![]() ![]() Meanwhile Ashes has much better spirework for the enemies and NPCs (though from what I recall many of the sprites are taken from Strife), while Hedon characters and enemies look weird - not necessarily bad but they lack the "chunkiness" of Doom sprites. I think only the guys making Trenchfoot come close (and at certain points even surpass Zan in that regard). Assets in Ashes look serviceable, you can tell what they're supposed to represent, but the scale is off they lack details. Zan is much better at making the maps look better aesthetically, as well as handling the soundscape. I remember how much fun I had completing the magic ritual in the first map, mining and crafting my own ammo in the forge level, even though I didn't really need it, or reading about two soldiers having a fight over an item in another level and it flying out the window, only for you to find it if you decide to look for it.īoth seem to be aiming for a similar goal, creating believable levels with high interactivity reminiscent of Build-Engine games, Zan just takes it a step further and crosses over into immersive sim territory, which is something I very much approve of and wish they both pushed even further in their future projects. Ashes has facets of this as well in certain places, but not to the degree Hedon does with the various "side quest", readables et al. I think Zan's real strength is the unique spin he gives to each map. Then again, I don't usually judge FPS games by bosses, since few ever manage to make something that isn't a glorified puzzle or an ammo dump. Also Afterglow has hotter demon babes without dicks, that's a plus.Īshes 2063 endboss was also underwhelming, just a big bullet-sponge with a quick firing hitscan weapon. ![]() I may respect the amount of effort put into it, but most of it is an annoyance, not blood-pumping action.Īs usual, less is more. Juggling a completely bloated inventory to activate that or this at the right moment. Micro-levels that break the different phases (the Demon World is a shitheap of bad design, by chrissakes, I truly needed to break a boss fight with a button search session while fighting the most annoying enemies in the game). You know what you need to do, it doesn't interrupt the flow of the last level, and it's a fitting crescendo.īloodrite's final fight is a mess. ![]() let's compare the end fights of Afterglow and Bloodrite: Afterglow has a steady and satisfying two-phase battle in a simple yet efficient arena, killer soundtrack and clear patterns. I respect Zan for the skills and effort he puts into it, but. Hedon's is for sure impressive, but the combat loop became devastatingly stale and the last levels of Bloodrite are an annoying slog to march through, while Afterglow keeps the ideas and balance running straight towards the end. I'm not entirely sure the styles blend together: Ashes has become something of a team effort - if I'm not wrong, Dead Man Walking author ReformedJoe helped quite a bit.
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