Of Ash & Steel Review

Lost, Alone, and Unforgiven

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Thank you tinyBuild for a copy of this game to check out!

Title: Of Ash and Steel

Release: November 24, 2025

Platform: PC

Developer: Fire & Frost Studios

Publisher: tinyBuild

Genre: Open world RPG

ESRB: N/A

Reviewed on: PC

Time Played: 25 Hours

Before I get started I would like to give a quick thank you to tinyBUILD for providing a copy of Of Ash and Steel for me to check out. Please note, all thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Of Ash and Steel wastes no time reminding you that you are not a hero, not chosen, and not particularly special. You are a cartographer who survives by accident, dropped into a world that offers no guidance and very little mercy. I’ll start by breaking down what you can expect from the game mechanics, or you can skip ahead to my final thoughts and ratings, but the real question is whether brutal design and rough edges can still create something worth pushing through.

Where it starts

You will be following Tristan, a cartographer hired by The Order to plot a course from their home island so they can deliver a message to Grayshaft. After landfall, you’ll get to explore camp and introduce yourself to the crew. However, the peace is quickly shattered when you and your party are attacked, killing everyone except you. Now, lost, alone, and scared, you’ll need to figure out how to survive in unfamiliar lands and find your way back home.

Questing

Grayshaft is full of people, most of them with simple names explaining their roles in life. When you come across an appropriately named NPC, chances are they are important and could need your help in the form of various tasks. When given a quest, sometimes the directions are clear, providing proper guidance and goals, but other times, you get only a few cryptic words and a quest stuck in your journal until you figure it out. You won’t find any markers guiding your next steps, so you’ll need to listen carefully and check your journal often.

Getting Stronger

Tristan may be a simple cartographer, but he knows the basics of swordplay. With a weapon in hand, you’ll fight many enemies, from bandits and wolves to walking rats and goblins. As you quest and fight, the experience bar will gradually fill until you gain a level. Each level offers three attribute points and a skill point. Weapons and skills will be locked behind attribute thresholds, so decide what kind of build you want early on because leveling up is very slow.

Learning Skills

After leveling up and earning skill points, you’ll need to find special characters willing to teach you specific crafts. You have three skill trees to complete: survival, which involves camping and combat related to dexterity; crafting, for making meals, clothes, and weapons; and finally, warcraft, which is full of fighting skills and requires a lot of strength. Not every trainer can teach every skill in a tree; depending on the abilities you want, you’ll need very specific people and enough gold to pay them for their time.

Perks

Leveling might be slow, but a perk system helps offset the tedious pace of attribute growth. After repeating an action multiple times, like a heavy attack or an experience, Tristan will unlock a perk that significantly boosts an attribute point or enhances specific skills, such as increasing critical hit chance. Depending on your play style, you can earn perks that greatly improve how you progress through the game.

What about a map?

From the start, you might notice a map button in the menu. That small clue could make you think there’s a map somewhere in the game, and great news, eventually, you can find one. It took me just over 20 hours before I finally unlocked it. Sadly, even after the map becomes available, there’s still a lot of work and exploration needed before it becomes truly useful. Scattered throughout Grayshaft are locations where Tristan can survey the land and fill in a small part of the map. Once completed, you can see your location on the map and place special markers for anything you discover.

Crafting maybe?

By design, you could theoretically make a lot of money by filling out the crafting tree and create some really nice gear. It will involve a little bit of all trees if you want to gather all the materials. However, I found the world to be harsh and violent, making it feel like I had to prioritize the skill trees that help in combat more than anything else. I only reached level 11 after 25 hours, so I didn’t gain much experience with crafting, but it’s available if you want to pursue that route.

Fumbling Combat

Combat in this game is… unique. Stamina plays a major role, as you conserve yours while waiting out your opponent. Very few times did I manage to drain my foe’s stamina; it often seemed like the janky combat allowed them to regain all their stamina or lock it in place, letting them attack endlessly. Eventually, I found it easier to predict certain enemies’ actions so I could dodge in time, but many moves still had no tell and hit me regardless. Overall, it felt like it still needs some work before it matches the developers’ vision.

Can the kids watch (check settings)

You’ll encounter plenty of violence, blood, and mud covering your body after fights. Given the level of detail in this game, combat doesn’t get excessively graphic. You won’t see large wounds or blood everywhere. You’ll also have many conversations with the tough folks of Grayshaft, who are no strangers to using harsher words, albeit with an accent.

Final Thoughts

I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have about the game or my review, so leave me a message in the comments below. While you do that, let’s move on to my final thoughts and ratings.

Of Ash and Steel has its fair share of rough mechanics and moments. I often couldn’t tell if something was intentional or broken while playing. There were definite bugs, like key items disappearing from my inventory before I could use them, leaving a quest unfinished forever. Combat was very challenging at times, and I can’t tell if that was intentional or if a minor bug made it finicky. The game aims for no hand-holding or guidance, and I felt that during play. However, it also seemed like other things added insult to injury. I can’t count how many times I tripped over a log in the road, and it just felt cruel.

At times, this game is tough and unforgiving. I’m not sure if it’s my inner masochist or gamer, but I kept coming back. I enjoy a good challenge, and there are plenty of them here. It would be helpful if there was a little more guidance—remembering names and navigating without a map is hard, and the journal can only do so much. This game requires a lot of time and patience to fully enjoy, but sadly I lack the time to see it all the way through.

The visuals of the world almost look very good; characters show different expressions, and the environments are pretty. But the mouths often don’t sync with words, and enemies sometimes get stuck inside walls where nothing should be. There’s still a lot of work needed for the developers to fix, and they say they’re actively working on resolving the major issues.

The game’s world is detailed, full of unique characters and quests. There’s a lot to experience as you meet people and discover new lands. It also offers many opportunities for multiple choices that change your story, adding replay value with different skills and quest outcomes. You’d just have to be willing to invest a lot of time to go through it again.

There’s a lot to be annoyed about in this game, and it might seem not worth the headache. But surprisingly, it’s pretty fun. When I’m not playing, I find myself thinking about solutions or where to go next. I wish I had more time to really develop a character that can handle anything. It’s a brutal challenge that feels worthwhile, except when trying to pick a lock—a mechanic I never understood and was frustrated every time.

With that I’d like to break these thoughts down into numbers and place this game on a shelf.

The visuals are ok, if it weren’t for the jankiness surrounding it, it could look much better, for now it’s a 2.

The story was interesting, I really like the perspective of someone who isn’t innately a strong hero, I’ll give it a 3.

The gameplay is intentionally cruel, with some drawbacks in the form of bugs and unintentional movements. It’s getting a 2.

Some replayability, going through after learning how to play and multiple choice creates a pull to come back, but the time required makes it a tough choice. That’s a 1.

Surprising amount of fun. There is plenty to hate but it keeps pulling me back in, that’s worthy of a 4.

Giving Of Ash and Steel an average score of 2.4 out of five. Earning it a spot on my Mid Shelf. If you enjoy the likes of KCD and other games that make you feel the realistic progress of slowly getting better at fighting or crafting items you’ll really enjoy this. You’ll just have to be able to dedicate a lot of time in figuring out to play the game and survive.