Orange Pixel started teasing Ashworld ($3.99) on our forums almost exactly a year ago now. The original pitch was simple: “It’s an open-world game, mixing driving, shooting, and platforming into one big action adventure type thingie!" The original plans involved releasing in early 2017, but, well, this certainly wouldn’t be the first time we saw a complicated iOS indie game need some extra time in the oven. The wait seems to be worth it, as folks in our forums are loving it.

The game world is set in something that’s sort of like a future hybrid between Mad Max and a zombie apocalypse (although the enemies are skeletons, so… undead apocalypse?). Resources are scarce, and survival requires mastering the crafting system, and finding materials as well as food and water to sustain yourself. There’s a ridiculous amount of weapons and cars which you’ll use to fight post-apocalyptic bands of raiders during the say and the “Skellies" that wander the wastes at night.

Everything is procedurally generated, it controls just as well as all the other Orange Pixel games, and overall it’s really difficult to find anything even remotely negative to say about the game based on my first impressions, unless you’re one of those people who just can’t stand pixel art maybe? Either way, the gameplay is super solid, and as Minecraft and many other games have proven, the survival crafting genre is very compelling and incredibly easy to just totally lose yourself in.

For more first impressions, dig into our thread in the forums.