Trials of Ascension: Exile

A friend was part of the dev team.
I bought it for 25 bucks and basically paid to be a bug tester.
The game is now 10 bucks.
I want my money back or a complete game, or a 25 dollar discount for the next game they actually finish.

I can not recommend this game as it is permanently dead. Buying this game as it is would be similar to a donation.
It had promise but it seemed like the people developing it had conflicting interests in how to implement even simple features like the inventory.

I started out by testing the dragon which is why I was interested in the first place, it was awful but I knew it would be since the humans were more complete, so I moved onto them, it was retarded, I go into a fist fighting stance, pull out a torch, am still in fist fighting stance, the torch clips with my head, I burn to death. No idea how this was still a bug. I remember running for hours as a dragon finally finding what looked to be a huge settlement and then died due to heat next to some furnace, so people had to have made that settlement without dying like a retard from heat damage via torch, but how?

Being a sandbox this game is what you make of it.
If you search ,look and try different things you will easily find what you need to survive.

Absolute garbage.

Nothing is working, the concept makes no sense whatsoever, it's ugly, the animations are from the 90's, text is unreadable in 4K, the game crashes every couple of minutes, fights can not be avoided, and you loose everything on every death.

Controls are clunky, visibility is bad, sound effects are nasty, tutorial is virtually non existent.

This is not a beta, this is a pre-alpha, if even that.

If it's supposed to be a beta, steer clear, even for free, it'll be a waste of your time.

Game is dead. Abandoned. I feel cheated, just wanted to be a dragon man.

I absolutely hate to write this review, I've followed ToA Exile for about 2 years, and I can't say anything good.. From other reviews I read this game is pretty badly optimised and very poor in graphics, those two things I thought I could get over. However, I also read some bad things about gameplay, and that absolutely worried me. Despite my better judgement, I decided to give it a go and buy this game. I tried for five minutes at first to get the game to launch, then I exited the game, then tried for another eight. Nothing. I was stuck on the loading screen, not able to change settings or choose an island or anything. I was really excited for this game, however, it seems I wasted two years of my life watching it's development. I stopped trying to get in becaue I still want to be able to get a refund. Forged Chaos, you really disappointed me.

I paid for this game as soon as it came out and I was sorely disappointed that my laptop could not handle it. Then again, my laptop and my other computers are very old and did not handle them well.

With that being said, my friend and I have been using more advanced computers capable of dealing with the graphics of this game and I can't express how much joy it has brought us. I love this game, and we've created several insides jokes from it already as our little hatchlings. The inside jokes were not about the development of the game, nor the mechanics, but rather silly things we've done in the fright of the moment when being chased, looking for nuggests, and in the midst of our attempts to fly. Even as the game is still in development, we love seeing the progress. Little patches excite us and we hop on immediately to try it out while we work to get to the next stages. I've been watching the efforts of this game for a long time now (Istaria is nice, but I wanted something fresh) and wow... It's going to blossom into something gorgeous.

Yes, it can be difficult, but not when you start to learn what you need to do as a hatchling. You have to watch the predators, anaylze how to escape them and the best routes, and keep on your toes. It gets more safer you go, and the jumps the predators give you when they come for you is nothing more than a good time. I love this game! And if you can afford to help the developers by purchasing it it'd be a godsend. My friend and I will continue to cherish the game as it grows!

I've had such a blast playing this game. Although I've cut it a lot of slack because it's the first phase of early access, as is it presents tons of completely new ideas that me and friends have had a lot of fun playing with. IMO, humans are the hardest race to play right now--which explains why no one is playing them. People say dragon is the most difficult, but If you find a group of people to play with--dragon becomes very easy. I say humans are the most difficult because the crafting recipes are so complicated. For example, if you were to build stairs, you'd have to build the frame first, cut all the boards for the individual steps, and then make a TON of nails to nail it all together.

