Among Ashes

(Not finished the game yet) I cannot say enough good things about Among Ashes. It is one of the scariest games I have ever played, and does so in an atmospheric way that doesn't rely on cheap tricks to horrify you. The "game within a game" or "gameception" element adds a unique layer of horror that seasons the base experience. If it was "just a game" for your playable character, until it wasn't... then what does that mean for you? Among Ashes captures the old-school survival horror genre in many ways - the low poly graphics, the difficult resource and enemy encounter design, and limited saves. It even captures the jank of melee combat, and has the classic "what was the developer thinking?!" segment that each of these games must have (in this case, it's a part where you can't use weapons and have to run past enemies towards a boss, but that means you can't save before the boss because the enemies are aggroed on you). The consistency in which all of these elements are represented make what could be perceived as aggravating into part of the old-school charm. As a fan of modern survival horror, very few games have given me the full body cortisol flush that Among Ashes has. The PS2 faces' capacity for displaying blank stares and ambiguous emotions fit perfectly into the feelings the game wants to evoke. Additionally, the audio design fits perfectly into the puzzle - there is spatial audio, but you're playing a game of a player playing a game, so there are moments where you have to determine if that sound you heard was in the character's game or the character's room... and sometimes, you may not want to know. Finally, the dialogue between your playable character and his friend Mark is one of the most believable text conversations I've seen represented in games. It doesn't strive too hard to push the plot forward, it's not overtly formal or awkward... it honestly looked exactly like the conversations my brother and I have about games. I found this part to really help sell the authenticity of what was occurring in-game; the player's world felt a bit more like my own because the conversations weren't normal NPC mindless blabbing. I highly recommend Among Ashes for fans of survival horror who are comfortable with an intensely packed, story focused experience that doesn't lean too hard on action/modern progression loops.

if i can only recommend one horror game to someone, it would be this one so far among ashes has a good mix of nostalgia and modern horror game mechanics - think resident evil and silent hill combined with a twist i started in hard mode but i ran out of bullets and painkillers so had to switch back to easy just to progress lol but i'd say the difficulty is balanced the puzzles were really fun and made sense, though there was a weird bug with one of them but, that got fixed when i just restarted the game the story had great depth and it was extremely well thought out when tied together the different themes of the areas/levels what i really appreciated about the game the most are the jumpscares; more often than not, it's just loud and shakey screen = scary however, i could say that all the jumpscares throughout made sense and was timed perfectly overall, this game was worth the hours spent; got this on sale but would definitely say it's worth every single penny it's priced at thank you dev, looking forward to your next game!

wow what a fun little horror game. I loved the mix of gameplay switch up the story was super good and doesn't out stay its welcome. Cant wait to see what else these guys make!!