Annapurna Interactive and indie development studio Aurora44 released their Souls-like title Ashen late last year for PC and the Xbox One (where it also released on Game Pass day and date), and it received widespread acclaim for its beautiful visuals and art style, its compelling world design, and its tight, solid combat.

Back then, focused on their Xbox One/PC launch, the developers didn’t have any plans to bring the game to any systems- but that’s changed now. Publishers Annapurna Interactive recently uploaded an accolades trailer for Ashen, highlighting some of the praise the game received from critics at launch. At the very end of the trailer, they also confirm that it’ll be coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch (as well as GOG.com and Steam for PC players after its year-long exclusivity to the Epic Games Store) on December 9th this year.

In our review of Ashen, we opined that the game “displays an excellent understanding of what makes the Soulslike genre tick, and implements those borrowed ideas with great aplomb”, rewarding it a score of 8/10. Read our full review through here.

It seems like Ashen may have intended to be a “shadow drop”, as in an announcement made with an immediate (or almost immediate) release to follow. The Xbox Store and Windows Store both seem to have leaked what may have been intended to be a surprise—since they both have the game listed with a release for Friday, December 7 2018.

Considering how long people have been waiting for this game—it was announced quite a while back, and we haven’t received an official release day confirmation yet—I think a lot of folks are going to be surprised in a good way come tomorrow.

The game’s file size was also listed (on the Xbox One, it comes in at 6.61GB), which means the download shouldn’t take you too long, and you can jump into playing the game without much in the way of delay.

The listing has since been edited back, but you can see a screenshot below (via Windows Central). Now to see if they actually announce it ahead of tomorrow’s event (assuming it was even meant to be announced at tomorrow’s event). If you are interested in the game, make sure to check out our interview with its developers.

To learn more about the game and its development, Gamingbolt reached out to the game’s Creative Director Derek Bradley with some questions and he provided the following answers.

"Ashen is a completely immersive experience – any other player that joins your world will take on the appearance of an established character the player has already met"

A lot of the game’s story seems shrouded in mystery. Will there be an explanation for it all or will some things be left unexplained?

Ashen is set in a bygone world – one that is permanently shaped by events that took place thousands of years ago. By the period the game takes place in, what legends state and what truly happened are almost indistinguishable. It’s largely up to the player to investigate whatever clues remain from that era and form their own conclusions about what took place. Forging relationships with the characters that inhabit the world of Ashen will certainly reward the player that wants to learn as much as possible, lorewise. What players learn as the game begins is that light is returning to this sunless world, and that they need to protect the source of the light; the Ashen.

What can you tell us about the initial development stages of ASHEN and how the concept was derived?

Ashen was something we dreamed up after leaving our jobs at Weta Digital to make games. We wanted to make something immersive and genuine – something we believe in. It was an interesting process, in that we first create a world we would want to spend time in before looking at it as a game. From there, the vision grew into what you see today.

What can you tell us about the passive multiplayer aspect of the game? How exactly does it work?

Ashen is a completely immersive experience – any other player that joins your world will take on the appearance of an established character the player has already met.  This works both ways just as another player is playing a role in your story, you will also be playing a role in theirs. This gives the chances to spice up the personality of an NPC in another player’s game with a few of your personal quirks! In terms of the passive multiplayer functionality, people can connect to your game seamlessly in that you just run past each other out in the world and disconnect if you run too far apart.

We know that the game won’t have voice or text chat. Is there any reason for the same?

When also accounting for other design elements of the game (faceless characters, fleeting interactions), we were aiming for a world where actions speak louder than words, and players can get to know each other without necessarily sharing a spoken language. It builds an experience where trust is the most important trait in a partner, beyond pure gameplay skill. We created faceless characters because we wanted multiplayer interactions to be focused on actions rather than appearance, and the omission of voice/text chat is just an extension of the same design.

Does the game require players to work together sometimes, or is the entire thing playable solo?

Ashen is designed for a multiplayer experience. It rewards players that successfully build relationships and is balanced with this in mind. However, the game is very much accessible to players brave enough to try the game solo. The game will prove more difficult in this case, with a smaller margin for error. Certain mechanics within Ashen were designed specifically for the single player experience, such as a perk that makes all multiplayer areas unlock for a player trying their luck alone.

"Exploration is rewarded with items and abilities that wouldn’t be available without setting foot off the beaten path"

What can you tell us about the game’s open world? Are there ways to traverse the environment apart from just travelling on foot?

Travelling on foot is the best way to explore the world. But there are multiple ways to travel. One of the quests is to rescue the Diasora Pup (skywhale). When freed, the pup will allow you to fast travel.

