Full credit to Isaka for putting this on my radar

Easy to forget that you’re playing a Doom total conversion when you start Ashes for the first time, feeling much more like a lost Build-engine shooter that picked up the slack as a tribute to every piece of post-apocalyptic fiction from the last half-century. Doubly impressive given the ever-increasing scope of the episodes, going from a more familiar linear adventure in 2063 and Dead Man Walking, to the interconnected levels and increased narrative focus of Afterglow. I want to say from the outset that I lean heavily towards the design of 2063 and Dead Man Walking, but if you’ve been starving for something like this, a guided tour through the ruins of a dead world, something to carry the torch where Half-Life or the Metro series left off- then I can’t recommend the Enriched Edition highly enough.

So, I think what pushes those earlier episodes over the edge for me is the sense the developers really knew their own game, introducing new enemies, weapons, and level gimmicks to fill out the combat sandbox, and then closing out right as things are starting to get familiar. The two enemy factions, raiders and mutants, are alternated between regularly enough that the game has a really nice blend between tactical shootouts and more traditional-feeling encounters as you circle strafe around hordes of ravenous enemies to try and set-up some infighting. Dead Man Walking is in an especially good place, free to play around with all the pieces without having to worry about tutorializing any of the elements, and throws you into a starting level filled with ambushes and fights featuring the entirety of the enemy roster. Rarely felt the need to use stealth most of the time, but a few sequences here had me down to such a paltry amount of resources that I started to gain appreciation for a system that initially felt kind of vestigial.

This applies to the game more broadly as well, as combat is greatly complimented by the persistent ammo scarcity. I imagine something like the nuances between your revolver and glock would get drowned out in other games, but get down to your last few shots, and details like the rate-of-fire of one or the damage of the other suddenly end up being vital considerations. (Like, the fact that your starting pistol still has value well into the later levels should be a testament to strong balance here.) Used to great effect whenever you’re deep into mutant territory, as they never drop ammo the way human opponents do, so the game is able to really naturally lead-in to these survival-horror sections without having to contrive some way of putting you edge.

All that is to say: these are episodes that do a lot in their short runtime, though I imagine that the real pull here is going to be Afterglow, which dramatically expands the scope of the action. Hard not to be impressed by the new features, with a weapon upgrade system, interconnected levels, and a story that now features Choice™ and Consequences™ (ending slides my beloved), but it seems to have come at the cost of its fundamentals. Never felt like combat dragged on in the prior episodes, but here, thanks to a variety of factors, found it much more draining,

Some of this is due to the enemy design- the game focuses a lot more on fighting mutants, and while there are a couple of appreciated inclusions to help fill out the faction, such as one with a riot shield and shotgun, fighting four or so enemy types for long stretches starts to wear out its welcome in ways the prior episodes never did. Raiders are absent for long stretches of the game, and so you lose out on those great tactical moments that came with fights against them. It’s especially felt in a mid-game stretch where you just fight hordes of them for levels at a time, their limitations as an enemy force becoming more felt with each fight.

Had Hotpocket’s mantra of “every game needs an Archville'' echoing throughout these encounters, and while something like that would be a great shot in the arm, it was a thought that also made me aware of how situational most of the new enemies are: acid-spewing mutated plants and crazed scavengers used more to add some flavor to whatever environments you’re exploring than as some new integral piece of the combat sandbox. The upgrade system rears its head here as well, throwing the balance off its axis to the point of replicating Doom 2016’s Gauss rifle- flattening much of the encounter design with a one-hit kill equalizer.

Encounters also hurt by some strange choices in its level design; there are a couple of big shootouts that should be some of Afterglow’s best moments, like one on the ruins of a rock festival or an ambush in an old laser tag course, but they’re undercut by the fact that each arena also includes a bit of space you can just hide out in and wait for enemies to come to you. Maybe your honor will propel you forward but it’s still strange that being dropped into an arena, which should fundamentally avoid having to deal with the “Door Problem,” that still makes hiding in a corner viable. There are certainly some ambushes that work, but there was a much more consistent feeling of having exploited the game- something that wasn’t present in any of the earlier episodes. I don't know if it's the tradeoff for the scope, exactly, but I have to imagine there was a shift in priorities between the earlier episodes and Afterglow; where the combat might falter, there’s a much greater emphasis on its narrative and the interactions with hubs full of NPCs. If you’re at all versed with post-apocalyptic fiction, it’s definitely a case of it playing the hits, rather than presenting something totally new, but I’m still floored by the ambition here.

So, even for all my problems with Afterglow, it and the Enriched Edition as a whole ended up being one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. It’s been a long time since I was this eager to find out what was going to happen next in a game; taken altogether, it’s exactly the kind of wild swing I’m always exciting to see. Anyway, it’s free- I’d highly encourage you to give it a try. Seems like a game ready to be loved.

For a free game, I really shouldn't complain too much, but I wish I enjoyed Ashes: 2063 more.

I found the motorcycle parts almost entirely pointless as there wasn't much to do (aside from very brief, infrequent stops) and some of the level design was convoluted to me, especially anything in sewers or tunnels. The gameplay is pretty classic Doom stuff, I enjoyed that a bit, but with levels too long and confusing, I just eventually got sick of it.

There's a good deal of work put in here, with things like nice visuals, jokes, even a bit of light roleplaying with conversation options (though I found these parts to be absolute killers of pace).

If you like really GZDoom stuff, I'd say check this one out, it's free and you can get a standalone download on ModDB. It's probably not for most people, though.