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Looks like Ashen is gonna release this Friday

Lueken

Lueken

Member
Dec 15, 2017
622
If Ashen releases Friday, I am in day one. Have a few months of Xbox Game Pass built up from Microsoft Rewards I have been waiting to use. Now we just need Below's release date and Hellblade/Ori to become Play Anywhere titles.
 
OP
OP
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,028
Someone check please when its 12am in New Zealand. If it unlocks with gamepass.
 
Reddaye

Reddaye

Member
Mar 24, 2018
2,909
New Brunswick, Canada
I can't say I'm overly hyped, or that the game looks anything special to me, but I'm ready to have my opinion changed. This is a great example of Game Pass being a great service. I can try stuff like this out, and hopefully find stuff I enjoy that I normally wouldn't bat an eyelash at.
 
Kareha

Kareha

Banned
Jun 15, 2018
1,460
United Kingdom
Love me some Ashens.
220px-StuartAshens_Gamechild.jpg
 
Popetita

Popetita

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,957
TX|PR
Very cool if true. I kept confusing both Below and Ashen because they were both long announced and unreleased and wanted to ask about this one.

I hipe MS uses the show to show us somen of what they've been doing.
 
Syphon

Syphon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
91
I have been waiting for this game for a while now. Can't wait to finally get my hands on it.
 
Jobbs

Jobbs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,639
I haven't been paying attention in a while... But it's a co-op focused game? Is it a gear looting coop game? Or is it more like a Souls experience?

I don't have a lot of interest in playing co-op, but I'll keep an open mind
 
Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
Jobbs said:
I haven't been paying attention in a while... But it's a co-op focused game? Is it a gear looting coop game? Or is it more like a Souls experience?

I don't have a lot of interest in playing co-op, but I'll keep an open mind
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Passive co-op. Not so much going out with a friend to tackle quests (though it's an option) but running into another player, who will look like a member of your town, and questing up or running by them.

Think of something similar to Journey.
 
OP
OP
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,028
Yeah more like Journey indeed.

More about the coop

Your journey in Ashen begins with the reclamation of a settlement, where you and your trusty companion can begin work restoring the Ashen to its former glory. As you explore the game world, you'll encounter a large cast of characters that each have their own missions and motivations. Once you have made them happy, they'll return to your settlement and begin to add to it, bringing their own skills and facilities to your base such as crafting, and fast travel, all while building up their own homes. By the end of the game, you should have a sprawling, and hearty village to call home. Each quest you do, whether as part of the main story or one of the more light-hearted side missions will also grant bonuses to your health and stamina pool, granting you new gear as you progress to the end of your ultimate goal. But the road to get there is filled with danger.

Ashen retains its headline feature, (almost always) anonymous asynchronous co-op, which is required to enter certain areas and dungeons. This co-operative play forms an important part of Ashen's uniqueness, since you won't be able to communicate directly (or often, even know) who you are playing with. That said, you will be able to play with friends using Ashen's filter system, which lets you set up a pass key for your game, effectively enabling pools of players to randomly appear in each other's games sharing the same key. In theory you could play co-operatively with a single friend this way, sharing the same pass key.

Those players will appear in your game completely dynamically, and anonymously, as you approach an area that requires a second player. If there is nobody available (or you disable multiplayer completely), a smart A.I. companion will spawn instead. And it is indeed smart.
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Ashen's randomized co-operative gameplay is exciting, not only for the fact that it adds co-op dynamism to its reactive action RPG combat, but also, because your co-op partner will often assume the role of an NPC in your story (and vice versa for them). For once, that escort mission will feature a truly intelligent character, which not only makes combat more interesting and manageable, but it somehow makes the characters seem more "alive" and engaging. Aurora44 cited this desire for asynchronous co-op as a driving reason for launching the game into Xbox Game Pass, to ensure that it will have a healthy player base to assume these roles, rather than fall back on the game's A.I. systems.
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