Game EXP: Ashen Arrows (MQ2)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for Ashen Arrows through Keymailer, a third-party platform that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]

Ashen Arrows
Systems: Meta Quest 2, 
Release Date: February 20, 2025
Publisher: VRKiwi
Developer: Rusty Pipes Games
Time Spent: 3 Hours 56 Minutes
Playthrough Videos on YouTube

I've been having a lot of fun playing Ashen Arrows.  I've also been getting a little motion sick playing through the campaign levels, but that's kind of my own fault.  Ashen Arrows is a first-person action/adventure VR game in which archery is the primary mechanic.  The game has multiple modes, from story-based campaign mode, HUD-based mini-games, and a semi-robust tower defense roguelite, which is an absolute blast to play.  One thing that I've noticed while playing is that while I'm left-eye dominant, meaning that I aim with my left eye, I definitely prefer to pull back the virtual bowstring with my right hand, as if I were aiming with my right eye.  But this is how I've fired a bow and arrow in real life, with my right side on the draw, which feels more natural; although in the video below, I do try to draw with my left side first before deciding that I'm not doing very well and thankfully the game lets you switch hands on the fly, rather than having to go into a menu screen to switch hands; that would've been bad.

Seriously, if you want to get a feeling for the combat in this game, then you'll want to watch our third video, "Bastion: Midgard" which showcases the tower defense game where you fight off waves of enemies while also choosing from a random selection of skills and feats and continue to stack as you progress.

The campaign mode (the saga) is also pretty great, steeped in Norse mythology, but also full of modern and pop-culture references that might break your immersion if you're only looking for a historically accurate archery game.  This isn't it, though.  But it is fun, and it can be hilarious.  It also isn't finished, which surprised me when I looked up information on the dev's Discord channel.  "Currently we only have Act 1 in the game with 3 maps..." and that "...we have plans for more content."  This was honestly a bit disappointing to find out, considering the events at the end of Act I-II: Enchanted Forest and what you would call, "a pretty big fucking cliffhanger."  Before looking up this question on Discord, I had briefly considered that maybe I did something wrong in the collection process in Act I-II or maybe there was some kind of hidden exit like in a ghost house in Super Mario World, but no, that's the legit end until additional levels are released.  I then rewatched the release trailer, and there didn't seem to be any extra content in the trailer that wasn't in the game.  So I guess that's it for now as far as the campaign goes.  But at least I can still play through additional maps in the Bastion stages since I'm not likely to be playing any of the multiplayer.

My only other complaint is that the game will frequently make me nauseous after about 20 minutes.  In the campaign mode, any extended sequence where you need to move around through an area runs a high risk that I'm going to get motion sick.  I think part of it is that the ground is rarely flat, as there are hills, steps, and elevations that you walk up and down.  I've tried my usual walking-in-place method while moving, which worked well enough in Layers of Fear VR, but that was a house, and this is walking through forests, countrysides, and cave systems.  In Part 6, I had to switch to the teleportation method of movement because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to move in the same way for much longer without throwing up on our kitchen floor; I know that I probably should've stopped playing at that moment, but I wanted to give this other movement another try and I was thankfully able to finish the stage.

The downside to feeling nauseous after playing (and still having that slight feeling even three hours after playing) is that I can only play for 20-30 minutes, and when I want to play more, like right now as I'm writing this article, part of my brain might becoming conditioned towards having negative feelings about playing because the game has made me nauseous.  Thankfully, I found a happy medium and decreased the movement speed to just slightly faster than the absolute slowest you can move and that seems to have helped that queezy feeling from becoming too overpowering.

Sadly, this is where I have ended with Ashen Arrows.  The saga (campaign mode) feels like it's in limbo (and honestly, I feel a little jilted on behalf of the people who paid for this game because there is no mention anywhere in the game or on the game's Meta page about the game being incomplete), so all there is left to do is try to rack up a higher and higher score in the Bastion Mode, and while there is some draw to see how long I can last against every increasingly difficult hordes of enemies and what combination of skills I can rack up, that feels more like an end game goal and unfortunately, there is no end game.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
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