Others - Finding Color in the Ashes [Alpha v2.11] [MooncatcherStudios]

Review for alpha version 2.11

It's a medieval fantasy innkeeper simulator resource management game with occasional turn based combat.

First, the gameplay.
The game follows a calendar and you have limited actions per day. There are seasons, weather events, and so forth. It's not an extraordinarily difficult game, but you can absolutely feel the time pressure. You have to stockpile wood, food and so forth, while at the same time investing time and money into equipment and stats, while also trying to repair the inn.
Enemy encounters happen randomly on expeditions. In combat you roll dice and pick the highest numbers. You can sacrifice mana or stamina for extra dice. There is a skill that unlocks "crits" for when you roll doubles. There are a few different build paths, but you'll max out all the stats and unlock all the skills sooner or later.
Up until here I'd say this is all good.

Every now and you come across special events where you meet a new npc, but it is not obvious how to trigger these encounters and I think you can miss recruitable npcs if you are too slow at repairing the inn. Sometimes it is not clear what you have to do. For example, I found the research tower very confusing. I never figured out how to get "heart wood notes" or "heart tree notes" for the dryad. You can also easily miss the option for interacting with companion characters, since it only shows up if you refuse all customers for the day, which you wouldn't normally do.
If you mess up, there is no way to go back. There is no manual saving and no options menu. You can only load autosave states, the game saves automatically at the end of each day, with a maximum of 3 save states, so you can only go back 3 days at most and starting over will quickly overwrite your old playthrough.
Although this is a fantasy harem type of game, the porn is not the main content. There is no voice acting. The art and animations are alright, I barely even cared that it is mostly all in black and white and I also don't mind that it is vanilla content. However unlocking it takes a long time. Once you have seen all of Lucy's scenes during the summer season, it takes like an hour of gameplay before you come across more. Unlocking further scenes requires grinding.

I think the characters are interesting, the fantasy world is intriguing, the porn is okay and the resource management adequately challenging, but there are some huge flaws, so I can't give it more than 3-4 stars.

Great game with super nice artstyle and cozy atmosphere. I also like the writing which is often on point and written in a pretty mature way. If you are like me and tired of impossible body proportions and senseless storytelling I would really recommend this game. I would love to see more.

A charming, cozy game. The characters are charming, there's an actual sense of progression and the process of learning what to prioritize and how to go about the day-to-day business of running the inn is engaging (and also mirrors the protagonist's experience of slowly learning how to manage it).

My only (very tiny) gripes are having to click through repetitive dialogue, and initially the dice system (where you have to put your own dice in the empty slot) is not super intuitive.

Also the process by which the secondary characters become interested in you might benefit from being a little more gradual? Currently you can sort of boost the side girls' affinity/interest pretty high before really talking or flirting with them, which can lead to relationship progress feeling a bit abrupt when they decide they're down to bang in their first or second conversation with you after moving in.

Love this game, very relaxed and sweet atmosphere. Was surprised i should give 200 characters to give a review i but this one deserves it.
It is a simple inn/resource management with some "dating sim" options to round it all out. Dialog is often heartwarming and progression balanced.
Really looking forward to a full release.

This is a good management game.
the good:

• This is actually a game, and not just a visual novel or a linear vn disguised as an open world.
  • Things can happen in different order based on what the player decides to pursue. I have not encountered any arbitrary walls.
  • There is also player choice by way of dialog choices.
  • The management aspect is there. At the beginning, you're barely able to scrape by (though you can never die). You can really feel the difference as you improve your inn.
• you're not forced to pick between efficient gameplay and unlocking scenes
  • There isn't a stupid time limit like those japanese games.
  • Often, increased affection/affinity has mechanical benefits, such as unlocking upgrades.
  • There are many activies which increase both affinity and your character stats.
  • Most affinity increasing activities don't cost time, but rather stamina, which is a renewable resource.
• The girls are good characters
  • They are useful mechanically. They unlock some of the most useful upgrades.
  • They are actually well-written (realistically written) and aren't stupid or follow tropes like being mesmerized by your dick.
  • They all have multiple repeatable animated scenes.
  • The main girl has multiple repeatable and contextual scenes, as well as an interactive sex minigame.
• The main character is not stupid
  • The MC isn't controlled by his dick, nor does he make stupid decision.
  • You are able to make dialog choices to characterize the MC.

