Ashen

Ashen could mean:

Ashen (2004 video game)

Ashen is a supernatural horror-themed FPS developed exclusively for the N-Gage platform by Torus Games and published by Nokia on May 25, 2004.

Story

When Seven River City is plunged into chaos, stricken by storms and overcome with supernatural phenomena, Jacob Ward is filled with dread and despair, like most others. Yet Jacob knows more about this catastrophe than most, and as its citizens flee, he must return to Seven River City and work to save it. Somewhere in that half-ruined darkness is his sister, a woman Jacob believes is responsible for this disaster; a woman who warned him this would happen…

Features

Ashen (upcoming video game)

Ashen is an upcoming action role-playing video game in developement by Aurora 44 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.

Title

The title 'Ashen' refers to the ashes that are the cause of the life on the planet because of their magical 'properties', these 'properties' are yet to be revealed as to how they came to be and what they are.

Development history

Before starting to work on Ashen the development team was originally working at Weta Digital on movies like The Hobbit. "One day we got together and pitched game ideas at each other. It's a simple story, but that's how it all started." says Derek Bradley, co-CEO of the company.

Initial publicity material for the game was released mid 2014. Ashen was revealed as an Xbox console exclusive (the game will also release on PC) at an Xbox media event at E3 2015; the game was developed by Aurora 44 under the ID@Xbox independent developer program.

Initially released design elements of the game included survivalist elements (such as thirst), and elemental effects, such as wind as a help or hindrance. The worlds geography and ecosystems were intended to be realistically modelled, to play into intelligent play styles within survival mechanisms; additionally natural geography was intended to be based on an underlying geology. One in world game element is a 'enemy' known as the "Gnaw", which has the ability to erode the environment "like a searing acid". Much of the background, setting, and feel of the world was influenced by Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road. Combat was described as similar to the Souls series, being high risk, with stamina being a major factor in combat.