After making my buff lady avatar, as I do so often, I was welcomed with a look into the lore that the world of Ashen is built upon. I won’t delve too deep into this as I feel discovering the world for yourself will be part of the enjoyment. Essentially you are living in the world born anew, bathed again in the light of the Ashen, a creature of light. Through an opening cutscene you will be introduced to the races that lived through the ages of light and darkness before you. Unfortunately some of these denizens would take the Ashen for themselves and doom the world to darkness again.

This is where your rag tag team of wanderers will come into the story, looking instead to help the Ashen flourish and for the age of light to continue. At its core the game is about building relationships with the other lost souls such as yourself to create a sanctuary for you to thrive within. NPCs litter the world who can become companions or can be brought back to your fledgling township that, in the section I played, had a few earnest tents, campfires and positive thoughts keeping it all together—but more on that later.