In its current state, people who are picky might wanna hold off on buying it. I for one, as someone who has a group of people to play with and neutral standards, and as someone who loves both dragons and survival games, have had a huge amount of fun even in this first update just playing as a dragon alone. It takes a while and a lot of work, but getting to grow into a big winged reptile is completely and totally worth it!!! You go from the weakest thing in the game that's constantly looking over its shoulder and running from snakes, to a big beastie that's comfortable going afk for 5 minutes because EVERYTHING is scared of you.

And don't believe what other people say--it is more than possible to grow a dragon by yourself. Difficult yes, but not impossible, as I've seen many people do it already. Getting to take off into flight as a dragon for the first time, after hours upon hours of hard work, was the greatest feeling in the entire game to me. It's also pretty tough to get the hang of flight controls--I'll say, they aren't the best, but eventually once you get used to the controls it's pretty easy.

Also, I'm not sure if it's intended, but dragons + humans working together is great! There are a lot of ways they can help each other and it almost feels like the game is designed for human + dragon interaction and cooperation. Those huge scary raknar in the caves add an awesome touch to the game especially for people who enjoy PVP and scaring people.

For anyone reading, I've been following the game for about 2 years--here's some things I've heard might be added to the game from the devs themselves!

-Ice dragons are definitely going to be added.
-Ice + Fire dragons will get buffs/nerfs depending on what biome they're in.
-Lots of dragon customization such as choosing between male/female and different horn options
-Nest customization for dragons
-Magic for humans, possibly fueled by nuggets.
-A secret planned feature that the devs have yet to reveal. I haven't heard them talk about it in some time though.
-Raknar will be able to hatch tiny NPC raknar to do their bidding

That's all I can recall right now. In summary--I've had fun, will probably continue to have more fun as the game develops.

I do wanna mention that the models are very sub-par, but the game was originally built in unity after all. They will be upgrading the animations AFAIK, so don't assume what it's like right now is going to represent the finished project

Game is still in early stages, and i would not suggest it to most of the steam users out there - but im having fun.

Even though its in early access - everyone excepts a finished game that is rough around the edges and this is not that game, however that has not stopped me from enjoying myself with the limited features. I guess im a sucker for the struggle and gettings those little moments of joy out of events that happen (like being legit spooked as a gecko (baby dragon) by a Chocobo while i was just chilling on a rock trying to see over the grass. It caused me to slap the space bar make my char jump 10 feet and dash for the closest water source later to laugh as i couldnt believe i lived ... )

Playing as a dragon mostly - the grind is real - as there isnt much else to do in game - your goal is to build a nest, eat nuggest of ore and molt to your larger size/age while killing/avoid being killed and eating/drinking. The first stage you are an easily killed little lizard (gecko-esk about the size of a cat) and most things can kill you in 1-2 hits. You search for grubs that you locate by sound (another "fun" thing i get enjoyment out of) for food or kill some animals for their meat like snakes (you can actually kill one of the largest creatures due to your size and the NPC hitboxes and never get hit - easy 16 meat) and get your mats for your nest which is alot - and it can get frustrating as it seems to never end but it will lol. Rinse repeat atm.

I played a very short time as a Spider and it has some neat ideas with it as well but again lacks alot of depth - Spin some webs to walk on - kill things/eat bones/use webbing to get stronger - lay an egg so you can respawn where you want. I enjoy the webbing of things and spam it all over the place but would like some more functionality with the webbing like cocooning things or making having the ability to parachute on the wind, have a trigger that if you are with in 15 yards of a web - and that web is connect to other webs that if a player or npc walks into your web you trigger your Spidey senses.

Humans i just logged in for a short time to look at the crafting - but i have played plenty of human survival games so went back to the dragon.

You can already see the ground elements in place - but there is aways to go still - i hope they are able to update regularly and keep improving a neat spin on the survival game. But if they stall out then it will be a missed opportunity.

