LOREFUL GOOD

Ashen opens with a creation myth which borrows, especially in its world tree, imagery from Norse mythology, but quickly veers off in its own direction. The titular Ashen is an enormous bird god, who created the world with three breaths, each triggering a new age – of the Elder Dark, the gigantic Listeners and finally humans. You enter its world just as the last of those ends. As well as Dark Souls, there’s more than a pinch of Destiny to all of the carefully crafted waffle about magical light-wielding creatures. You’re directly contributing to and interacting with this myth as you play, so it isn’t just a case of someone being too keen to show off their story bible, and, depending on your tolerance for this kind of thing, is actually engaging.