The Fire and Frost team shared details about their role-playing game Of Ash and Steel. During Q&A sessions posted on Steam and Discord, the developers revealed many interesting details about the game’s mechanics, story, combat system, and features. We have collected the most interesting moments for you.
About the studio
Fire and Frost was founded in July 2021 in St. Petersburg as a small indie project. Initially, the studio consisted of just one person who worked on the concept of the game. Success at the Unreal Engine Dev Contest attracted attention to the project, and the team began to grow: first to four people, then to 15 thanks to cooperation with the publisher tinyBuild. Full development began in March 2023, and most of the game’s content has now been completed. The developers are working on final quests, testing and polishing the game.
Gameplay and world
The world of Ash and Steel combines elements of story missions, open space exploration and random events. Players will be able to influence the environment with their decisions, changing both locations and relationships with NPCs. For example, one action may lead to the prosperity of a region, while another may lead to its destruction. The game also features a deep faction and morality system that allows you to interact with various factions and build your hero’s reputation, which affects storylines and events in the world.
Combat system
The developers took inspiration from games such as Dark Souls, Gothic and The Witcher 3. The combat system offers a tactical approach with the ability to combine melee combat, ranged attacks and magic. Each weapon type has its own characteristics, including weight, which affects attack speed. Realism is achieved through mechanics such as critical hits to the head and back. There are three difficulty levels available for players, from story mode to hardcore mode, where saves are limited and negative effects can be deadly.
Crafting and progression
The crafting system allows you to create unique items, adapting them to your own needs. For example, blacksmithing offers not only improving the characteristics of weapons, but also choosing its appearance, including accessories and sheaths. Players will be able to develop professions such as hunting, alchemy and leatherworking, which will become an important element of survival. Character progression is flexible: you can create a powerful berserker with a high chance of critical damage or a tank with a high level of endurance.
Magic and Ancient Knowledge
In the world of Ash and Steel, magic is rare and only available to a few. It is not reduced to standard spells, but represents Ancient Knowledge – powerful skills with long recovery that do not require the use of resources. This allows you to create unique fighting styles by combining magical skills with traditional weapon skills. Magic adds strategic depth to battles because its use requires careful consideration.
Features of the world
The game world is filled with details that are revealed through in-game books, notes and dialogues. NPCs have over 21,000 lines of text. Dungeons such as abandoned temples and mines offer puzzles and hidden secrets for exploration enthusiasts. In addition, the world lives its own life thanks to random events that can drag on for several game hours and even change the course of the story.
and platforms
Of Ash and Steel is created on the Unreal Engine 4.27.1. The developers promise for Xbox controllers and possibly SteamDeck. Unlike many modern games, the project will be released immediately in the final version, without an early access stage.
