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- Stardock
- Stardock
- Stardock
- Stardock
Ashes of the Singularity
Released On: Oct 22, 2015
69
6.8
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
69
28% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
64% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
69
28% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
64% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Ashes of the Singularity has limited depth in some aspects, but as an RTS experience, and particularly as a first showing for its Oxide Engine foundation, it is absolutely stellar.
As it is now, Ashes of the Singularity is a solid RTS game that will only get better with age. The game delivers large scale battles but falls a bit short in the personality department.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 91 User Ratings
6.8
57% Positive
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
14% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
29% Negative
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 91 User Ratings
6.8
57% Positive
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
14% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
29% Negative
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
please excuse my bad english. It's not my native language:
The game is completly playable in english and german. For my opinion, Ashes of the Singularity is one of the best RTS Games of the last years. It has no max. Unit Limit, you can fight with tens of thousands Units on Screen! I've seen a YouTube Video with more than 6000 Units on Screen. THATS MASSIVE AND IMPRESSIVE! It has a fully DirectX12 support and it Looks very beautiful(!) with it's genius explosions and has awesome light effects. The Units are very detailed and you can extremely zoom in and zoom out too see all the animations and Details of your Units. Zoom far out to Control thousands of Units. The game might me ABSOLUTLY addicted!! It's in a Sci-Fi Setting like Starcraft and Supreme Commander.
You have 4 ressources to build your Buildings and Units, Upgrade them and extend your current unit Limit so far you want (and dependend of your ressources). The Campaign is good, makes fun, has a lot of variety missions, the Story is okay but sure no Hollywood Epos. But thats okay. The game itself is extremely good and you will not to regret your buy! Until now the Campaign were release as Episode 1. But you have already a lot of hours with good gameplay. It helps you to prepare for multiplayer in introduce in the game mechanics. Currently the Story has a great into Video and some cool cutscenes, but the biggest part is currently driven by dialogue Windows. It's okay but could be better. The Developers has promised and said we will get next month the "Deluxe Campaign" for free, That means, the dialogue Windows will replaced by professional voice recordings :)
Actually you can play 1vs1, 2vs2 and 3vs3 on multiplayer on free Play. The Game has also 1vs1 ranked multiplayer. You can Play every friday for two hours with the devs online. They are very Close to their community, they have a open ear for your wishes and critics on steam discussions and their own forum and they use the friday Events for improving the game. It's a very great Community between devs and Players. I recommend you to buy the game or you will miss something!
There are so much more reasons to buy but i Need to Play Ashes now again.. i'm so addicted to the game :D BUY! BUY! BUY! If you like Real Time Strategy and Massive Action with thousands of units by best graphics, you will love the game!
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PC
Let me open this review by stating that this game is NOT Supreme Commander (all iterations of it included). It might share some of it's looks and scale, but it is far from it. Before moving on with the review, it is good to keep an open mind that this game is different from any recent RTS'es that have come out. Different in a good way.
At first i thought it needed a couple of months more of development before an actual release. It felt a bit lacking in polish in some aspects that i would expect to see in a modern RTS title. Seeing however the speed and dedication the developers put into these constant updates post launch (upon this review we are at 1.1), i have to retract my initial thoughts and say that these guys know what they're doing.
Support them for they are an awesome company.
Diving into the game, i found that this is a great game. A great, well-balanced, solid RTS game that will NOT be for everyone. Especially those who are do not like learning curves.
It may share similarities to many well known RTS's like Supreme Commander FA and Supreme Commander 2, but still manages to be its own game by introducing unique mechanics that feel fresh. Again, it may look like Supcom, but it plays very differently.
It's quite difficult to go into detail, because this is the first MACRO focused real-time strategy game out there in the wild. It focuses on the larger aspect of battles - aka wars - rather than micro managing units to win short skirmishes. Supreme commander is a big game too, however this game features units that behave according to their squad type, size, and overall composition. In this game, masses of units will move and fight accordingly in proper formation. When i say that armies go easily into the hundreds.
This is an important aspect of the game that can either be good or bad depending on your expectations. Not to mention that your mileage on these experiences will vary depending on your history of RTS's played. This game is no Supreme Commander FA, no Starcraft, no Company of Heroes. It is it's own - and by experience i can say that this game pulls it off well.
One of the best things about this game that is worth admiration is the development team behind it.
As I've mentioned above, they provide CONSTANT updates and TRANSPARENCY on thepath the game will be taking in the coming weeks and even as far as months. The developers show that they have the best intentions for the customers and as such they are active in the forums. That alone earns "Three thumbs Up" in my book. (I had to grow another thumb, lol)
Why does this deserve such praise? Simple. Many RTS's and even the newer batches, (I'm talking about you, Deserts of Kharak!) seem to run away with your hard earned money and purposely ignore the requests on their forums.
Another thing that makes this game awesome? The AI. That glorious AI.
So, what about it? It's brilliant, in the literal and figurative sense. It works magnificently and will adapt well with whatever you throw at it. You will get pummeled at NORMAL difficulty at first... or forever depending on how good you are at adapting. That is a pleasure no other modern RTS's can even hope of coming close to.
