Rob reviews Century: Age of Ashes on Xbox Series X...
As the vast universe of video games goes, the humble dragon is a relatively untapped source. Aside from the superb Panzer Dragoon, Divinity: Dragon Commander, and Skyrim - I can't think of many more titles that allow you to control these fire-breathing beasts.
Enter Century: Age of Ashes, a new free-to-play title from developer Playwing. Being an aerial combat game, Century: Age of Ashes sees you soaring across the skies of a fantasy world, whilst battling against a rival team with your teammates. With a strong emphasis on its "vehicle" combat, does Century: Age of Ashes fly high? Or does it suffer the same icy fate as poor Viserion? With plenty of dragon-puns in hand, come with me as I find out.
As I mentioned above, Century: Age of Ashes is a free-to-play game that sees you taking to the skies as a dragon-riding warrior. Choosing one of four available classes, you'll be working with your squad across a variety of game modes and maps. Gameplay is typically played via a six vs six formats (unless you're in the ranked playlist, which then becomes three vs three) and set across one of three randomly selected matches.
The first - and most common of these match types are 'Spoils of War. The object of this match is to take out A.I. controlled dragons to then steal the gold that they carry, and then bank it back at your base. The twist here is that the enemy team are doing the same thing. To make things interesting players can also attack each other, and utilise special equipment to do serious damage to the team's banked gold, or add gold to your stores. Out of the available modes, this is the one that I enjoyed the most. The PvPvE style is perfectly suitable for both newbies and veterans alike. While those accustomed to the game will no doubt centre on attacking the opposing team, newer players can still contribute by taking down the dragonlings.
Next up is Century: Age of Ashes' answer to team-deathmatch, "Carnage". The object here is to essentially score more kills than that of the opposing team. While shooting down your enemy riders is a pretty clear objective, to spice things up you'll start to accrue a bounty. This means that higher-skilled players are then worth more points to the team's kill tally - once they've been taken down. While Carnage is a sole PvP mode, the introduction of a bounty system does make it somewhat easier for novice players. And it also allows veteran players to flex their muscles, albeit with a bit of risk.
Last up is the third mode, which happens to be a scaled-down version of Carnage. Taking place in three vs three environments, this special version takes away the bounty system from its larger counterpart. Instead, you get a more traditional deathmatch mode, with the option of boosting your global rank.
Away from these and Century: Age of Ashes also compliments a pretty robust 100-level battle pass, daily and weekly challenges, and dragon eggs to be hatched - which can be reared by completing challenges. While there are a lot of rewards to unlock across the game, the enthusiasm to do so is somewhat dampened by a general lack of content. Across the three game types, there isn't enough variety to keep longer game sessions interesting, and the map rotation isn't particularly great either - there are roughly five maps overall.
The same can also be said of the game's four character classes. These are made up of - Svard Marauder, Naerdor Phantom, Skeldian Winguard, and the recently added - Skeldian Stormraiser. With each of these classes featuring a distinct rider style - and dragon - in theroy, they should offer four distinct ways to play. However, in practice regardless of what class you pick each falls into the trap of being similar to the next. That's not to say that you won't have fun playing in these classes, and everyone WILL have their favourites. Thankfully this does mean that your opponents are pretty varied, and you won't face a team filled with Phantoms.
When it comes to controlling your winged beast Century: Age of Ashes handles pretty well. Much like Jon Snow, it doesn't take long to grasp the controls and within minutes you'll be screaming "Dracarys!" as your rain fire down from above. The game also offers a lot of customisation too, and across the menus, there are enough options to tailor the experience to your individual needs. If anything it's a very arcade approach to creating an intuitive control scheme that simply allows you to jump straight in, rather than play through complicated tutorials.
So, how does the game look? Well on the Xbox Series X - it looks good. Everything gives off that "next-gen" feel as the game takes full advantage of the Series X|S hardware. Considering that Playwing is also new to the development game, they've made a lush fantasy world that's both appealing and keeps up with the performance on screen. Maps are full of exciting landscapes, with grand castles adorning giant cliff tops, desert canyons, and vast frozen lakes (without the Night King). It's a great spectacle when the action does kick in as the arenas become a display of vibrant colours as fire breath and skills clash in the skies.
The dragons themselves are also well designed, with each having a degree of weight behind them. Movement is also reminiscent of how the species has been previously portrayed, with Playwing adopting a more Game of Thrones/ Warhammer style than that of Disney. The dragons here are exactly that - they're scaly beasts that have been bred for war - and they certainly fit that bill.
With Century: Age of Ashes being a free-to-play title, that age-old issue of monetization does rear its ugly head. However, regardless of whether you pay for the current battle pass or one of the multiple cosmetic add-on packs, the game still offers a balanced experience. The only thing that is a required purchase is the Stormraiser class - which again is optional. While the cosmetic packs can be a little pricey they're nothing worse than what's already available in other games such as Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Halo: Infinite.
All in all, Century: Age of Ashes is a fun game. Sure, at current it has a lack of variety, but the groundwork is there for future endeavours to be built upon. Add in a couple more game modes, and AT LEAST one more map, and Century: Age of Ashes will be a tough aerial combat game to beat. The overall presentation is spot on and the game fits its fantasy theme incredibly well. Performance on the Xbox Series X is stable and does put a few established developers to shame.
Away from this and Playwing has shown a great passion for both the genre and setting of their game. And when you consider that they're a small development team the efforts here should be lauded.
Rating: 8/10
Century: Age of Ashes is available now and can be purchased via the Microsoft Store by clicking here.
The Stormraiser Premium Edition was kindly provided for this review.
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