Review | Among Ashes (PS5)

The Brightest Flames

People are always clicking on links they shouldn’t, but usually, it’s just an annoying virus, and other times someone downloads a demon they didn’t mean to. Shit happens. Among Ashes is a new video game about a haunted game, that has a game inside of that game and a game—okay, it gets a little confusing, but I dug the premise and hoped it wouldn’t just fizzle and burn out.

Imagine you’re bored one rainy night and your roommate has returned home for the Christmas holiday, the perfect time to play video games, but the DOOM clone isn’t doing it for you. Your friend, Mark, reaches out on what looks like MSN Messenger to tell you about a new game that some amateur developer uploaded, complete with a creepy post. It’s a horror game, an interesting one where you play as a police officer investigating a strange mansion, and the first person you meet inside is a sexy maid, but then weird things begin happening, not just in the game, but in your apartment as well. Now there’s a scary-looking girl who doesn’t seem like she’s a part of the simulation showing up and weird noises that aren’t just coming from your speakers. Mark is experiencing it too, and maybe you both shouldn’t have clicked that link.

See, this shit wouldn’t happen to me, because I take way too long to get around to games my friends recommend I play.

Ghost in the Machine

The 2001 setting in Among Ashes instantly transported me back to another time, sitting in my room, lights out, trying to set the mood while playing Silent Hill and Resident Evil, titles that inspired this experience (they’re even mentioned, sort of). The fake game inside is titled Night Call and the intro also has some strong Alone in the Dark vibes, so this virtual trap is right up my alley. It’s a retro-styled first-person survival horror mind trip with clunky combat, asking players to survive Stoker Manor. Explore the old house, dare to venture onto the haunted grounds, and investigate secret laboratories while trying to solve puzzles and not get eaten by a savage array of monsters. That’s just one game though, as there’s another hidden in there, but the true adventure is in the ‘real world’ for the player we control, attempting to figure out what is going on in their flat and unravel the secrets of the mysterious programmer who has afflicted this upon us. But surviving long enough to figure out the truth may be a challenge.

At (almost) any point the player can tab out of the game on that old Windows machine and read an article, check if Mark has sent any new messages, or just get up and walk around the apartment, but it never did let me go back to the DOOMED clone. The apartment sections are more modern and give the player fewer interactive options, but it’s essential to see the game through. They tell us to “keep playing,” because Mark doesn’t want to and SOMEONE needs to beat it. Being able to shift out of my chair and solve puzzles by using elements in the game world and the real one was creative and engaging, as most of the puzzles have interesting elements. None of them were too difficult and in most cases, it just took another pass around the environment or re-reading the clues we were sent, since the idea is that we are playing an unfinished project. The game is quite short. My playthrough took me around four hours, but if someone already knows the puzzle solutions and which enemies to bypass, I imagine this can be done in half that time, easily. For a game that flourishes on the unknown and the raw tension it creates, I’m worried that repeat playthroughs may not hold up as well.

What can make the game challenging is the combat. It feels appropriate for what we’re doing here, the motif the developer was aiming for, but it took me a bit to get used to the monsters and blocking. Damage still goes through sometimes, chipping away at our copper, and dodging in these enclosed spaces is not an easy feat. Because it’s a horror survival game, some sections don’t offer up much in the way of health and ammo, meaning that on two separate occasions, I found myself with few bullets and no health, trying to run through rooms filled with enemies and only able to take one hit, leaving it somewhat up to luck. In those cases I had been locked out of the rest of the house, so there was no backtracking for more resources, and the save system here can be somewhat unforgiving. There don’t seem to be any autosaves in Night Call – only in the apartment sections later in the game – and some of the objects used to record the player’s progress have limited uses.

I eventually adjusted to the combat and there doesn’t seem to be too much difference between difficulties, but I might recommend playing Among Ashes on easy for some people because the story and scares are why most of us are here. I did like that the game attempted to auto-complete certain tasks, so even if the player dies and hasn’t saved in a while, not everything will have to be repeated, but that did also screw me over a couple of times. Dying sucks, but at least they let us skip cutscenes.

Sympathy for the Devil

I know most of us aren’t huge fans of jump scares—I get it, but even though Among Ashes loves them, I genuinely like a lot of what they are doing here. The atmosphere is incredibly well done, creating a wonderful game world and an eerie realistic apartment, then turning both on their heads. The visuals work quite well and offer some variety, with a few sections surprising me, while others seemed a little generic for the genre, yet rendered well. My big complaint was how dark several parts were, making it hard to spot helpful items, and leaving the ‘torch’ a bit useless. There’s also a good bit of reading and some of it can be tough on the eyes.

The music is solid, and though it repeats, the tones often fit. This sound design is excellent overall with some crunchy noises, cheesy voice acting that works most of the time, and blunt effects to make sure no one is ever too comfortable. The game tells us that it is best with headphones, and it isn’t wrong, but maybe turn them down just a touch. The overall presentation has this excellent charm about it and uses the camera as well as abrupt sounds for a lot of its frights, while there are a few genuinely good non-jump scares as well that simply take advantage of a well-constructed atmosphere and shifting between the worlds.

Medicated Drama Queen

The story – the real story – doesn’t hit perfectly, but there is a solid ending here. Some parts are predictable, but they are also unsettling, especially when analyzing the implications of all of the information. The last big dramatic moment screams Silent Hill in a good way. There is a catch at the end, an unsettling moment that knocked it up a couple of points for me.

And I’m glad it did because, for a game with a ton of fake problems and discussions of being unfinished, I experienced a lot of glitches here. I could have ignored the audio cutting out or the jump scare happening with a black screen, not loading the visuals, maybe even falling through the world that one time, or just the multitude of assets that didn’t load, but I also had a few bugs keep me from progressing, to where I had to not only exit the game and reload, not just close the program, but reboot the PS5 completely and start over from the beginning of a section to get it to work. The music box glitched out on me and wouldn’t relinquish the lighter, then I had to solve the combination lock without being able to see the numbers, and finally, the elevator wall panel didn’t show up, leaving me stuck, but at first, I was left thinking it was supposed to happen. This is when auto-completing certain puzzles seemed to sequence-break an entire section.

Luckily, I was into the game enough to push through and laugh at my frustration, but afterward, it felt a bit ridiculous.The developer for this title is Rat Cliff Games. More accurately, it was made by one man, Daniel Ferrer, so I’m willing to cut him some slack here. As a creator, he gave us a chilling story and an enjoyable playground. Retro horror is incredibly in right now, and taking inspiration from the greats is never a bad idea, as long as it’s still unique and engaging. I’m not sure how innovative people will consider Among Ashes in the long run, but it feels like a solid experience for fans who love the genre or just want to be spooked out over Christmas break.

Disclaimer: The publisher through a PR representative provided the game used for this review.

This review is the critique and thoughts of one writer. If you want to see how other critics felt then check it out on OpenCritic.

8Bit/Digi is an independent media outlet that provides insight into the gamer community of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rehan

Review | Among Ashes (PS5)