Of Ash and Steel- A small indie studio’s ambitious Gothic-inspired adventure with survival mechanics, deep skill systems, and a world that refuses to hold your hand.
Of Ash and Steel was developed by a small independent studio and is released by TinyBuild. It draws heavily on old Gothic role-playing games and combines them with current survival features. The studio’s goal was clear: make a world where the player isn’t spoiled and has to learn by doing, exploring, and not giving up. This style, which reminds me of early role-playing games, makes me feel good when I win even small battles.
In most modern RPGs, the main character starts strong. This one, however, casts you as Tristan, a cartographer who is weak, open to attack, and unprepared for the harsh conditions of the Kingdom of the Seven. From the beginning, the world sets the mood: it’s dark, cruel, and full of dangers.
You weren’t picked by the gods or meant to be great; he’s just a normal person, weak and unprepared, learning how to stay alive in a world that is actively trying to kill him. This dedication to an “old-school” approach to game design is clear from the very beginning. At the start, there are no task markers, not much help, and very low stats for you.
This makes the game challenging and encourages you to be patient, think critically, and observe—the core gameplay loop centers on survival mechanics, skill development, and resource management. This ensures that success isn’t just about leveling up, but also about making smart decisions and learning from mistakes. One thing that makes Of Ash and Steel stand out is how well its systems work together.
Combat, making, exploring, and character growth don’t happen in a vacuum; they all affect each other. A poorly made weapon changes the way you fight, injuries you get in battle change your chances of survival, and every choice you make has effects that run through the story.
The world doesn’t care about you at all—you claw your way forward, one rat at a time.
The game takes place in the Kingdom of the Seven, an island that is briefly at peace. Your trip starts when he is sent with a group of knights from the Order of the Seven to map out the island of Greyhaft. Soon, brigands attack the camp, and you are the only one who makes it out alive. He has to deal with political issues, stay alive in dangerous environments, and change from a weak and helpless cartographer into a strong adventurer while he is stuck on an island he doesn’t know.
The story goes through many different groups and guilds. The main story is driven by two main groups, each with its own plot, rewards, and moral consequences. The world and how NPCs act are affected by what you do. In addition to these, there are three guilds: the smugglers, the bounty hunters, and the gravediggers. Each has its own side material, quests, and ways to gain experience and gear.
The dialogue is an important part of the story. You can start a whole new quest or end an old one by making a choice. Some choices can only be made if the character has certain traits, like intelligence or awareness. This adds more depth to the game and makes it more playable.
NPC encounters are often hard to understand, so you need to pay close attention to dialogue to get around the world. The stories are like the Gothic style of the game: subtle, hard, and sometimes harsh, but rewarding for those ready to give them their full attention.
There are many links between things in the world. Stories about the environment, hidden treasures, and lore can be found in abandoned towns, mines, forests, swamps, and underwater caves. Even though the first few hours are hard, sticking with it pays off with important discoveries that clarify both the game and the story.
You’re not one of the picked. You’re a random dude who puked right at the start of the game.
Survival and player choice are very important in Of Ash and Steel. In the beginning, you have to find items, make things, and learn how the game works while avoiding enemies that can kill you in seconds. Managing your stamina, your fighting skills, and the dangers around you all add to the high-stakes feel.
To stay alive, you must cook food, deal with hunger, heal injuries, and set up temporary camps. These are the survival features that affect every choice made in the game. Three skill trees determine how far a character can go: survival, crafting, and war.
Craftsmanship includes blacksmithing, alchemy, lockpicking, and even pickpocketing; survival includes camping, cooking, and archery; and war improves fighting skills through melee damage, special attacks, and stances. To get these skills, you usually have to pay gold, find teachers, and meet certain stat standards. Strength, dexterity, stamina, insight, and fortitude are some of the traits that affect how well you fight, how well you survive, and how well you can make.
Exploration is a classic activity that is both fun and hard. You don’t get much help or a map at the start, so they have to remember locations and task instructions. The island has both safe areas and high-risk areas where animals and thieves can quickly kill you. This makes it even more important to plan and strategize carefully. Mini-games like fist-fighting contests, side quests, and hidden items add depth and encourage you to look everywhere.
Crafting is precise and has an effect. You can forge, improve, and specialize weapons, armor, and tools, which often gives them real benefits over store-bought gear. This method rewards you for putting in time and effort, which adds to the game’s survival-based theme.
There are three useful skill types: basic survival, craft, and war.
The fighting in Of Ash and Steel is planned out and harsh. To hit, block, and dodge, you must keep their stamina up, and they can choose from three stances: quick, balanced, and power. Because different weapons have different needs and uses, fighting is a careful balance of gear, skills, and attributes.
Targeting isn’t always accurate, and the AI can be annoying at times, letting enemies get away or exploiting the player’s weaknesses. But meetings can still be tense and rewarding if you plan how to approach them. There is a detailed method for injuries that goes along with combat.
Your abilities are limited until he gets medical help for serious injuries. Minor cuts slow him down. This promotes planning and punishes acting without thinking. Environmental dangers like mud holes, hills, and large animals that pose a threat to humans make the survival-combat mix even more intense.
Early fighting is hard, so you need to level up, improve their skills, and upgrade their gear before they can face stronger enemies. You get XP by finishing quests, beating enemies, and getting better at skills. You get better as he goes along, which makes each victory more important and reinforces the feeling of growth that comes from working hard.
Puzzle-solving and interacting with the surroundings are also big parts of the game. For some tasks, you need to look around, pay attention, and explore. There aren’t any standard puzzles in the game, but finding your way around the world, making useful tools, and finding mentors are all problem-solving activities that are mixed in with combat and survival.
Everything pushes you to build a character that feels functional instead of pre-designed.
Of Ash and Steel looks good for an independent game. The character models and settings are realistic enough to feel like you’re in the Middle Ages, but the animations and lip sync are sometimes stiff. The world design includes woods, swamps, beaches, and ruins, among other biomes.
However, some wilderness areas can feel empty and repetitive. The care that goes into telling stories about the world helps to make up for this, so exploration still feels like a good thing to do. Lighting and sound effects help you feel like you’re really in the scene, especially at night or in dangerous places like mines or swamps.
The graphics don’t do anything new, but they work with the game’s ideas and mechanics. The visual development of armor and weapons makes it feel like you’re really growing and accomplishing things.
The sound concept works, but it’s not perfect. The voice acting is fine, but NPC lines sometimes overlap or are too loud. The music is fine; it has epic sounds that try to make tense moments more intense, but the slower pace of battle sometimes doesn’t work well with them. The sounds of the environment, like leaves rustling and big enemies coming closer, help you feel more immersed and warn you of danger, which adds to the stress of the survival game.
The music and sound effects are good enough for gameplay, but not as polished as in RPGs with bigger budgets.
Of Ash and Steel is a big, old-school RPG that pays you for being patient, paying attention, and planning. It’s hard and fun to play because of the survival rules, the way the skill trees are connected, and the amount of exploration. There are some technical problems with the game, like stiff animations, strange sounds, and sometimes annoying AI, but the depth of the gameplay and sense of earned growth make it worth playing.
People who like RPGs with a Gothic style, hard worlds, and slow, steady character growth will really enjoy this. The game can feel punishing and confusing to people who want instant satisfaction, polished tutorials, or to be held their hand the whole time. Even so, once you get past the learning curve, the game’s focus on player-driven progression and interconnected systems makes for a fun and memorable journey.
Of Ash and Steel isn’t for everyone, but for those who are ready to take on its tasks, it’s a unique, deep RPG that feels both old and new.
