Of Ash and Steel

Of Ash and Steel isn't trying to be a huge triple-A adventure, but while committing to its own vision of a Gothic-like RPG, it has plenty of its own problems to sort out first.

56%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

stability, optimization

57% User Score Based on 1,468 reviews

Critic Score 55%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

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About

Of Ash and Steel is a single player open world role playing game with fantasy, medieval, historical, dark fantasy and others themes. It was developed by Fire & Frost and was released on November 24, 2025. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

Of Ash and Steel is an immersive third-person open-world RPG created by a passionate team that values the essence of classic old-school RPGs and modern designs. Explore the lands of a once-prosperous island, hone your combat skills, and survive in the unforgiving realm of the Kingdom of the Seven.

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57%Audience ScoreBased on 1,468 reviews

story131 positive mentions

stability154 negative mentions

Strong Gothic and old-school RPG vibes with immersive exploration and rewarding progression.
Challenging and tactical combat that improves as you level up skills.
Rich world with handcrafted environments, memorable characters, and extensive side content.

Numerous bugs and technical issues including game-breaking quest bugs and crashes.
Poor quest design with vague or misleading directions leading to frustrating backtracking.
Lack of early game map and limited quality of life features making navigation and questing tedious.

story
1,169 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
81%
8%
The story is engaging and rich in atmosphere, drawing positive comparisons to classic Gothic RPGs with a gritty, immersive world and meaningful character interactions. However, the quest design is widely criticized for vague, often misleading directions, frequent bugs, and a lack of helpful tools like maps or quest markers, which combine to create frustrating navigation and frequent progression blockers. Despite its solid narrative foundation, the game's enjoyment is heavily hampered by technical issues and unclear quest guidance that overshadow many players' experience.
- “The story unfolds in a vast, rich world filled with memorable characters.”
- “I love the slow and hard initial progression, the fact that there's always something to do, the low magic setting and the story is interesting enough to keep everything together.”
- “The storytelling is a major highlight, evolving quickly from a simple start into an epic quest like the one I'm on now to rebuild the entire, flawed knights of the seven order; this game demands patience and strategic play in exchange for a deeply rewarding and atmospheric adventure.”
- “Most quests make you travel around the world, but it is not uncommon for the quest description to be extremely vague or even incorrect, leading you on a wild goose chase with no clear direction or understanding.”
- “Main quest is bugged, quest item needed to join the free hunters hasn't spawned; after wasting hours searching the map, gave up and looked online.”
- “Key quests lock themselves because items despawn, important NPCs don’t spawn or disappear, entire areas become inaccessible, and many combat mechanics simply don’t work as intended.”
gameplay
269 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
70%
14%
The gameplay offers a nostalgic, challenging RPG experience with solid exploration and a mix of well-designed core mechanics inspired by gothic and The Witcher, but is heavily marred by numerous bugs, poorly implemented and frustrating mechanics (e.g., tripping, awkward combat stamina system, tedious lockpicking), and a lack of quality-of-life features like maps and fast travel. While the combat and progression can be rewarding when working properly, many players report repetitiveness, broken quest logic, and artificial difficulty that detracts from enjoyment. Overall, the gameplay has strong potential but requires significant improvements and patches to address its clunkiness and frustrating design choices.
- “The core gameplay is fun, addictive, and very nostalgic.”
- “On one hand, the gameplay loop is fantastic; it’s challenging, rewarding, and reminds me of the golden era of RPGs.”
- “The core gameplay systems show real promise, and when everything clicks, the experience is genuinely engaging.”
- “The stuff that is definitely not inspiring though and the reason this review is negative is the amount of tedious and just really poorly implemented and thought out mechanical decisions that honestly just ruin the game and frustrate me more than I can describe.”
- “Things such as the unnecessary tripping mechanic where if you sprint and you see a twig out of place or a stone or a puddle, your character falls and takes 10 to 15 seconds to get back up and be usable again.”
- “The game constantly fights the player with poorly thought out mechanics that create frustration instead of engagement.”
stability
161 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
96%
The game suffers from pervasive and persistent bugs, glitches, and technical issues—including quest-breaking bugs, freezes, crashes, and visual glitches—that severely undermine stability and player progression. While some improvements have been made via patches, many players still find it unpolished and frustrating, with issues intensifying later in the game and requiring frequent reloads or troubleshooting. Despite this, a number of players appreciate the underlying gameplay and potential, hoping future updates will address these significant stability problems.