Another method of travelling is to journey along pathways of shadow that crisscross the land. When you throw a spear and successfully pierce the hearts dessicated ash monks that are spread across the land, they draw you to themselves along pathways of shadow.

The recent trailer for the game showed off a sky whale, and it didn’t look like it was an enemy. What role does this creature play in the game?

The skywhale, or Diasora as it’s known in the world of Ashen, is one of the many unlikely but wondrous creatures that evolved in a world without natural light. At that size, its bound to play a part in Ashen’s story and while untamed it turns out to be both a guide and obstacle to the player at various points in the game. Diasora pups are much easier to teach new tricks, and when fast travel eventually becomes available, it will be on the back of a baby sky-whale.

It seems like players will slowly be able to build up a town as they progress in the game. What will a well-populated and well-equipped town do for the player, and how does it affect gameplay?

As you find and complete quests for your townsfolk, they build and upgrade their houses – effectively raising a village out of the ash. As they progress, townsfolk will also begin to offer crafting to the player – This includes ashsmithing, potion brewing, spear crafting and lantern crafting.

How big is the world of ASHEN? Are there side quests and the like to take up or will players forge their own path through exploration?

Ashen is big enough for both! Side quests serve as an introduction to new areas, but the world has too many secrets for our quests to possibly send the player everywhere they can go in the game. Exploration is rewarded with items and abilities that wouldn’t be available without setting foot off the beaten path. If a player is overwhelmed by the challenge of the enemies they are required to confront in the main story, the rewards of exploration will tend  to level the playing field.

Is there player vs. player combat in ASHEN? If not at launch, will it be added later?

Ashen is player vs. environment. We want the game to be about trust, teamwork but also be a friendly experience to everyone. Since our multiplayer system is passive, any players that appear in your game will be playing the part of a character in the world of Ashen, one with their own history and motivations. Allowing PvP would break this immersion and make players that join your world another faceless enemy, instead of adding complexity of the characters you are getting to know during your playthrough.

"We don’t have PS4/Switch plans at the moment as the team is focussed on shipping the best game possible first"

Talismans provide perks and upgrade character abilities. What kinds of Talismans can players discover and how significantly do they change up one’s play-style?

• An important aspect of Talismans is the indirect story they carry by changing the way players see and interact with the world.
• Major Talismans are found as rewards for completing significant tasks out in the world while Minor Talismans are crafted by village NPCs.
• Talismans are versatile and can adapt completely to individual playstyles.  They cover the spectrum of mechanics in Ashen, from sprint speed to extra crafting materials to more traditional combat bonuses. Certain talismans even give the opportunity to cheat death (when you die, you crawl out of your own body as an ashwraith instead of respawning).

What motivated the decision to release exclusively on Xbox One when it came to consoles?

The ID@Xbox team were our very first supporters, with Alexis Garavaryan discovering us in 2014 and bringing us to the team at Xbox. We shot for the stars with Ashen and Xbox team really championed the vision, including us in three E3 Briefings since then.

Is there any chance the game may come to PS4 and Switch in the future?

We don’t have PS4/Switch plans at the moment as the team is focussed on shipping the best game possible first.

The game will be receiving Xbox One X support. Although the game is early in development, is native 4K and 60 frames per second on the cards?

Ashen on Xbox One X runs at native 4k – however we don’t have final numbers for this just yet as we continue to optimize.

What is the target resolution and frame rate of the base Xbox One version?

We haven’t locked these numbers down just yet as we continue to optimize.

"It is great fun to play Ashen at 4k on the Xbox One X – I would highly recommend it!"

Xbox One X features a high-end GPU. What kind of benefits does it give to you while developing Ashen?

It is great fun to play Ashen at 4k on the Xbox One X – I would highly recommend it!

What is your take on the recent trend of Games as a service model and the possible controversial monetization practices arising from it?

In all honesty we have not looked into this with Ashen. We have set out to produce a complete experience from day one and Annapurna Interactive have only encouraged this.

The current generation of consoles will probably end in the next couple of years. What is your biggest expectation from the next PlayStation and Xbox?

Developers love more power, and we are no different in looking forward to using the next generation of consoles to craft even more detailed worlds for players to explore. Beyond this, more power means more creative freedom for developers – so I expect we will see even more creative and interesting games.

From a developer perspective, do you think the next-gen console era will be the 4K/60fps era?

It is possible – and it would look/feel great!

Is there anything more you’d like to tell our readers?

Be sure to check Ashen out on Gamepass 🙂

Ashen, the upcoming Dark Souls-like action RPG from Annapurna Interactive and Aurora44, has received a brand new video showing off some gameplay footage from the build of the game that was shown off at Gamescom. This video shows us over 11 minutes of gameplay footage from the upcoming title, giving us an idea of the style of gameplay flow and loop we can expect from it once it releases.