In summary, for anyone looking for a challenge, massive wars, and a fresh approach to the lacking RTS genre, this game is the perfect package for you.
Again, a word of warning; you will lose against a NORMAL AI that doesn't cheat. It is by far the best AI i have ever seen in a strategy game (aside from the latest iterations of Sorian AI). So come - and be baptized! ;)
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PC
Ashes of the Singularity is an RTS that dares to do things differently and mostly succeeds. Spectacular, yet deep and interesting, the experience is only marred by a subpar single-player campaign and some quibbles in the user interface.
A rock-solid RTS with mass battles, but only for fans of multiplayer and skirmish. The campaign turns out to be a sad affair.
There’s no time to bother with tactics and individual units when entire armies are dishing it out: you have to keep your control points, expand your production capacity and methodically push back enemy. Warring sides are well-balanced, but that’s because they’re more or less mirror images of each other. Some diversity is brought only by upgrades and commander’s abilities like calling nuclear strikes or teleporting entire divisions. [Issue#209, p.62]
Ashes of the Singularity is a game for veterans, people who love real time strategies and tend to improve their tactics over and over again. It's similar to Supreme Commander and offers a reasonable amount of fun but it won't be as popular. All the positive feedback comes from multiplayer - the single player is flawed and quite boring. All in all the game feels unfinished.
As it stands, Ashes of the Singularity feels like little more than a tech demo of Stardock's new Oxide engine.
I've been playing since the beta, and it's been a blast! I mainly focus on the skirmish battles, and I have to say, the combinations of the AI, graphics, and the sheer SCALE of the battles is insane!
I've played lots of RTS'... StarCraft, Warcraft, Wargames, SupCom, etc.. and even compared to those, this game is phenomenal. The best part? The devs are actually active, and actually care. There aren't many games who do that any more.
Beautiful graphics, multi gpu support, directx 12, supports TONS of resolutions - including 5k!!!, huge battles, smooth performance ... it's absolutely amazing. I can see myself playing this for years. Can't wait for the extra content.
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PC
Ashes of Singularity looks good - so let that stand as a very positive point to start with. The scaling and modelling is spot on - and you get a sense of size, gravity and mass.
But then - what does it bring to the table that other - older games - have not brought up?
I have to compare it to Supreme Commander (Forged Alliance for that matter, not the dreadful SC 2) - which is comparable in terms of scaling and size - but focuses more on mass battles and strategy than tactics.
Ashes has a fairly limited/small selection of units - however the dreadnoughts can level up - and actually gain skills. Then there are global upgrades for armor, health etc. (options unavailable in SC) - SC however offers a LOT more unit variety ... and a MUCH greater scale in terms of weapon range.
Ashes is squad based - sort of... it does allow and kind of encourages the classic mass rush tactic (against which the AI has nothing to offer...) - but especially the encounter scale is very close range and personal.
Tactics-wise.... it is a barren wasteland in my opinion. Your units close into combat range and fight it out. In Supreme Commander - weapon range, speed and agility - as well as micromanagement on a large scale is much more important - and winning a battle "feels" much more like a personal achievement.
The units themselves are rather uninspired when it comes to capabilities. You get your standard scout, your tank and your anti-air, your air superiority fighter and your bomber - and then you get the cruisers and dreadnoughts that are more unique - but mostly just stronger.
The factions are asymetric but feel balanced - which is a big plus - but even that cannot compare to the likes of Supreme Commander or Star Craft. In a way - it does not even compare to the ancient C&C.
All in all - it is a fun game ... but it cannot surpass its (much older) competitors. (and games like SC:FA aged very well in terms of graphics)
In its current state - it is very similar to Homeworld: Desert of Kharak (or whatever its name was) - pretty, technically well done, not a huge leap in combat AI but passable - and waaay too generic when it comes to faction variety and units.
final word: slightly above average due to very nice visuals - but mediocre core gameplay
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PC
This game suffers from the same thing as the new Starwars movie "Force Awakens". It is another generic, shallow, RTS, reboot in a galaxy far far away that we've already seen in the 70s. Only in our case the 1970s is the 1990s. We've seen the same plot, same characters and same story. We've seen the whole thing done better and the bottom line everything in Ashes with the single exception of DX12, we've seen before.
Just like the new movie, Ashes of the Singularity is flashy, and it is all lasers and wiz bang without really satisfying any whys or hows. Yes you take territory and you gain resources, but you don't do so strategically you do so tactically. The only strategy that works is larger numbers of units overwhelming smaller numbers of units or higher tiered units having the durability to cut through swarms of smaller units.
Also note there is no water combat. Not a major thing but most other RTS games based on planets have water/land and air but evidently the planets that these battles take place on don't take place anywhere the form of matter necessary for life to exist. Just like the new clones they must be "using the force" at **** to suspend your disbelief at just how lacking an RTS can be.