- “Apart from that, game runs great, I've somehow never had it crash on me which is more than I can say for AAA games.”
- “After a recent patch, the game launches and runs great.”
- “Runs great at 140-150 fps without DLSS and settings at max, on a 4070 Super.”
- “By the later stages, the fun from the early hours fades and what’s left is a buggy, janky experience that becomes boring pretty quickly.”
- “This is compounded by critical, progression-halting bugs, where hours can be wasted troubleshooting a quest only to find it's permanently broken because a key item failed to spawn.”
- “It is a very buggy game; the more you progress in the story, the more bugs appear.”
graphics
115 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
59%
17%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, often described as dated or reminiscent of Xbox 360 or early 2010s-era games, with particular criticism aimed at character faces, animations, and occasional visual bugs. While some appreciate the art style, world design, and atmospheric visuals that evoke classic RPGs like Gothic or Risen, performance and optimization issues such as stuttering and high system resource usage are noted. Overall, the graphics are seen as passable or acceptable for an indie title but fall short of modern AAA standards.
- “Art direction and world graphics look amazing.”
- “The atmosphere, the character progression, the graphics are superb.”
- “From the start, the quality stands out: the world design, the graphics, the characters, the dialogue, and the choices all show an impressive level of craftsmanship.”
- “The graphics play a big role in making the world feel cheap and void, with many objects disappearing or placeholder graphics making it hard to understand interactions.”
- “Graphics, maxed out, are subpar to any other similar non-early access game out there, and poorly optimized, consuming a lot of system resources.”
- “The visuals of the game boast some of the most horrible character faces seen in a long while, with awkward animations and outdated style.”
optimization
92 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
54%
35%
The game's optimization is widely criticized for frequent stuttering, long load times, and severe performance drops, especially in crowded areas or cities, often requiring restarts due to memory leaks. While some users with high-end PCs report smoother gameplay, many highlight persistent instability, excessive resource usage, and unpolished performance typical of an early alpha state. Developers are acknowledged for ongoing efforts to improve performance in future patches, but currently, optimization remains a major issue impacting overall experience.
- “No crashes or bugs so far and great performance on a 5070 ti, 4k max settings.”
- “Performance has been excellent so far.”
- “The optimization is great (running smoothly with fps locked at 85, no stutter whatsoever nor frame drops, rtx3070 / i7 12700f).”
- “I experienced frequent stuttering after 30-60 minutes of play, especially inside cities, and had to restart the game regularly to smooth it out again.”
- “Constant stuttering, significantly long stalls on loading screen, cinematic scenes choppy, which I would expect from an alpha state.”
- “Performance in the city is awful even at low settings I get less than 30fps in many areas, when I was able to get stable 60fps in Dragon's Dogma 2 cities on high settings.”
grinding
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is widely criticized for being tedious, slow, and poorly implemented, with many players frustrated by repetitive quests, inefficient minigames, and cumbersome travel. The lack of enemy respawns limits effective grinding, while vague objectives and constant backtracking add to the monotony, making progression feel slow and laborious. Despite some enjoyment for players who appreciate grinding and exploration, the overall consensus is that grinding detracts significantly from the experience.
- “Leveling demands excessive, minimal-reward fetch quest grinding that doesn't keep pace with the game's brutal level difference scaling.”
- “The only way I found was grinding in a really tedious way.”
- “The game is very slow, very grindy, and you will waste most of your time trying to find quest objectives and then trying to backtrack to the original quest givers.”
atmosphere
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
41%
7%
The game excels in creating a rich, immersive atmosphere that strongly evokes the classic Gothic RPGs through its dark tone, music, world design, and exploratory freedom. Despite some technical rough edges and clunky animations, the blend of challenging gameplay, detailed environments, and nostalgic soundtrack offers a deeply rewarding and atmospheric experience that resonates particularly well with fans of the Gothic series.
- “When the combat flows, when a quest gives you just enough information to work things out naturally, when the atmosphere, music, and world all click together, the game becomes genuinely immersive in a way very few modern RPGs manage.”
- “That atmosphere, that sense of being small in a dangerous world — this game absolutely nails it.”
- “It's atmospheric, immersive, rough — in a good way — and full of that gothic-style soul I've been missing for years.”
- “So "atmosphere" in certain contexts are underwhelming and possibly will be that way further in the game.”
- “It's really a shame because the devs have nailed the atmosphere and the environments.”
- “Play if you like to go from zero to hero, with an atmosphere that is very rough and unfriendly at first but opens up as you become stronger and respected.”
music
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
55%
