VN - Unity - Ashes of War [1.22] [CTStudio]

Excellent writing, believable characters, and some actually pretty decent lore. Some of the moments are pretty tense, but since it is a kinetic novel, it's pretty easy to abuse the save system. The emotional beats hit when they need to, and the jokes did land for me. There's a few spelling errors, but what's an F95zone game without typos?

A toast to our boy Allan, at least you died on solid ground.

Narratively speaking, I liked this game. Porn wise, it's not much but what it has to offer is nice. The girls are well designed and have nicely written personalities that mesh well with the setting.

I think it's worth checking on once and awhile for the story alone, as I'm interested in where it's supposed to go. I also appreciate the "bad guys" you meet being realistic in that they'd rather surrender than die like nameless grunts normally do

Pretty good overall quality. It is still in the middle of its rework phase so story and sprites are still subject to change but the current game is pretty good still. I'd recommend letting it steam for a while and go through it once at least rework phase is over. All in all pretty good work a diamond in the rough.

A space opera with a few sex scenes. A really well-written one, though.

This game shows that good execution is the one factor that separates a well-trodden trope from a filthy cliché. Consider this. The story puts you into the boots of a dashing space captain. A captain in crisp military uniform, yet free as the solar wind, upstanding and never having to stoop down to actual moral blackness of piracy, moral greyness of a merc, or the drudgery of a merchant. You have a number of chicks pining for you—of course you have—while you keep them all in your orbit without any real effort, and of course there will be exotic alien-but-still-humanoid chicks popping up for you to bang. And of course the Grand Plot involves some xeno-archaeological dig that probably contains some primordial tech, or some stupid mcguffin shit like that. You will save the galaxy, I can already sense it in the (recycled) air.

Such ludicrously high concentration of... space opera could be an issue. If it was written poorly. That's the thing: it's not. The characters are sympathetic, have their own voices and their banter is fun to read (dialogue comprises basically 99% of the story, with very few lines given to narrator). The jury is obviously still out on this game, but if its quality remains consistent and it sticks the landing, it will become one of the best adult VNs, like top 3 best.

On to the technical aspects. This is the part that leaves me in a somewhat awkward position as a reviewer, because I've initially played v1.19, only to find out that following releases had disabled the combat sub-game, making Ashes into a pure VN. Which is absolutely fine in my book. However, the combat system will supposedly be back after a rework, so I'm gonna touch on the previous implementation a bit. Now, the system this game had had was... a bit on the basic side, but it was still nice to have because of two factors. One, combat itself had at least a bit of depth, so not a waste of players' time. More importantly, the, uh, tactically disadvantaged players had an option to skip it altogether and there was an in-game justification for this option. So as long as the new system remains optional, and does not involve any grind, I'm confident in saying it will be a positive addition to the game.

The rest of the implementation is really solid. It's a VN, and what I've come to expect from a VN (rollback, quick skip, etc) works without a hitch. The game even has some 3D in-engine cutscenes (for the space battle stuff), which adds to the atmosphere. Music, SFX, choreography, the works. All present, all solid.

As you can see, Ashes doesn't give me anything I can really complain about, and its story deserves praise. Petty damn impressive. Five stars.
And I swear, the puns just wrote themselves!

I am not usually one to drop reviews but this game is such a joy. From just the dialogue alone, I have full on gut laughed pretty hard a few times now. After actually playing the current update (1.2) I have to write one as they honestly deserve this. Again this is my first review and it is my honest opinion.

Story: 10/10
In terms of story, this has one of the most well written stories I have had the pleasure to play through in a long while. From the great characters, the scene and pacing of the story, all excellent. There is ACTUAL character development throughout the story (and potentially more with future updates). And not just MC gets the hot girl with no plot going on here! The real highlight is the candor and dialogue not only between the MC and the main girls but even the side characters are all so well written that you cannot help but like them (the XO and ensigns are hilarious)

Gameplay: *8*/10
Unfortunately, it is a VN so besides the choices to make during key events, the dogfighting or ship battles are not available in 1.2. I feel that once I can have excess to that again with the next update I can write a more fair view but for now. The choices in the storyline fit well and does make me feel like there can be future 'routes' incorporated into the story but that also feels somewhat unnecessary currently. Maybe if they decide to change this and or for future development? But just from the VN choices aspect that still carries them far though. It does not disrupt the story but still gives enough weight to make it feels like player choice matters. I look forward to the ship battles at some point.

Art: 10/10
It is just gorgeous. Nothing is too over exaggerated, the girls are hot AF. Its tasteful and consistent with the themes as well as the character portrayals

Overall: 9.5/10
While not a perfect score, that is just because of the current update removing the combat portion for now. Everything else I cannot help but applaud and enjoy. Keep up the awesome work!

Ashes of War features a wide variety of characters with distinct personalities and as of writing this review is trying to make an actual game, not just a visual novel (although the game elements are still very early in development).