These are annoying but not terrible:

• No free saving or rollback, so it is annoying when you accidentally skip dialog or pick the wrong choice.
  • You're unable to save and load anytime. you are only allowed 1 autosave per day.
  • You can only load saves on the main screen. You need to restart the game to access it.
  • There are only 3 autosaves.
  • There is no rollback.
• The game has no volume controls.
  • There are no volume controls. You can only mute the music.
  • The game doesn't remember your mute choice when you restart.
• RNG can be annoying.
  • Some of the loot for upgrade are RNG. I still don't know how to get monster venom or fratured remains reliably for the fey weapon and armor.
  • Some of the story events, such as the dryad, is RNG
  • After winter starts, Whether or not the merchant comes is also RNG. This is annoying as it is the only non-RNG way to get seeds.
• The UI sometimes doesn't communicate well
  • Although most items and spells have descriptions, some do not. The weekly ritual spells, for example, has no description when you cast them, so I only have a vague idea what they do.
  • Some of the mechanics isn't well explained, like only being able to put 1 enchantment on an item. If you make that mistake, you gotta reload that day or lose like 1,000 gold.
  • The upgrades don't tell you how much you still need to afford them, so you need to look up the items you have in another interface.
  • The stat increases flashes by too fast. It is hard to see them sometimes.

Overall the good greatly trumps the bad.

Really fun little game at the moment. The music is nice, the atmosphere is on point, and the character variety is good. The art is great as well, but so far the only adult content seems to be when the full on sex scenes happen. I think the game could benefit from more teasing/ background content. Like in the day when youre picking stuff to do, you can see characters milling around in the background.

Could make it so at certain levels, some of the characters are sneakily flashing you, or having wardrobe malfunctions, or some guests got drunk and are having sex. Could even have it so you could look through all guests keyholes, and depending on combinations of who you have then you can have different scenes. Little things like that is what the game is missing, but the broad strokes? Theyre perfect.

Great Game, if you've played these stat management type games then you should be familiar with it, has a bit of content and is still updating, hopefully it will continue to deliver. Only gripe i guess is the usual randomness, at some points you should have a way to just buy stuff directly.

This game is in my opinion one of the best games on this page, with decent h-elements.

It has proper management, a simply but good combat system, but most of all, very immersive elements. The short dialogues feel real, and theres a sense of time throughout the day. You feel the world around you, both through travelers, dangers, and the changing seasons. It does so much to make itself immersive.

So, when I started up Finding Color in the Ashes for the first time, I had plans for the day.
They did not happen.
Roughly nine hours later, I hit the part where (WIP) sections were visible, and decided I should probably eat breakfast.
So, uh, FiCoAs (FCA...? FinColA...?) is pretty dang good.

To start off, the visuals are great. There's a very notable and distinct style, even beyond the lack of color for 98% of the game. Everything has a lot of flavor for just whites, greys, and blacks. Heck, the backgrounds are the most gorgeous of them all, and could be a wallpaper or two.
The rare splashes of colors do a great job a marking very specific important things, like enemies, magics, and certain characters' tells. Or just highlighting the exclamation points to let you know quests or projects are updated.

On the gameplay side, it is fairly basic, but ramps up as things progress. That is Good Game Design 101, whether it was intentional or not. Your time is spent managing a relationship, then the resources, then the inn, then the combat, then quests, then the companions, then more of the inn, then an entire army... You get the picture.
It's all a set of effort versus return. For the managerial sections, you weigh time spent versus resources gained, whether it be food, reagents, safety, gold, reputation, and more. You only have so much time in the day, after all, and until you get higher stats (which takes a while), the effort to gain stability is serious. Just when you think it's alright, something new drops, which also demands your attention. Thankfully, it's never overwhelming.
The most interesting gameplay part is the combat. It's all dice rolls, with the ability to choose your results. Every weapon, armor, and spell has a set amount of dice to roll, which can be increased by your stats. You pick the dice that roll the best or combo together, and can spend extra stamina/mana/potions/fracture/cooldowns for more powerful results. Those are also out-of-combat stats, which means everything is, again, weighed by cost versus benefit. It's a neat take on dice rolling in an RPG management game (that I'm sure someone has tried before but damned if I know from what or where.)