I'm having fun being a Dragon. It is hard to survive, but learning from my mistakes I’m living longer. In the mean time I’m getting familiar with the lay of the island. I long to evolve to a flying dragon. Have not made a nest. Need to read up on what is required.
On one server I had fun sneaking up on the humans and being mischievous. On the other hand, a snake sneaks up on you or something worse so, you have to be on you guard. This keeps me going to see if I can make it. Every game has its challenge or puzzle to solve.
Hope you guys hang in there and keep your chin up. No new game is perfect, but it will be if you keep working at it. Some gamers expect perfection, but that comes with time. You can’t stay behind closed doors and make progress. You have to test the waters and make improvements as you evolve. It is Just like I’m doing playing this game.
I’m having fun. That’s what counts.
Z Old Man

Dragons:
hatching - Very challenging, almost brutal, meant to weed out the weak and only let the strong through. I believe that its a good filter to keep dragon populations at a minimum this includes, always being at the brink of starvation, always watching your back, front, both sides, and below you for anything at all that can kill you as you can die to most everything, and running around the island many times hunting for those Nuggets and hoping to get past hatchling hood.

Youngling - things get less stressful. you gain the ability of limited flight/gliding and you have some amazing animations, probably one of the best character models so far is this stage here. as a youngling you can start to roam the island a bit more and find your perfect lair spot as well as hunt.

Juvinile - In this stage you are almost as tall as a human and taller than a raknar. even a stage 10 raknar, while they might be bulkier you win in the height department. you gain the ability to breath fire via a recharging meter bar that can also be recharged currently by eating nuggets. This is also the age that you really dont have to worry about anything. most animals run in fear of you, you can pretty much solo anything and what you cant fight you can breath fire on or fly away. this is also the stage you should definetly have your own lair picked out and you can start hoarding treasure.

Overview: challenging to play but perhaps not challenging enough considering that they become the most single most powerful entity you can play as. although the devs have a new molting system coming out in the near future that will be vastly different than hunting for nuggets and i hope will increase the difficulty. this race in my opinion is quite fun if you can make your own fun at times. once you grow to juvi which is how far you can currently get (three more growth stages are currently in development) you dont have much that the game tells you to do, everything from there is purely up to you. so if you cant find and make your own fun you might hit this current level cap and get bored. myself, i hoard treasure, pick on the local human settlement, hunt, and fly for enjoyment. there are some animations that need work on the juvi stage but overall this race is very enjoyable to play.

Humans:

you wake up, in some primitive boxers on a beach with a torch. lore tells you that your city was one of the first to get overwhelmed by the raknar hoard on the main contenant and your people fled to sea only to shipwreck on "the lost isle" home of the previously unheard of and unkown of dragon.

Crafting - very rewarding, everything has a step process to it that gradually builds up to the final product. its a long road to get there but super rewarding when you do and usually what you build will be a part of the crafting process for something else down the line. let me take you through the process of making nails for instance.
First lets assume you arnt dying and you're actually at the stage of tech you need nails. you need to make a bloomery, which is a very primitive smelter and forge combo. it has about 4 uses. in these 4 uses you'll find you need Ore to do anything. that requires going out and hitting rocks with your primitive axe, your primitive axe has its own crafting line. after you get the ore you also need cordwood which takes a primitve saw, so you cut down the tree and start hitting it for logs, once you have a log you use your saw and turn it into cordwood. you can finally make Iron Ingots. youll use these ingots to create a smithing hammer and by the time you create this smithing hammer your bloomery is pretty much destroyed. youll have to rebuild the bloomery a few more times to craft out a trowel blade so you can work with mortar to build the forge and smelter and that requires clay, clay bricks, mortar. and each of these things has its own step. its all very interconnected which i think is awesome and if you pay attention youll notice that it tends to follow realism as close as it can. you quickly come to realize that tools and survival as a human is expensive.