So I will focus more on the story and the characters then the gameplay elements:

Overall score: I loved it 10/10
- I will admit that there are times when I just skip the story, either because it is bad or meh, but not this time. From the start, the story got me hooked, and I actually finished everything in one sitting, wanting more. It was pretty straightforward, but what stood out were well written characters that got me wanting more.

Story:
- The story is good, and is as the overview of the game sets it out. War between two factions, rebellion against incompetent military bureaucrats and your adventure begins! While the story itself didn't subvert my expectations or present some surprises, it is solid and provides a good background for the main showstopper of the game, which are the characters inhabiting this universe.

Characters:
- The characters is what captured my attention the most. They are well written, have their own quirks and personalities and they don't feel plastic or two dimensional. I never got a feeling that I could just sum them up in a phrase or a couple of words, and this is what for me at least made this game truly shine.

Conclusion:
- I hope that the creator continues down this route and keeps expanding the game. If there were any additional gameplay elements I think they will eventually blend in very well and provide a necessary pause before you continue exploring the true gem of Ashes of War, the inhabitants pursuing their own agenda, and their interactions with the main case.

Keep up the good work!

Ok, this game is amazing, I'm curious about the characters and the further story, so far we've explored very little of the world, but everything is coherent and waiting for development, I like each of the 4 heroines, along with Xi, but I don't know if she will join our harem, well, the harem is not in the first place only relationships, thanks to which the development of events seems natural, our officers also have characters, I like Aiden, which is a plus because often in this type of games, apart from potential interests, there are no interesting characters, although it would be nice if they gave a separate graphic for Grant, what's more, I am curious about the further story and whether our choices influence it from now on it's my second favorite game on the site after superhuman
PS, sorry for English, it's not my first language

Amazing game, not for porn though

As you can see from the rating, I really like this one. That is down mainly to two reasons:

The Writing
Very nicely written, interesting story with cool characters and jokes that mostly land (as someone having a very tall big sister I feel for poor Ethan). I am honestly more interested in continuing the story than anything else here.

Polish
This does not feel like a one programmer project. The art is great (not sure who made it, sorry), the VFX, damn... This has 3D cut scenes AND THEY LOOK GOOD?!?! The UI is nothing special (it's mostly a visual novel after all) in terms of navigation but here's the thing: It works. I have not seen a single bug or error (looking at half of the Renpy games on this site) - turns out using a real game engine has some advantages. The only part of the game that didn't feel "finished" yet is the space warfare system. I already liked it and played all the battles (despite not having to) but it could use a bit more variety - and behold - it's currently being reworked.

So, about the heading - why not a great game for porn? Well, easy: There so far are very few lewd scenes (looking at Camille belly muscles did things to me I didn't know were possible though). The art itself is good as mentioned but there is no voiceover or anything like that for those scenes and not a lot of different visuals -> This may all change in the future, who knows.

I really appreciate seeing something so high quality here - give it a shot if you don't need to fap but to just enjoy a nice read with some giggles sometimes.

What I would like to see
- As mentioned more variety in the space battles
- Ability to replay scenes (not just CG gallery)
- More Eva. We stan Eva.
- Customization for This is essential for immersion!

Reviewed Version: 1.17

Ashes of War Ch1.17

This game fucks.

While browsing F95, I randomly stumbled upon AoW. And I decided to give it a try since I saw it had both Sci-Fi and Romance tags and can I just say? It blew my expectations straight out of the sky(Or I suppose Space would be more apropos).

Pros:

• The art style is a major pro, managing to encapsulate both subtle and overt expressions.
  • Character design is also a major highlight.
• I know porn games tend to set the bar rather low for characters acting believable but the writing manages to do just that, even the MC is competent(hallelujah!).
  • The bridge banter with the XO & Co is also top-notch.
• The world-building is great, you got corpos using PMCs(Just like Coca-Cola), galactic scale war and even planet/system descriptions reminiscent of Mass Effect.
• Arrogant ace pilot and smol smuggler? Sir, they are my wives right there.
• Soundtrack was also enjoyable.

Cons:

• It's a slight con but the combat elements are a tad barebones(I call it slight because Dev has addressed this).
• Ayo MC dick looking hella sus lmao(jkjkjk).
• Dev referred to themselves as "baguette brained" Thus implying they are Fre*ch, automatically a con(Dear French people, I am joking. Please put down the Assault Baguettes).

Suggestions (if at all possible):

• A character creator for the MC? Obviously, it would be too much work to custom-create the different H-scenes for every combination but the option to have a custom portrait for dialogue would be much appreciated.
• Greater utilization of the Codex, perhaps for character/romance information and chosen choices.
• This is a biggie, but I wish we could have moar choices with consequences.

Okay, with all of that out of the way. I really enjoyed what I've seen so far, obviously, this AVN is still very early in the dev cycle but there is a lot of potential, in the words of Palpatine, I shall watch your career with great interest.

Fantastic Art, nice music and a lot of potential.

This is certainly a game to watch out and support if you're in any way a fan of the Sci-Fi genre. Or just like good anime-style art.

