Anime Game Festival is live this week from September 8th to September 14th, hosted by Neverland Entertainment.
Studio Ephua is taking part with In Ashes, a stunning fantasy adventure where you must balance heroism and survival with rest, burn out, and trust. Inspired by work of Robin Hobb, Dragon Age, Frieren, and classic fantasy.
To celebrate, I've re-enabled our alpha demo, and wanted to talk a bit more about the anime inspirations of the event!
The theme of Ashes is post-heroism. I'm inspired quite a bit by anime and webtoon content. Titles such as: Frieren, The Remarried Empress, Banished from the Hero’s Party, The Archmage’s Restaurant, The Villainess just wants to live in peace, all present fantasy at a gentler pace. Well, so does our protagonist.
At the start of In Ashes, world-saving takes a backseat. Even in a fantasy setting, our protagonist feels they have followed a particular path in life but have failed to find a sense of identity and belonging, despite hitting milestones. "You slayed a dragon," or "You saved the town" are moments that don't feel like they can own. Like many anime protagonists, the expected start of the story does not feel quite right. As the story progresses, the protagonist and the characters they meet must begin to explore life anew on their own terms, regardless of what others believe of them.
With In Ashes, I hope to create a game that has attractive character designs, compelling and emotional character arcs, and an idyllic and fantastical setting, that fuels both escapism and introspection.