Combat - i have yet to use most of the weapons but combat as a human isnt bad. you use stamina and balance to determine your damage output as well as what ever you're using to attack. be it your foot or fist or a great two handed sword. its a balancing game of stamina, balance and chasing down your prey but hunting is something youll have lots of until animal husbandry makes its appearance in the game as youll need to harvest some resources from animals for some of the higher tech tools, clothes, and weapons.

Overall - Humans are the typical survival experience that most games offer, but what this game offers you when you play as a human is the complexity and realism of the crafting which in turn offers a great sense of satisfaction at every accomplishment. Communal gameplay with other humans actually makes life that much easier and the quality of the experiance goes up, its quite the sight to create a village and a community where once was trees you now have walls and stone buildings and the start of something great. as a human you do have to fear the bigger prediters in the game currently. the Rapters, bears, and if you piss one off, bullders will all be able to eat you until you advance enough, that being said you have human stamina, which means natural endurance so you can run down boar and deer over time for easy hunting. unlike the dragons i have yet to reach a level cap where i run out of things to do. there seems to always be something to do for humans and even when you finish that stone building or completely deck out your human in the best arms and armour, you suddenly get a new member that wants to be a blacksmith or carpenter and its now time to build a blacksmith or workshop for them to work in. or attempt to hunt down those pesky dragons who always have their eye out for new shiney things for their nests.

Raknar

i currently dont have any raknar gameplay. im a massive dragon fan and i spend most of my hours in the sky

ToA itself
as far as i have seen, updates comes at least once a month, last month we had two which was nice. the servers stay up pretty much 24/7 and only come down sometimes. maybe 1 day out of 30 and not for too long. there are some glitches and bugs thats for sure but Forged Chaos has the website for the game with forums where we all report our bugs with as much feedback as possible about them as well as logs and if we can video evidence and they start working on figuring out whats wrong and fixing it. the Developers are very open to community suggestions and feedback as well as generally good kind people. some content of the game is missing but thats entirely to be expected from a early access game thats in its alpha stage that has only been out slightly longer than a month. the price tag of $25 hasnt bothered me one bit and even though its early access and missing content i just cant seem to get enough of it. i have spent more time on this game than most of the fully fleshed out games that i own. i picked up this game not expecting much at all. at most a few hours of "okay this is something i quess" and i even told my friends that "hmm maybe you should wait" but the more i got into the game and leveled up my characters and got into the actual meat of what was offered i started thouroly enjoying myself where once i told my friends that "you should wait" i changed that to "hey guys come play with me this is awesome" once again i will warn that this game is in its alpha early access stage. expect bugs. expect stupid things to happen that make you lose your progress and loot, it happens. but its for the good of the game. when that happens you report it and it gets fixed. you're buying the game to help the devs, and to help the game suceed. i do hope that whoever is reading this picks up a copy and joins us on the lost isle.

So, I have been following this game for a few years. And while I have a small amount of hours on it, that is because in its current state its not something I would want to sink a whole lot of time into. Servers may get reset, playerbase is a tad small, and my schedual does not align with peak times.

But I will say that this is a game I want to play once those issues are fixed. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, a tiny island has so much packed on it, and the 3 races, while bare for now, definatly have the obvious room for growth.

The game is going under severe balance changes, expansion, and overall continued development. The staff is very active while talking to others, and is very open to positive and negative feedback. If this game were meant to be a cash grab, I think they would of taken the investment opportunities a while ago from bigger banks.

As of right now, I do not advise diving head first into the game, but I do recomend picking it up now, just incase they ever decide to increase the price, and save it for later as I am. There is growth to be had, and I imagine in early 2019 next year, there will absolutely be a better world to explore.

If you are into survival games and also like dragons, this might be a game for you.
This game is currently "Early Access" so do not expect "WoW" game play.
No one is going to give you the keys to the city here , you have to start with nothing and build it.
There are some issues with spawn rates of resources and creatures and their Ai ,but that gets adjustments as more and more people provide feedback.
I have done some Pre-Alpha and Beta testing and enjoy looking for "work arounds" to problems so any time I find a game that lets me do that it is fun for me.