8%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric quality and strong resemblance to the Gothic and Risen series, evoking nostalgia and enhancing immersion. While many appreciate the soundtrack's seamless blend with the world and combat, some critics note it can feel unoriginal or repetitive, with occasional issues like aggressive combat music and poor sound balancing. Overall, the soundtrack is considered one of the game's standout features, successfully capturing the desired Gothic-inspired mood.
- “When the combat flows, when a quest gives you just enough information to work things out naturally, when the atmosphere, music and world all click together, the game becomes genuinely immersive in a way very few modern RPGs manage.”
- “The music also deserves praise; it strongly evokes the atmosphere of Gothic and Risen, which adds to the nostalgic yet fresh feel of the game.”
- “The music is beautiful, very much in the style of Gothic, and creates a great atmosphere.”
- “I won't be changing this review ever, and I hope the developers and the producer get what they deserve for unabashedly cribbing Gothic soundtracks and baiting the fans into buying this scam of a product that swears by Gothic in vain pose.”
- “The audio is straight up forgettable, the main menu music is pretty poor.”
- “Some sound effects are badly balanced, and the combat music pops up too aggressively and gets annoying.”
humor
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is noted for its genuinely funny dialogue, quirky characters, and dry wit that evokes nostalgia and frequent laughter, often enhanced by amusing glitches and voice acting bloopers. However, the humor can become repetitive and is sometimes overshadowed by bugs, clunky gameplay, and pacing issues, making the comedic moments feel uneven but still endearing for players who appreciate its charm.
- “The characters you interact with are great, and the devs love to troll here and there. I find myself maniacally laughing at dumb-smart writing at 2am while the rest of the house is asleep.”
- “The voice acting and dialogue have dry humor and real personality—folks feel lived-in, not like quest dispensers.”
- “I cannot stop laughing whenever a cinematic or dialogue plays, because of the character faces, facial animations, and body motions.”
replayability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
Replayability is enhanced by meaningful choices, branching outcomes, and the ability to join different factions, adding depth to the narrative. However, similar factions and technical issues limit enjoyment, with many players hoping for future patches to improve playability and fully unlock the game's replay potential.
- “There are meaningful choices, branching outcomes, and enough depth to suggest strong replayability for those willing to invest the time.”
- “The ability to join different factions adds depth to the narrative and significant replayability.”
- “Factions add replay value: order & free hunters, plus smugglers, graverobbers, and bounty hunters.”
- “No magic, factions are similar, no replayability.”
- “If they could just actually describe the quests correctly then this game would be even more playable.”
- “If the developers manage to fix the game's technical problems, then in a few months it might be in a more playable state, but so far even just the crashes are a little too painful.”
emotional
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The emotional experience is mixed, with some players enjoying nostalgic moments reminiscent of classic Gothic games, but many criticize the storyline and quests as boring and burnout-inducing, leading to frustration and a lack of engaging emotional connection.
- “Everything else up to that point was great, it really made me feel like I was playing Gothic again.”
- “After about 9-10 hours of playing, the only other game that made me feel burned out before I even finished it was Dragon's Dogma 2.”
- “It’s been a long time since a game made me feel this way.”
- “Boring story and quests.”
- “A pretty boring storyline.”
character development
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The character development is well-rounded, featuring attribute increases, skill trees, perks, and meaningful progression tied to exploration and combat. It successfully integrates classic RPG elements like crafting and quests to deepen the experience, though some critiques mention inconsistent character design quality and stylistic choices. Overall, character growth is engaging and central to gameplay.
- “RPGs that reward exploration, have character development via attribute increases and skill trees, include crafting, and feature combat that requires skill to survive against multiple or high-end enemies.”
- “All the great ingredients for a classic RPG: character development (skills, perks, attributes, etc.), quests, a deep gathering/crafting system... and I'm only 10 hours into gameplay.”
- “Tristian is a character with great character development.”
- “There is a lot of 'it's gothic!' rhetoric going on, but it only attempts to be gothic-like. Besides bugs and performance issues, it features questionable game mechanics and some hideous character designs.”
- “Character design is poor.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users criticize the game's monetization, viewing it as a blatant cash grab with little ongoing support or improvements, leading to dissatisfaction especially at full price.
- “Updated review - as there is still no new patch and things haven't further improved I do not recommend the game in its current stage (or at full price). I might change my review after a 1.1 patch where they hopefully clear most of the issues, but as developers are pretty silent since New Year, it feels like a quick cash grab. Too bad, as it could be a great game!”
- “Total cash grab.”