Seeing a Dark Souls style game in the striking art style used by Ashen is really something, and it makes the game stand out much more than many other Souls-like games otherwise do. It helps that its melancholy world, and its focus on connecting with others, look really good, too. A Souls-like game is a really interesting canvas to choose to explore “human relationships”, which is what Ashen proposes to do- but this video gives us glimpses of how that might work.

Ashen launches exclusively on Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One later this year. For now, there are no plans to bring it to the PS4 or Switch.

Ashen is one of the most interesting new indie titles coming up on the Xbox One in the near future, and its attractive visual palette certainly has done a great deal to garner attention and excitement for the game. The team at Aurora44, though, has ambitions beyond just the visuals’ artistic aspects as well, since they also look set to be utilizing the Xbox One X’s added capabilities over the base console.

We recently sat down for an interview with Aurora44’s Derek Bradley, who’s also Ashen’s creative director, and we asked him about whether or not the game would be receiving Xbox One X support. Bradley told us that the game would run at a native 4K on the Xbox One X, but did not talk about any other details, saying that everything other than the resolution is stuff that hasn’t yet been nailed down.

“Ashen on Xbox One X runs at native 4K,” Bradley told GamingBolt. “However, we don’t have final numbers for this just yet as we continue to optimize.” Apparently, that’s true for the game’s base Xbox One version as well. Target resolution and frame-rate for Ashen on the base Xbox One remain undecided right now. “We haven’t locked these numbers down just yet,” Bradley said.

We also asked Bradley if he had any thoughts in particular on the extra power the Xbox One X is afforded by its high end GPU, and if Ashen benefits from it in any way. And while his response was a little too general, his remarks on it were certainly very positive. “It is great fun to play Ashen at 4k on the Xbox One X,” he said. “I would highly recommend it!”

If you’re wondering if there’s any way to play Ashen on play on something other than an Xbox One or PC, sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case for now. The developers have no plans for bringing the game over to either the PS4 or the Switch. On the Xbox One and PC, it’s primed for launch some time this year, but a more specific release date hasn’t yet been announced.

Microsoft has been a staunch supporter of indie-developed games since the Xbox 360 days, since the days of the likes of Braid and Limbo (which later found their way to other consoles as well). That trend has continued into this generation as well, with the ID@Xbox program. One of the more notable upcoming indie titles via that program is Ashen, developed by the team at Aurora44.

We recently sat down to talk about the game with creative director Derek Bradley, and asked him about what drove the developers to the decision to keep their game a console exclusive for the Xbox One (it will, of course, be launching on PC as well), and Bradley told us that Microsoft’s ID@Xbox team has been very supportive of them, consistently over a period of three years.

“The ID@Xbox team were our very first supporters, with Alexis Garavaryan discovering us in 2014 and bringing us to the team at Xbox,” Bradley told GamingBolt. “We shot for the stars with Ashen and the Xbox team really championed the vision, including us in three E3 Briefings since then.”

Of course, we asked him if the game would end up being ported to other consoles – namely, the PS4 and the Switch – sometime in the future as well. We were pretty much compelled to do so, I’m sure Switch and PS4 owners will want to play the game as well. Sadly, it doesn’t look like a release on the two systems is on the docket right now, as the developers remain fully focused on launching the game on the Xbox One and PC for now. “We don’t have PS4/Switch plans at the moment as the team is focussed on shipping the best game possible first,” Bradley told us.

Ashen is due for a launch some time this year, but a more specific release date has not been confirmed by the developers yet.

One of the prominent upcoming third party exclusives for Xbox One will be Ashen, an action role-playing game developed by Aurora44. The game will have multiplayer, which will require coordination and teamwork from multiple players- but, interestingly enough, it sounds like the game won’t be supporting voice or even text chat in spite of this. Instead, the game will provide players with limited tools for communication, which they will be forced to use.

Speaking to Official Xbox Magazine (March, Issue number 161), the developers discussed their reason for limiting means of communication for players. “We don’t have voice chat, or even text chat. We won’t even have user names- so when somebody’s playing in your game, you will have an array of gestures you can use, and you will have to use those to communicate,” says game director Derek Bradely.

Basically, it sounds like they are going for the kind of experience that Dark Souls and its ilk provide- which, hey, it worked there. If Ashen is half as good, I don’t think players will be complaining here either. Thankfully, the game seems like it might just be great enough. You can check out the story for Ashen, and get more information on the game, in Official Xbox Magazine’s March issue. You can subscribe to the latest Official Xbox Magazine over here.