Ashen is unlike anything I've ever played before. Not entirely new in the sense of gameplay, even though it does still provide new concepts for the 3rd person melee combat genre, but in the way it delivers it's unique visual and auditory style. In this game you embark on a journey of desolation, discovery, and ironically union as you trek, perhaps with a friend, across an ancient land of birthing silence and for a lack of a better word, "brutal harmony".
The visual style I mention is best described to be that of clay moulding and reminds me of another indie title from Devolver Digital by the name of Absolver. However, unlike Absolver which mostly just uses this style to solidify its feeling of archaic desolation and primeval warfare, Ashen takes this and gets esoteric. The game consciously makes relations to the creation of man by god to that of clay sculpting. It is almost as if the gods of ashen sculpted the world by hand on the turntable firmament. It is very ingenious if they have thought that deep into their own creation at all.
This game connects with me personally on a more emotional or even spiritual level and it has been quite common for Annapurna to provide on that front, this game even more so. The innate connection mention is most definitely present due to the soundtrack composed by E. Hillman, which I've listened to on platforms such as Spotify and Youtube, so many times I've lost count. The music of Ashen is quite reminiscent of Jeremy Soule's work on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as they both seem to exhude a sense of "magic" in their notes, for example, E Hillman's work creates space for the world out of thin air almost to the point where your sense of common alchemy could not provide a meaningful exchange. These descriptions i provide might perhaps seem melodramatic or even insane but i do swear that this game has plucked chords that most developers can not sense.
Ashen is almost near perfect and would of surpassed games of a similar ilk if it wasn't for its strange multiplayer choices. Instead of being able to share each others custom characters, players are instead forced to embody side characters you meet along your journey. I respect the game for attempting to keep the game canonically sound but sometimes you just gotta give in. Other than this, joining each others game isn't too much of a hassle. Ashen allows custom group codes in-game.
Long story short, this game offers a unique experience and is a journey worth playing even by yourself