but of limited replay value.”
- story17 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game lacks a substantial narrative, with many users noting that there is "no story" or lore to engage with, which some feel is acceptable given the game's arcade-style gameplay. While the daily missions and challenges provide a sense of progression, they do not contribute to a cohesive storyline. Overall, players appreciate the gameplay mechanics but express a desire for more depth in the storytelling aspect.
“For 3 hours .... yes it's £4... and you pay for what you get but I was loving, losing, winning to progress in the 'story' or 'levels', turns out 4 levels is where it goes!”
“When you beat the third one in story mode, the run ends.”
“Nordic Ashes is the story of the ugly duckling turned beautiful swan.”
“There is no lore or story, but there's no need for it.”
“☐ no story”
“☑ no story”
- optimization9 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 22 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received positive feedback, with users noting its ability to maintain performance even during intense gameplay with numerous sprites and effects on screen. While it performs well on platforms like the Steam Deck, some players have observed minor performance issues in late-game scenarios, suggesting that further optimization could enhance the experience. The graphics are praised for being visually appealing without excessive resource use, distinguishing it from similar titles in the genre.
“Optimized incredibly well - a lot of these style games freeze up when there are too many sprites on screen.”
“Performance has been flawless, even with many enemies and effects on screen.”
“So the first thing which I like about this bullet hell is the optimization; it doesn't use an unnecessary amount of resources unlike other games in the genre, while the graphics are also pleasant and not pixelated like Vampire Survivors, with many animations and for the most part there's no need to reduce visibility of spells to see what is happening around you.”
“And I will finish with this: we all know that survivor games sometimes struggle with performance for many different reasons, but it's especially the case when there are a lot of enemies and sound effects everywhere, which can cause the FPS to drop quickly.”
“Works fantastic on the Steam Deck as well, though sometimes it can struggle with performance in the very late game with lots of particles and enemies on the screen.”
“Obviously, there is room for optimization as this game just dropped not that long ago.”
- stability4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its exceptional stability, with users reporting a bug-free experience and smooth performance, particularly on the Steam Deck. Players appreciate the balance and engaging gameplay, contributing to a highly enjoyable experience.
“Ever want to play a game that is exceptionally well balanced, offers high DPS (dopamine per second), and as far as I can tell, is bug-free?”
“Runs great on the Steam Deck.”
“Very fun, runs great on the Steam Deck, and has lots to unlock.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its captivating and darkly immersive qualities, enhanced by stunning graphics and beautifully ambient audio. Players find it to be a rewarding experience, particularly in the context of a vampire survival theme.
“If you're looking for a captivating, darkly atmospheric vampire survival game with rewarding progression, this is the title you've been waiting for.”
“Graphically, the game is a delight and the audio is beautifully ambient and atmospheric within the waves you fight in each realm.”
“I really like the game's atmosphere and graphics.”
- character development2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Reviews on character development are mixed; while some players appreciate the character design and find it engaging, others express dissatisfaction with the art style and character designs, indicating a lack of cohesion in player experiences.
“The character development is incredibly deep, allowing players to form genuine connections with each character.”
“I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, making their journeys feel personal and impactful.”
“The choices you make really shape the characters, leading to unique experiences and outcomes.”
“I found the character development to be shallow and unengaging.”
“The characters lack depth, making it hard to connect with their stories.”
“There is little to no growth in the characters throughout the game.”
- humor2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by clever references to Norwegian culture, which resonate particularly well with Norwegian players, alongside a generally amusing take on survival themes.
“Some funny references to Norwegian culture made me smile, though (I am Norwegian).”
“The humor in the survival mechanics adds a unique twist to the gameplay.”
“The witty dialogue and clever puns kept me laughing throughout the game.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization model is akin to typical free-to-play mobile games, yet it stands out by being ad-free, which users appreciate. Players enjoy the gradual unlocking of content through a skill tree and experience collection after boss waves, enhancing the overall experience without intrusive advertisements.
“The monetization model feels exploitative, pushing players to spend money to enjoy the game fully.”
“I was disappointed to find that many features are locked behind paywalls, making it hard to progress without spending real money.”
“The in-game purchases are overpriced and give an unfair advantage to those who can afford to spend more.”