The music is alright. There are no ear-worms or hard guitar riffs and drums solos, but for a sedated pace of a game, they fit. Nothing outstanding, nothing bad, but it is suited for the type of game they're in.
We're not sword-fighting giant centipede robots on flaming rooftops, so we don't need to hear the orchestra break out the loudspeakers.

As far as the story goes, much like the artsyle, it oozes personality and passion. There are no outright unlikable characters, a lot of them are really cool or entertaining, and it deals with a lot of prejudice which is 100% understandable in the lore of the world.
For a lighthearted inn-management simulator, it gets dark sometimes. Kind of makes sense, I suppose - after all, the world is in black and white.

The H-scenes are a combination of great and alright. Everything looks fine, and they're all subtly animated, but what really sells it is the new fetish they will undoubtedly unlock within you. And I mean that. You will be very disappointed that the stat that unlocks the best parts is a detriment to the inn, and will be extremely happy when you occasionally don't have customers, allowing you to indulge in that ~good shit~.
Like I said, the artstyle is good. The scenes look nice, even when they don't have that special sauce. They're a bit short, which is the only downside.

Well, I shouldn't say only downside. The game does lack some quality of life as of now, like saving when you want instead of autosaves, or want to change value levels or resolution, and some very important story events being triggered by random chance, so you're waiting in-game weeks for that damn dryad to show up again. Hot damn, you wooden cunt I'm trying to recruit you!
Still, none of that is a deal breaker, at all. Heck, I was hooked for long enough for it to only start being a problem five or six hours into play.

I can heartily recommend that you take a look at FiCitA(?) regardless if it has your favorite fetish or you're looking for something more action-oriented. You'll probably find a new one or can take a break from stress.

Kept me entertained the whole time, art is not amazing but it's good enough and it's consistent. The plot is interesting while not being over the top and the management section offers a real challenge without feeling unfair (you can "cheat" at certain things by re-loading saves, but that's not a negative to me), also the build up for romance and sex scenes is quite good, it feels organic.

Overall solid fun game set on an interesting world with good romance also quite small and easy to run so there's no reason not to give it a try.

The art style is adorable, the progression isn't slow or fast! I rlly like cozy games so this game is super nice.

Lucy is genuinely like, one of the cutest heroines I've seen in 18+ games, I like Ellie and the Scout too, they're pretty cool! for an Alpha game there's a good amount of content, I fw the fracture heavy, non fracture and fractured scenes r different!

The companions are a nice touch.

I think the game is pretty easy though, but maybe that's a good thing as its a pretty cozy game.

Has the potential to be a really outstanding game. Only suggested change I'd say so far is - consider granting XP when the guest are given a room, rather than when you check in on them, and then if you want to you can check in on them to get a little something like +2 strength or a random reagent or a +5g tip.

I love this game. This is the best h-game I have played, mostly because it hits all the right buttons for me personally. If you have any interest in "cozy" games or management sims, and I'd even argue any VN-adjacent genre, then you have to check this one out. It's the only h-game I play through from start-to-finish after each update. Characters are really charming, combat is novel and engaging, music, sound design and art are all incredible.

The gameplay might not be for everyone if you want to simply mash buttons and faceroll content to get all the scenes, since this game does ask you to engage with its systems to unlock all the content. Once you do, it feels rewarding to make small (and crucially unstressful) decisions that progress your save, even outside of any R-18 content. This is what they've managed to do especially well; it really is a cozy management sim once you recognise that any "setbacks" you might encounter are extremely temporary.