I know this will sound like I work for them, but "I do not"

If you would like to make this game better, please provide constructive feedback and any issues you have in detail.

***Heads up to early access players** First and Foremost, this is early access to a game being made by a small team. And it is early on in the development, so if you have to have a nearly blockbuster level of game polish and completion, this is not for you at this point. But if you like play testing, interacting with Devs and seeing how each build improves on the game, it could be worth your time.

That being said, the game has a lot of potential. You have 3 very different races to choose from, the humans provide a traditional scavenge, build, survive type of playstyle. The Raknar (giant spiders) have a predatory playstyle, where you won't struggle as much, work well in groups, but won't neccessarily have as much to do as a human.

And finally, you have dragons! With Dragons, you begin small and weak, you need to be careful and sneaky to build your nest and grow. Dragons are the long, difficult road to travel. You'll need to spend a lot of time building nests, and finding ore to grow. If you spend the time, you have various "stages" of growth to grow through (6 planned, 3 in game so far) Your first two weak, and not powerful, after that you will gain access to your breath weapon, and later on, be able to fly. This is not an easy mode type of play, and requires time invested.

This is a host your own server type of game as well (with official servers on the way). The set up for which is easy and with proper port forwarding, works quite well.

TLDR: A early access game, true to that phrase, with 3 unique races to play and survive with. Lots of potential and a dev team willing to communicate.

So far I have really enjoyed the game, Its Challenging and fun just how any game should be!
The races in-game are unique and well made as is the terrain and interesting survival.
Yes it needs fixes and updates, but with some patience I believe this game can be great!
I recommend this game to people with patience and a history of playing Survival based game's.

With a new developer taking over Trials of Ascension my previous review is no longer relevant, as is all the old posts you'll find online and in some of the old replies here talking about the history of this game. With the game officially being back online I felt its only fair to update my review.
Currently the game is in the same state as it was before it was taken over so I don't have much to add right now, once we start seeing updates from the new Developer i'll re-evaluate and update my review. Until then the new developers have quite the task taking on all the problems left behind by Forced Chaos but i'm hopeful that they are up to it.

There are many issues we all know about but one that was most noticable to me is how boring and grindy the Dragon gameplay is. Currently besides building your nest and and searching for rare nuggets needed to advance your character (something you have to complete without having died once or lose your progress) all you can do is aimlessly soar or wander the country side with no sense of purpose whatsoever. What we need is something that provides more interaction with the environment and other players that helps you feel like you are actually there and provides a sense of purpose. Other games do this in many different ways but all involve some aspect of story. The trials of Ascension MMO has a lot of story already written, why not integrate some parts of that here?

good game, if the devs keep the updates coming and polish up so gameplay this will be a great fun game to play

This game starts you off from very humble beginnings. As a human, that means you have boxers and a torch. As a survival game, that's where you SHOULD start. Everything after that you do on your own. Except for the torch, nothing is given to you. Instead, you have to earn it. Earning everything is HARD. I enjoy that kind of play. I feel a sense of accomplishment for everything I gain. I kept myself fed, I created clothes, I defended myself. I want to keep progressing. I get sucked in by that. There is no hand-holding, and going solo makes it harder. However, there is real emotion getting attacked from behind by a bear, or hearing a snake hiss in total darkness, or finding a Raknar web in the moonlight.

If that does not sound fun to you, play something else. This game does not provide any quick reward. It is not merciful. And you can totally screw yourself over.

I like that kind of challenge. I feel good when I succeed and I get pissed when I fail. I laugh when I do something really stupid.

