Ashwalkers Review

Introduction:

Survival is a primary goal for all living things, and because of the weight of death and even extinction, the will to survive can lead one to make decisions they would normally reject. In Ashwalkers you control the Squad, a group of four that have left the Citadel, a large dome that has enabled 250,000 people to survive two centuries after a great cataclysm has left Earth's surface almost inhospitable. The reason this and the two squads before it left is the Citadel is in danger. Every seven years a great wave strikes it, and it will not survive the next. Your goal is to find the Dome of Domes, a larger and more advanced dome for your people to migrate to, with failure meaning the deaths of a quarter-million.

Though your ultimate goal is clear, you will have some adventures as you travel to it, sometimes encountering wildlife and other times finding Savages, people who have found a way of life outside the domes, amongst the volcanic ash that covers the planet. You can be diplomatic or aggressive, stealthy or clever to deal with those you meet, possibly gaining some help or needed resources, or suffering a loss of materials or people because of your decision.

Ashwalkers has 34 possible endings to discover, with your decisions determining the outcome. While that does sound like a lot, a single playthrough can be two hours or less, and after completing just one, you are able to start a custom game at any of the zones, including the final ones. You will find yourself with limited resources, but with some luck and clever application of your resources and assets, that may or may not be a problem.

For this review I completed three playthroughs, though with one I started one zone in, with each being its own Review Playthrough video. In the fourth video I made custom games to go right to the final zones to experiment with the endings. All of that I will cover better in the Gameplay section. The key was provided by Tinsley PR for Dear Villagers, the publisher. Unfortunately I have not found an age rating for the game to share, as perhaps that will not be revealed until a little closer to launch. I was playing on a pre-release build and so it may suffer from some issues, though nothing I encountered was significant by any measure.

I do believe that covers most everything I wish to for the Introduction, so time to see if we should brave the hostile, post-apocalyptic world of Ashwalkers.