Ashen

A step more clunky than Dark Souls, but the art is so beautiful and the world really is a joy to explore. It's also not gonna obliterate you like DS. Prepare to just have some good fun with some tough bosses that will take you several tries, but not several hours worth of trying.

Fun game to play in co-op. Family that get frustrated together stays together, when your adventure is going smoothly there's something bound to happen just at the corner of some doors or walls Peek-a-boo! you're dead and have to redo all the running and fighting again until you reach the next checkpoint... After 5 years, some checkpoints are just way too far xd
Recommended to get on sale ^-^//
P.S Me and my friend got saved by a Hyena from 4 giant rock (crabs?), that Hyena fought bravely protected us until it died, It didn't have to do so since most creature was hostile but that one fought for us. I couldn't just let it go with me that our hero was nameless, so I named him Barry, Barry the Brave. This Review will be his tombstone and his epitaph reads "Here lies Barry the Brave, the savior of the Ashen's Guardians."

Underrated souls-like game, with a wonderful world, lovely music and voice acting, as well as enjoyable combat.
I'll preface this with I purchased this on Epic first, and have at least triple the play time there. I honestly love this game, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a souls-like game, it's not quite as challenging, or as deep with lore, but it makes up for that with charm, IMO.
The only real complaint I have about this game is the matchmaking for co-op, whomever your partner is basically takes over your in game AI partner, with no name above, or any real indicator there's a person in there aside from them running off to do something aside from being by your side.
If you've been considering trying it, there certainly won't be a better opportunity. You've wasted $10 on much worse, we all know that street meat still haunts your bathroom to this day.

Honestly, this is a great game if you take it for what it is. Yes, the combat is not as refined compared with From Software games. Yes, the devs made the idiotic decision to have this game be a timed exclusive on Epic. However, the game on its own is pretty great. The combat is pretty simplistic, the music and sound design are great, art is gorgeous, story is decent, some of the mechanics are also great, exploration is great and rewarding. Some moments truly made me feel at like I felt in the original Dark Souls. For example: I was deep in a dungeon very low on resources, npc companion dead and kept wandering through the dark corridors trying to find the boss. Then when my need was highest, my companion respawned. I've never been so happy to see an npc in a video game.
TLDR: if you don't compare it with other souls games and judge it as its own thing, you'll discover a great little gem by playing this game. Worth giving a shot.
PS: while I enjoyed the dark dungeons, I did so only because a larger part of the game took place in the open world. The devs nailed this aspect. If they would have added more dungeons and caves, then they wouldn't be as enjoyable. The way they did it though, they didn't overstay their welcome.

8/10
Great For co-op. Not so good for single. Some minor problems, but over all a great game. Well recommended.

I found it quite fun, though it does have it's downsides. Playing solo is not the greatest, playing with a friend is a lot more fun, and quite a bit easier. But getting co-op to work is a bit confusing at first.
The game it self looks good, with a quite unique art style, maybe lacks a bit of character customization, but it's not too necessary. A lot of different weapons, with a lot of different attack animations, so do try every single one you come across to find the one you like the best. Bosses are few and quite far away from each other, but they are fun to fight and not too difficult, me and my friend found it more difficult to get to the bosses, rather than bosses themselves. Stamina is very limited, and fighting and navigating in the dark is annoying, not being able to use a two handed weapon and a lantern was frustrating. The world has some very different looking areas, which makes it more enjoyable to explore. Also it's very nice to see the main base area expand and flourish as you progress through the game.
As a whole, a lot more fun that I had expected, even with it's flaws. I do recommend it.

This is a very fun game with many intricate systems, fun yet challenging combat, and is easy to play. I would recommend the game to anyone even people who don't usually like souls like game. My only complaint is there is a glitch where If your computer runs on 11th gen intel then you won't be able to play the game. It crashes immediately or after a minute. This issue has been present for at least 3 years since 2021 and still has not been fixed. Luckily there are multiple fixes that work to subvert this problem that are very easy and take almost no time. Just look up the fix and spend like five minutes setting it up then enjoy hours of fun.