Pros:
Most things in the world are interactable and useful.
Items and recipes make sense. You can guess where to find what you need.
You can go anywhere. No invisible walls.
Carrying capacity is restricted, but not overly so.
Different server settings allow for variety.
Skills allow you to develop your character how you want and gradually.
Mobs don't just pop up in a herd with no reason, but rather make sense and have a purpose.
The crafting is amazing with the ability to make walls and houses.
Each of the races are completely different to play.
Raknar wall-climbing is unbelievably fun.

Cons:
This is pre-release and it shows. I suspect many of these will be addressed in the future.
Not enough character creation options.
Some of the animations are off (swimming).
Server issues with stability and data loss.
The human model's shoulders are off and you spend a lot of time watching them before you get clothes.
Sound issues
Combat feels vague. A hit doesn't feel like a hit.

Bottom Line: I feel the game is as advertised, and I have really enjoyed playing it.

Spent 3 hrs running with my friend before work and almost called in. We both picked up dragon so that we can eat the rest of our guild. Our server is set to 2 lives and lost one to a relentless bear. Game just launched early access today so it is not complete, but will be fun watching this game grow.

This is a very long review. Please check for the TL;DR at the bottom if you want a synopsis.

I have followed this game’s development since about 2012, back when it was planned to be a full-scale MMO. Since then, it failed two kickstarters and had a shot at self-funding by selling in-game cash shop items for something there was not even a demo for. The game started development in the early 2000s and has had a very shady and shaky history since. I can’t describe it here due to the character limit, but google it if you want more information - it’s concerning. TL;DR The developers have had a very bad history with keeping promises.

That being said, when I was given a key to test it prior to Steam release, I had high hopes that it was not like what I expected. I wanted to like it - I tried so hard. I played for 9.5 hours with two other friends and we simply couldn’t enjoy it. I will explain why below.

General

Gameplay

Conclusion / TL;DR

If it takes me 30 minutes of searching to find a simple rock to make the first tool only for it to fail 3 times in a row, and then I clip out and die then I die of dehydration because I do not have the option to drink fresh water and fruit does not give thirst back. No thanks, this game should still be in Alpha it is not ready for Beta or early release.

I have to start out by saying I am very biased. I've been following this development team for about 15 years. Originally they were planning to make an MMO and I absolutely loved their design ideas.
A skill based progression system instead of levels so you could specialize the way you wanted.
A perma-death over time system so there was real risk in the game and nobody could be on top forever and you'd have the opportunity to start fresh and try something new as in rogue-like games.
A ton of races including dragons and set up so there would be real conflict and asymmetric power levels.
Deep settlement building, crafting, and religious systems.

I participated on their forums, I was even a moderator for a while. I've chatted with the developers in chat rooms and private messages. I pledged to the kickstarters for the MMO that ultimately failed. I donated money through the website so they were able to develop a demo for their second kickstarter. I watched disappointed fans turn away and trolls heap hate on them for being fake devs. I also watched them never give up. They have vision and passion and drive and integrity. They've never promised anything they couldn't deliver.

And eventually they said, "We are not giving up. We're not abandoning the fans who donated money to us and believed in us." And they started developing ToA: Exile, a survival game using some of the same mechanics they had planned for the MMO. Their goal was to make an enjoyable survival game that can stand on its own merits, and, if it does well enough, eventually get back to work on the MMO we were all waiting for for so long.

As a prior supporter and active community member, I was invited to help alpha test Exile once it was far enough along. I've enjoyed every minute of testing and I'm thrilled the game is launching in Early Access now. It's definitely Early Access, there's no doubt about that. But it's also definitely fun to play as it is, and if you get it now you'll have the opportunity to give your feedback to a development team that I can promise is open to constructive criticism and works hard to make necessary changes to the code and design.

If you like skill based progression, a deep crafting system, or if playing as a giant spider or trying to raise a dragon from weakling to powerhouse sounds interesting to you; or if you want to host your own server for you and your friends and customize it to your liking, what are you waiting for?! This game is for you!