I’m always on the lookout for unique and innovative horror experiences, and they are some of my favourite games of all time. When I first heard about Among Ashes, an upcoming indie horror game developed by Rat Cliff Games, I was intrigued by its meta concept—a video game about a haunted video game. After diving into the unsettling trailer and playing the 30-minute preview build, I can confidently say that Among Ashes has the potential to be one of the most memorable and disturbing horror games in recent memory, even if it may be rough around the edges.
The concept of Among Ashes is simple yet effective, and that is why it works so well. You play as someone who is left home alone during the holidays and is sent a link to a mysterious, unfinished game called Among Ashes via a 90s-era web forum. As you explore the game’s dark and twisted world and solve the many puzzles, you come to see just how sinister the game truly is. The lines between reality and the virtual world start to blur as the cursed game begins to affect your own life in terrifying ways.
What sets Among Ashes apart is how it plays with the concept of a “haunted game” in a very meta and self-aware way. The game within the game looks like a retro first-person horror title from the late 90s, complete with low-poly graphics and a grainy CRT filter. You can even see it being played on an old PC from that era, with callbacks to software like MSN Messenger and Windows XP being part of the overall experience.
“Among Ashes does a great job of setting the stage for where the game came from, slowly introducing you to just how terrifying things can get…”
Among Ashes does a great job of setting the stage for where the game came from, slowly introducing you to just how terrifying things can get. As you progress, the game world starts to glitch and change in unexpected ways, breaking the fourth wall and making you question what’s real and what’s part of the cursed game’s influence. It’s a clever twist on the “haunted media” trope that feels fresh and unsettling.
The game offers a unique blend of first-person exploration, puzzle-solving, and psychological horror. As you traverse the game’s eerie landscapes, you’ll be tasked with uncovering clues, deciphering cryptic puzzles, and making decisions that shape the narrative and your own mental stability. This feels like a game made for multiple endings, each influenced by your choices, but with only 30 minutes of gameplay, it is only a tease of what the full game may offer.
The game, within the game, captures the essence of the 90s incredibly well. It feels like a blend of every horror game from the decade blended into one, and it oddly works. With aspects of Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill all combined into a pastiche of what horror can be, you are quickly hit with nostalgia in the strangest way possible. This feels like a game you may have once played, yet it holds so many more secrets than that simple callback may imply.
But it’s the atmosphere and storytelling that really make Among Ashes stand out. The game’s visuals have a retro aesthetic that’s both nostalgic and deeply unsettling. The environments are filled with ominous details and easter eggs that hint at the dark history behind the cursed game. And the sound design is absolutely chilling, with creepy ambient noises, distorted audio logs, and a skin-crawling soundtrack that ratchets up the tension. It teleports you back to a time period that many of us remember, complete with the way games feel and play, which is hard to capture with modern technology.
“Exploring themes of obsession, creative burnout, and the toll a project can take on your mental health, Among Ashes offers a surprisingly personal and introspective narrative that adds a layer of depth to the horror.”
What’s most compelling about the game is its ability to blur the lines between fiction and reality. As you delve deeper into the game’s universe and the fate of its creators, you’ll find disturbing parallels to your own life. Exploring themes of obsession, creative burnout, and the toll a project can take on your mental health, Among Ashes offers a surprisingly personal and introspective narrative that adds a layer of depth to the horror. It also does a great job of capturing the feeling of playing on a PC all alone at home, with only Internet friends, to keep you company.
I will say that, as much as I love the concept, there are plenty of issues that I hope will be ironed out as it nears completion. There are some clipping issues, along with a few aspects that are hard to click on due to mouse movement and visual glitches that make the experience tedious at times. That is not even touching on the intentional design choices seen in 90s-era horror games, including walking around in near-pitch darkness that can be frustrating.
While the success of Among Ashes‘ ambitious premise is yet to be seen, I’m eagerly anticipating the opportunity to immerse myself in this unique and unsettling horror experience. The game’s meta concept, retro aesthetic, and psychological storytelling all converge to create something that feels refreshingly original in the horror gaming landscape. If Rat Cliff Games can deliver on the promise shown thus far, Among Ashes has the potential to be a groundbreaking horror game that leaves a lasting impression. There are some janky aspects, but that is all part of the charm and makes it all the more interesting.
As a fan of both indie horror and games that play with the medium in clever ways, Among Ashes ticks all the boxes for me. I can’t wait to dive headfirst into its cursed virtual world, unravel its disturbing mysteries, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. If Rat Cliff Games can deliver on the potential shown so far, Among Ashes could be a landmark horror game that gets under your skin and stays with you long after you’ve stopped playing.
With Steam FPS Fest on its way, Among Ashes will have a playable demo on Steam on April 15th. The game is launching later in 2024 on PC and is a game horror fans will want to watch. It may be something truly special.