My only gripe so far is there's too litle of it and no replay gallery. Hopefully, new updates will fix both.

Magnificent select of soundtracks, and the art, characters, story, dialogues, plot development and build up is decently well done. I have hopes for this story to maintain its pace so that it does not crumble apart. Everything here has its own charm, for a vn, this novel offers a rich story overall.

Great art. Seriously, really great art.
Cinematics are really nice too.
Story is intesting to read, interactions between NPCs are well written.
Only one s*x scene by LI, but dev warned us : game in progress.
Not really fan of Space Battles, but they are skipable.
Following this game !

Still WIP but this seems like a diamond in the making, characters dynamic is fun to read. Because of the nature of the story I thought it gonna starts slow and will rain us with info dump but it starts up real fast, which I do prefer. Cant wait for more updates and keep it up

So good so far the story is nice, classic pacing really love the charc design i relly love the atmosphere of the spaceship
i ope there is an awsome develop for the charct
will leave it on hold until a major realese of content so i don't burn it

I've got to hand it to them, even though I'm not a big fan of VN's I stuck around for this one. Story's solid, characters are likable, and the H scenes aren't half bad. Hopefully more gets added within a reasonable time frame, but from what I've seen so far I'd recommend.

Man this is a hidden diamond if I ever saw one.
Great art, good H scenes MUSCLE TOMBOYS.
Cool characters and lore, also dialog and personalities sound realisitc, it's surprisingly rare for characters in games here to sound like real ppl but hey, this game does it and it's not often a adult game makes me stop and actualy read so good job, great game so far.

A stylized star empire story where the graphics and art are great, the characters are engaging, and the H scenes are promising. I'm not sure if CTStudio plans additional characters, but they have shown that they can write. While mechanics are alpha stage, I see a lot of promise on many fronts, including gameplay, story, H scenes, and world building. I note that at the time of this review, CTStudio already has plans to expand the combat system and develop further H scenes. While I hope that the developer can incorporate more of the H scenes into the story, the four scenes included at this point do feel a touch forced, but nothing obtuse. Well done!

Excellent art & writing and includes space cutscenes! The humor was funny and not overbearing, love the banter. The writing really impressed me. Excited for more and I think this could become one of the best mature vn's out there.

The story is pretty good, though as stated by the author not exactly branching. The smut and smutty art is very solid too, as is actually just the art in general. The combat is a bit barebones overall, though it's not exactly the focus of the game anyways and it's still in alpha anyways; it's probably the most "meh" part of it in my opinion and it's still interesting.

The characters are great, gib moar chocolate tomboy childhood friend mechanic nao

I had very high hopes for this game, which is not fair, because when it failed to meet them, I just sort of lost interest with each passing scene.

First the good.

- The core gameplay is a pretty well done space tactics simulator. Nothing amazing, but its cute and fun and not a chore to play (props for giving a skip option).
- The artwork is gorgeous. The girls are pretty, and the set pieces and ships are lovingly crafted. I also appreciate that we don't waste development time making a hundred little variations on the same scene, where someone slightly changes their pose or something, this allows the game to be made much quicker, and frankly, is hardly a detriment. Use your imagination a bit guys.

The neutral
- I hate Unity. I fucking hate it so much. It's a buggy mess at the best of times. It was a less buggy mess here, so props for that, but still, the polish is lacking and its in the actual bones of the game.

The bad
- The writing. Unfortunately the game hits my particularly favorite genre, and I will pull no punches when I shit talk its butchering of said genre. And unfortunately, that same tactic mentioned above, where the Dev uses one still pic for the entire scene and just changes the writing, REQUIRES a strong skill at crafting a narrative, otherwise we just have one picture and words dumped on the page.

Writing is very difficult. Movies/books/comics/video games/whatever, all are composed of scenes. Each scene has a job to do. Whether its to develop a character or advance the plot. In a sci-fi or fantasy world, there is another option, worldbuilding. And in an AVN, there's another still, sex scenes. Every scene needs to do at least ONE of those things, good writers can do one or two in a scene while also being entertaining (info dumps versus a dialogue that might explain a concept in an entertaining or funny way). A great writer could do three or sometimes four. It is this efficiency that we like and enjoy in entertainment. Take for example, the Joker's introduction scene in the film, The Dark Knight. We get character development (meet the Joker), we get plot advancement (he basically explains his goal of opposing Batman directly) and its a little funny and very tense (entertaining). It's great writing that feels like a long scene (cause so much is happening), but its only a couple minutes long.

This game has the opposite problem, each and every scene drags on and on, I started out very invested in the story, and pretty soon I couldn't give a shit. The Royalists are bad. Okay, why? And is your side (that you defect from almost instantly) good? What connection does this have to the player? Now find a way to condense that information down to about half the length it currently is and then make it tense, funny or gripping.

I think this game has potential, which is the best I can say about it, for now. And I hope the Dev keeps working and I wish him/her much success in the future.