Among Ashes is kind of a dream game for me. It combines 3 genres I love.. classic survival horror, computer sim games, and meta narrative. It succeeds on every level, and is the perfect ending to 2024: the year of the indie survival horror renaissance.

I want to keep this as spoiler free as I can, so I will say this- if you are a classic survival horror fan, play this. Go in blind, don’t read any more reviews, and you will have a great time on its survival horror merits alone. It nails every aspect of the genre, with great puzzles, tense combat, grotesque body horror, and fun exploration.

But there’s more to the game. It is mind bending, creative, and immersive as hell. There were a couple moments where i legitimately questioned reality, forgetting where I was entirely. It really got under my skin and unnerved me, and I am extremely desensitized to horror games.

This year was incredible for the genre, with Crow Country, Conscript, Fear the Spotlight, the Fear Business, Late Homework, Silent Hill 2, and Connection: The Nightmare Within. But this really lands somewhere at the top of the list, definitely one of my favorites games this year. Just remember… K̴͉͚̗̅̃̄E̷͓̤̺̊͠E̴̤̰̿̽P̴̠̳̀́ ̴̨̮̭̕̚P̷̠͇̳͐̓̀L̶̹̔Ả̷̧Y̵̘̺͆̓Ï̸̻̏͂N̷͙̯͊G̵͖̹̠̽̿