Century: Age of Ashes PC Review

Century: Age of Ashes is a multiplayer fantasy flying game by Playwing LTD. Up to 12 players take the role of dragon riders across the warring realms of Skeld and Svard. Players control one of three heroes and embark on high-flying matches for dominance. Each main character has a fairly basic background for fighting, which is further expanded by every dragon mount raised from egg to adulthood.

All players have basic attacks and commands they can give to their loyal dragon. These mounts always advance forward at a brisk pace if no input is given. They can instead accelerate faster with W or slow down to even a halt with S. Double tapping W will give them an extra burst of speed but consumes stamina; the tap input is also very precise and one will likely need to keep their finger on W instead of full lifting or failure will be registered as too slow. Left mouse click unleashes a fireball with limited tracking, while right-click will let out a fire breath that will hit at medium or close range.

The three riders of Marauder, Windguard, and Phantom have abilities of their own in the form of passives, powers, and rage. Marauders serve as the main offensive attackers, being able to select either frost bolts that slow enemies or gust of wind that destroys fireballs. Their cooldowns always reset when they make a kill or earn an assist and they can mark targets to take extra hits from fireballs. Windguards are the support option, who can cover the battlefield in concealing smoke or release shockwave blasts. They naturally recover from status effects faster and can even heal allies with temporary shields. Phantoms offer stealth options, with the selection of either placing mines or the same shockwave as Windguard. They also deal extra damage to shields and can go invisible.

There are a few match options ranging from 6 to 12 participants. Skirmish is a 3 vs 3, best out of five rounds match. Round timers are a bit too short at around one minute each. For those that want even more focus, Carnage allows a bounty system where the top players yield extra points if killed. This gives incentives to attack and defend key targets instead of everyone. 

Spoils of War involve collecting gold from NPC dragons or stealing it from players who currently hold some. Gold taken to the team vault is banked, however, two possible events can happen. The first is a lockdown, where both vaults will close and one side must deliver a key to re-open their own side. The other is the bomb, where taking an ordinance to the enemy vault will destroy a large number of their collected coins.

The final mode is Gates of Fire, which combines territory control with the king of the hill. There is a single flag on the map, and once collected the holder will need to fly through 8 gates to secure victory. If time runs out, whichever side had more gates is the winner.

Within all of these modes are also a number of power-ups and obstacles. One can replenish shields, restore stamina, or suddenly ascend rapidly. However, there are many tight spaces, walls, and corners that can get in the way. If one collides with any terrain they will come to a halt and take a small amount of damage, possibly enough to result in death. This makes it important to regulate speed and direction (or confuse others with the Windguard’s smoke and Phantom’s invisibility) rather than always accelerating.

This also somewhat results in team composition being important depending on the match type. In Skirmish and Carnage damage and kills trumps everything, while speed and deception will be a bigger part in Spoils of War and Gates of Fire. This typically results in it being a good idea to mostly have two of each class, possibly with different ability selections. However, without specific tutorials for each map type, it can be very easy to lose matches as others concentrate too hard on just kills. This is further exasperated by healing, dodging, and defense not being itemized on the scoreboard (though they do actually improve the total score).

What can further make things a bit troublesome is matchmaking. A full team must be found for a match type, but players can choose to opt-out of whichever they want even when selecting quickplay. If someone quits out a replacement will not be found if the match-up screen is already loaded, leaving one side at a possible disadvantage. On the flip side, leaving a match queue has a 10 second wait time. This can result in people accidentally being forced into a game type they don’t want, leaving, and wasting the time of everyone else.

The game also has a large number of cosmetics available either through leveling, objects, or the cash shop. This includes helmets, weapons, shields, banners, and even new dragons to ride. Often players first receive a dragon egg that will hatch and grow based on combat performance. Once it is fully mature it can be used by a specific class. Additionally, this adult dragon will open up lore about the location they are from or more history about the rider themselves.

While the visuals are stunning for such a fast pace game, performance can have some hiccups. Century: Age of Ashes currently lacks advanced graphic settings and one will need to simply use one of the presets. If motion blur is turned on it can be extremely aggressive, to the point of disorientation while turning. If motion blur is fully disabled, the game will be easier to parse but may suddenly slow down or completely freeze.

Overall, Century: Age of Ashes is a great objective combat-based game for those looking to have exciting dog fights. But like most online multiplayer games the enjoyment will always be swayed by teammates and opponents. Both those that tank a match or absolutely dominate may sour the experience. And if the population doesn’t explode there may eventually be no accessible game at all.
 

Kurtis Seid, NoobFeed
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