House of ashes in the test: If you order alien on Wish

To say it with the words of art figure Kurt Krömer to say: Then we want to look at what Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games has laid in the door this year . After making of Medan to release, especially with technical problems, and we wanted to die in Little Hope, that in the end all figures die, we were very curious if House of Ashes is good for a wharf co-op evening.

And to express it positively: you already had your fun to the trashy horror stories before, the trip to the Iraqi temple complex is probably likely to you. With its small comfort adjustments and atmospheric setting, House of Ashes is not the low point of the series. However, if you have run away from external cham when playing the predecessors or fallen asleep before the playful boredom in front of the TV, you can save the 30 euros for the horror adventure this year.

Technology Check: When testing on the PS5, we had no great technical problems such as crashes. However, House of Ashes does not come without shortcomings. As before in Little Hope, an audio bug started again, who mixed German and English synchronization from time to time. In the last game of the game, moreover, object textures were missing. In general, House of Ashes offers a harmonious look, which is clouded by bumpy (facial) animations. Also, because of server problems, we could not initiate an online game as a host.

AB in the temple of gray

A ghost ship and an abandoned small town are already behind us, House of Ashes now leads us to the Iraq war of the year 2003. In the search for chemical weapons, US soldiers advised in the middle of dusty Middle East in a battle with Iraqi soil troops. But suddenly a huge hole in the ground is open and the fighting are torn into a gloomy, underground temple plant.

A venue that reminds us inevitably to the films Mummy or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death , and in which not only the dusty air attacks the lungs of our five playable figures. Even the claws of evil lurking in the dark want the unfortunate to go back to the daylight at their escape. Anyone who has seen the Cave Horror The Descent knows about what awaits him.

To escape salvation, the two enemy parties must work together and we master Quick-Time Events at the right moment and make real decisions. Here the series remains faithfully and offers playfully exactly the same food freed from any claim.

The often only from the light of our flashlight, mysterious grave chambers made us best from all venues of the gaming so far. The more than obvious references to the alien films including the grotesque aesthetics of H.R. Giger met our nerve.

It is a pity that we felt in the first half of the game just run through a large chamber. More variety would have been needed here, after all, the ominous vaults awaken our degree of discover, but which is braked out by the strict linearity of the game design.

Custom trash, unfamiliar little horror

But such a mysterious, ominous scene, on which the gray could wait behind every corner, is certainly scary, right? Let s say it: If you are looking at the pure sight of a monster or the usual explicit body ~~~~horror representation in the type of alien already the neck hairs, then yes. If this is not the case, you can delete the word horror in the genre description of House of Ashes.

Although the fortunately compared to Little Hope have briefly reduced Jumpscares have briefly opened up briefly, and in the hallway through a gloomy corridor we came across a short approach of the deft, but that was already with the gruse. Rather, House of Ashes is a very cinematically staged action-festival that remains far behind the expectations in terms of horror despite atmospheric setting and successful soundtrack.

Behind the expectations, however, the good four-to-five-hour history of the horror sciFi kit remained not. With more than 08/15-trash, which has already been counted zigach, we had not expected in view of the two predecessor games at all. Not even with those again before cliché only such dripping characters, which are partly so irrational that it is amusing again.

As an example, take about time a developing relationship between soldier Rachel (played by Ashley Tisdale) and soldier Nick, which is then completely runs Nothing and no longer discussed later. Sometimes it seems as text passages and sequences were removed from the game, even though they should have been included. But even that did not surprise us with a view to also bumpy staged predecessor. Also House of Ashes is trash, and certainly not always the good kind.

So the online Koop works:

Two players inside, each with its own version of the game We and our co-partners in take alternating the roles of characters and experience the history each from a different perspective Some scenes we see together, but often we are separated on the road, so player A does not know what s going on Player B on.

For the couch co-op works:

Two to five players blend in with Begin to everyone chooses one of you one of five characters from which he or she accompanies to the end It is passed around a single controller. always so it plays only one person, the others have to wait until it is your turn

eliminated A major point of criticism

Somehow that does not actually existing horror seems to have really made an impression, because when writing these lines, we suddenly hear a gefauchtes Did you old Grump Koeppe for a change re planning a really positive information for us? behind our backs. Startled, we swirl around. But there is no one. Phew! Was probably just an illusion. But yes, demand, imaginary, slightly acidified person who a lot of fun to the predecessors had to thank.

Even in Little Hope we namely had to toil around with a fixed camera, which was not always at the height of the action. The Supermassive has now thrown into the House of Ashes completely from the game and replaced it with a third-person view with freely rotating around the character camera. While this does not change the figures, that further such small tanks control and partly stuck in interactions for brief moments in their activities, but hey, there is progress!

Greater progress there are even in terms of accessibility. Already in predecessor was added that quick-time events are more predictable if desired. In House of Ashes you can watch the reaction time due to difficulty in three stages adjust to issue the timer altogether. This also applies to fights in which their aim quickly to your enemy, then you must press a button. Even the familiar rhythm game that your heartbeat simulated and a little reminiscent of Guitar Hero, you can set so that you just have to press a button.

For fans of the series, the usual evening entertainment

Despite many criticisms, we want to hold concluded again that all those who had fun at The Dark Pictures yet to come in the House of Ashes at their expense. You have your pleasure inside environmentally five characters together with a friend on a pleasant evening or push through, you want to see how different decisions impact the end or the course of history? Then you have our recommendation.

My most could you do anything with Supermassive games or expect the quality of Until Dawn? Then you save the money rather, investing instead in a good horror movie for the spooky evening on the couch.