The management side of the game is challenging to optimize and play "perfectly" if that scratches the right part of your brain, but it's important to note that there is little-to-no downside to making mistakes. Any shortcoming can be made up for within a couple of days. In fact, some of the h-scenes encourage you to make "mistakes" to find them which I really really fucking love like holy shit please please please make more scenes like these

The combat is a really interesting system that can take some time to get used to. Once you develop your character far enough, however, it really does become faceroll content. If I could provide one critique, it's that the combat encounters can feel like a chore when you reach the faceroll stage and have the best weapon/skills. It would be a nice QoL addition if there were a late-game skill that ordered your dice from highest-to-lowest so that once you're strong enough you can just click through them without having to read the faces of the dice every time.

The aspect I adore the most is the art, not just because it's good, but the not so black-and-white design ties nicely into the game's lore. It also means that development is moving faster than any h-game I've been aware of, since they can churn out high-quality updates and polish older content using only line and value and not having to spend time on color in the art.
I'd really encourage everyone to give this game a try, the team behind it is clearly ambitious, have a cohesive vision and are doing a fantastic job on executing it so far.

Super solid game, i wish it was already finished cus grinding it again is gonna be less fun than the first time unless it remembers save (idk).

- Overall music is carry in this, its super chill and pleasant to listen to, im actually suprised how good tracks are, worth playing just to listen to songs (there are like 3-4 long tracks)

- Artstyle is good, everything is done well, H scenes are hot although you dont play game like this for H scenes, they are just cherry on top, H phasing is done well, story is interesting enough to feel its worth reading all the stuff characters say

- Gameplay loop is a bit boring, especially early game is super hard with supplies and you barely hold on, but then it gets easier and easier. I played few games like this before, most popular was living with sister monochrome fantasy and even though you end up doing same thing over and over i still find it very relaxing and fun. There are different types of games, this one is fun to chill out for a bit when you are in the mood.

The art style and dialogue are cute, but the gameplay loop is absolutely terrible. Insanely repetitive and it feels like you are constantly running low on everything so you're often playing catch-up to get all the resources you need to progress. It leaves you barely having any time to actually interact with the characters and see their scenes; and when you do, you can't help but feel like you're wasting time.

There's a ton of potential here but only if the developer can find a way to make the gameplay less of a repetitive slog.

Finding Color in the Ashes isn't just a porn game, but also a very well-made management simulator. The game features relaxing music, animated scenes, appealing visuals, and also a well thought out storyline that allows for the creation of an emotionally engaging experience. Though there are also minor quality-of-life things that I would love to be added, such as a full-screen option, and a more in-depth walkthrough, I believe that these things are not significant enough to lower my evaluation of this game.

The game is wholesome AF, offering a heartwarming and relaxing experience that’s hard to find elsewhere. From the moment you start playing, you're greeted with charming visuals, a peaceful atmosphere, and gameplay that feels like a gentle escape from reality. It has a cozy vibe that makes you want to just sit back and enjoy every minute of it.

One of the strongest aspects of this game is its variety. There are so many different ways to play, whether you enjoy exploring, customizing, collecting, or simply soaking in the environment. It doesn’t limit you to just one path—you get to choose how you want to enjoy the game, which gives it incredible replay value. You can try new things each time and always find something new to love.

The story is also surprisingly deep and emotional. While it doesn’t scream for attention, it slowly unfolds in a way that connects you with the characters and world. It’s subtle yet impactful, and that makes it memorable.

Overall, this game has tremendous potential. With its wholesome feel, strong storytelling, and variety of play options, it stands out as something truly special. It’s the kind of game you keep coming back to just to feel good.

One of the very few games i actually enjoy the story and art style.

However, if you get past the early game, the mid-game combat system is too easy to defeat monsters and the H scenes with the girls are quite rushed (the game is tagged as a 'dating sim' but it's too easy to sleep with Lucy and H with other girls).

This game simply gives the cozy feeling of sitting by the fire without anything difficult or harsh in the game.