The thing Starcraft (SC) has going for it is tight matchups between units and twitchy gameplay where micro a handful of units can mean defeat or victory. Matches in SC are typically fast because of this mechanic and it works good. Even the longer matches where two players of even skill, or even mistake making are satisfying. The SC reboot also did what Force Awakens did for better or worse. It didn't reinvent the genre. It kept the game play tightly similar to the original.
The thing Forged Alliance Forever (FAF) has are two refined RTS innovations missing in Ashes. FAF relies on a strong balance respecting the effectiveness of the micro and the necessity of the managing your macro. In SC strong micro can mean the difference in outcome of the game. In FAF it can mean the outcome in the battle but you need to win a successive number of battles before it will mean the outcome of the game. This is called refinement and this is lacking in Ashes. While FAF indeed did not launch in its current state but, as Supreme Commander, with a clunky interface and only 3 races. Each race was very different, had different tiers in which they were superior or inferior and the micro vs macro concept was there. Ashes has tiers and it has 2 races, but they are largely the same without anything to distinguish them from the other. In fact another core problem with Ashes is it is hard to while in battle distinguish without constantly moving to select to see who is who. The biggest innovation in RTS since 2005 was the advent of Strategic zoom which allows for very large maps as well as very large battles. SC doesn't come close to FAF when it comes to scope. Ashes only meets FAF at the strategic level by only showing you 1/5 of the battle at once, while also not having the right tools to properly organize or manage forces. Sins of a Solar Empire (Sins) has Strategic zoom and also a good Icon UI system for managing forces. While Sins plays slow like a space opera and FAF plays much faster, Ashes is also painfully slow so lack of tools can be forgiven. What can't be forgiven is how slow the units in Ashes move, and the fact there is no "transport" or teleport of units to the front line. One could point to air units but they are so pathetic as to be essentially meaningless for the cost.
The other really big feature of FAF is unit wrecks. Everything vaporizes in Ashes. In FAF you can "reclaim" salvage mass on the battlefield. Which create dynamically important locations to hold both tactically and strategically as well as a potential bonus for the victor in battle. Completely missing in Ashes. All "strategic objectives" are pre-positioned and don't change with a changing condition of the battle. They only change when the front line changes. What changes the front line? Without variation it is always more units x>y type number game.
The only problems of early rushing exists in Ashes but this isn't a main criticism of the game. The main criticism has to be the lack of polish at all levels.
The sound effects which are annoying to the point you need to turn the sound down, to the "voice overs when you direct units which sound like every single one was recorded though a rusted 30 ft long lead pipe its just not good.
On the plus side
The landscapes are good.
The soundtrack is well somewhat inspiring but not epic.
Visuals are great if you like shimmering lasers and colorful explosions that dissipate quickly.
As far as RTS, strategy, tactics, 2 race matchups in RTS where you have a limited view of the battle zone and slow units make for a regression in the genre not an advancement. While the engine may be impressive the game and thereby game play built around that engine is far from impressive.
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PC
This game is officially out, but it still feels unfinished. They spent all that time polishing the engine, but everything else was abandoned half-way. You can’t rebind the controls. There is absolutely no voice overs in game for the campaign, which by the way is only “Episode 1”. Mechanics are strewn about still needing work.
For example, the Army system is a very good idea, but is completely unwieldy. Try assigning multiple dreadnoughts to an army and the thing falls apart. Form an army out of a long stream of units and the ones that are about to take the objective will retreat to some centre of gravity. Still haven’t figure out a good way to detach just a few units.
The mini-map shows an utter contempt for your desire to have situational awareness. Is that coloured blob territory held? A swarm of factory units? A colossal rush of dreadnought? No idea! Now in supreme commander you could just tactical zoom and look at the icons, but if that’s a feature it’s never been explained.
The campaign is just "Episode 1". All the missions that aren’t tutorials are basically just a skirmish with some wonky starting conditions. The plot basically starts from nowhere and goes nowhere. None of the character have anything approaching personality, and even if they did, it’d be hampered by the fact they can only communicate by texting you in the midst of battle. The mission difficulty is either laughably easy or face smashingly hard. No, you can’t choose a game difficulty, that wasn’t in it.
All of this was sacrificed for the graphics, which I admit are pretty, but utterly wasted. In Supreme Commander you got a good sense of scale. People know roughly how big a tank, a destroyer or a battleship are. So when you see that giant mechanical spider stomping a tank, you instantly think “Damn, that’s a big unit!”. Ashes’s units are all some weird sci-fi thingy that’s so disconnected from our experience that scale becomes meaningless. I’m sure that dreadnought is big, but I don’t feel it in any meaningful way. It might as well be dots and blobs.
I don’t recommend this game. If you want an epic strategy fix just go replay Supreme Commander. The list of things Supreme Commander had that Ashes of the Singularity doesn’t would easily be as long as this review is.
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PC
Summary Humanity long ago shed its mortal skin and developed into beings of pure consciousness. But the Singularity is a thing of the past and the very future of human existence is being threatened. Though the post-humans wield godlike power, they find themselves at war for domination of not just the Milky Way but all galaxies with Haalee, the s...
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Oct 22, 2015
Developer:
- Oxide Games
Publisher: Stardock
Genres:
