Ashes 2063's vision of a post-apocalyptic action/RPG Doom II fully realized. This one really benefits from all of the groundwork set by the (already quite good) original. Afterglow takes everything good about Ashes 2063 and blows it up to insane scale. From a 2-3 hour linear Doom-like to a sprawling, 10~ hour light RPG with sprawling massive explorable hubs, side quests, dialog choices, a weapon upgrade and crafting system that has your arsenal evolving as the game goes on, literal moral choices where which factions you pick in the world's conflicts determines how the story goes.

Ashes: Afterglow is structured around two massive hubs that you'll spend about 3-5 hours in each, depending on how much of the side stuff you end up doing. In each hub you'll have a main town full of NPCs to talk to, shops to partake in, side quests, etc.. Each town will give you missions that pull you out into the wider, open hub area which you'll explore either on foot or via your trusty bike (depending on area). The size of these areas gives meaning to the bike. No longer a cinematic traversal element tying together story beats like in the first game; it's a necessary traversal tool for the open wastes in Afterglow. The size of the world also gives meaning to the radiation system in the game, with some outdoor areas being especially hazardous requiring the player to strategically hop from safe building to safe building to minimize exposure to hazardous nuclear radiation.

Every idea from the first Ashes is expanded on and executed to a sheen of perfection. And it carries over all of the strengths: the wonderfully atmospheric art and sound, the powerful and satisfying arsenal, the Doom engine's classic speed.

It's an incredible game. The best Doom TC mod you'll ever play. Insanely enough, one of the best games I'll have played all year. An incredible "retro shooter" that stands up with the best of the genre.

Sequel to Ashes: 2063 which is a tad better and more planned out than the previous entry. You can kind of tell the devs got more of a feel of the mechanics of that game, and what's also very distinguishing is how the levels are these big open hubs as opposed to the linear Doom levels of the first game. Probably has more in common with something like Strife, and it also greatly expands the mechanics so there's way more in terms of player choice and dialogue and where your actions do wind up having consequences. On my first playthrough, I got an ending where I just made everyone's life miserable because I didn't intervene, and was just kind of focused on my own survival more than anything else. That was kind of surprising and I just stared at my monitor like "Oh my god, I really did screw everything up." and just laughed at how bleak everything got. Oh yeah, also there's alternate endings that depend on what your character does throughout.

I got so immersed in this game it was unbelievable, and I think that is kind of what sets it apart from the first game, and it's also surprisingly a whole lot longer. Is probably about as long as something like Deus Ex or Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and does have a similar sort of feel of both of these games. Like most of what you can experience can be done on a first playthrough, and I like how this is one of those games where you can seemingly kill anyone who comes across your path. Well, most people anyway. I once stormed a compound in this and murdered dozens of people to get my motorcycle back, and in my bloodlust I wound up just murdering a guy who was actually like "Woah, hey, easy, don't do that man." before I blasted his face with two whole barrels of buckshot. Does have one of those feelings where it reflects back on your choices, but with that it also creates interesting stories.

Rest of this game has a really good atmosphere because a lot of it is just outright a survival horror game where your character witnesses a bunch of strange and inexplicable events, and cannibals constantly chasing after you shouting things like "Headchess.", "I'll have his liver" and "EAT HIS FLESH!", or where you explore dark caverns wondering if you should equip an assault rifle or a lantern with a revolver/crossbar in the other hand. Opening bit of this game essentially has your character waking up in this abandoned mineshaft and where you just try to get your way out, but then the rest of this game bounces a lot between the relentless action of the first game and these moments which are just downright creepy in nature.

Oh, also the junk in this game is used both as currency but also something where you can craft weapon mods such as turning your double barrel shotgun into a triple barrel shotgun, or a revolver which one hit kills people, or a sniper rifle where you can charge up your shots to be super powerful and essentially one-hit kill any of the bigger enemies and penetrate through hoards of other enemies as well. Weapons in this do have a feeling where they do substantial damage, and all feel viscerally satisfying to use with their sound design and just the impact they have on folk. Fighting away hoards of cannibals by systematically tearing away at them with a crowbar never got old for me.