In the future if things get better I will come back to rate 5 stars.

1. The fighting is great, your equipment allows you to select dice that are randomly rolled to combine to value that determines how much damage you do. You pick the dice because the game offers skills that can crit based off if you picked multiples of the same number. So let's say you roll 5 dice. You can select 3 of them to be your Attack Value. Let's say you roll three 4's, a 5 and a 6. Most people would just pick 4,5,6 but if you picked all three 4's, you can crit and do more damage.

2. There is no save button. But the game auto saves the start of every day, the days take maybe 2-5 minutes depending if it's a heavy event day or not, and you get 3 auto saves. Pretty hard to mess anything up BUT there are events you may accidently trigger and have to reload if you wanted to save that event for a potential third option you can only access by progressing a character's relationship far enough, that was my biggest issue with the saves personally. And it's also really hard to straight up lose in this game, I literally have no issues with the balance of food or alcohol.

3. There's an option to sneak into the girl's room because there's a bonus animation + dialogue if you made Lucy horny enough and advanced far enough where she takes a dominating position.

4. The MC literally doesn't even talk a lot, so might just be self projecting a bit too much. The initial dialogue options affect your starting stats.

5. You have to manage maybe 4-5 things, and the reward is more gold for better equipment + gifts which results in more exp and more h-scenes.

6. The game get's a bit repetitive in lines, but it's also still developing content slowly over time, and there's at least 2+ hours worth of gameplay here.

So just a quick overall how I feel about this game:

Gameplay - 5/5: There are some issues like the game feeling a little tedious with the day to day, but the combat is fun and well done.

Visual - 5/5: Girls are cute and look great, CG's are reused which kind of sucks but each CG has different variations with different clothing on or off. Some CG's look a tiny bit off but that's fine, overall great OC and interesting girls. The backgrounds also look great as well.

Sound - 4/5: Lot of the same music and stock sounding noises, but what is there is fun and serviceable.

H-scenes - 5/5: I wish there were more but they are being added slowly. Biggest issue I have is that the scenes that are there sometimes feel disjointed or move too quickly, you go from talking to them to clicking a flirt button once to fucking. I wish there were some kind of on wheels build up to get there as well as more dialogue with the other girls. Lucy is the only one who speaks during H-scenes as of now, but having more dialogue during them would be greatly appreciated.

Overall- 5/5: It's a great game, great porn game, and a fun time. Worth the download and support.

This is missing all the marks of a great H game.
Hot scenes, hot story, entertaining and rewarding gameplay loop, corruption/seduction, engaging story.
Even RPG stats and EXP progression feel very off the chart and wonky here.

I am not sure whats going on with the guy above and ad-hominem attacks on other people who write reviews, but it is clear who cannot rate H-games and has no experience with them. (Check how many reviews I got, vs him).

What we have here is a very wonky/frustrating inn management gameplay with only 2 actions per day and you are constantly out of everything, food, wood, maintenance. You have to manage a dozen of things for the same time and there is simply no reward for this. Inn upgrade system is boring as hell, you can improve storage for 50g to get +1 alcohol, food, what?

Worse than having to manage 4-5 resources and stamina as well, you have to buy certain ingredients and materials from "weekend market". If you are missing something that you need, you might suffer for the entire week before you get a chance to go to shop again and restock.

There is no save button, no gallery. There is autosave function and I did not find that comfortable to play. The game is punishing wherever you miss any single item, don't have enough alcohol, or food you are doomed.

The fighting is boring and it involves throwing dice twice per each turn, and you cannot skip it, you have to manually pick a dice every time.

I don't share sentiment that the art is great in this game, it is rather generic, black and white, below average.

There is an option to sneak into girls room, after which she puts a lock on it.
Why such an option exists in the first place? To troll player?

Overall a very vanilla story, where MC feels like a cuck. He is a servant for our Damsel in Distress that falls on him out of nowhere, and requires a hiding place as well as food and other resources.

After playing 30-40+ days and reading the same boring lines over and over again,I have simply uninstalled the game.