Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Stardock Entertainment
Composer(s)
EngineNitrous Engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseMarch 31, 2016
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Ashes of the Singularity is a real-time strategy video game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on March 31, 2016. The game features massive battles involving thousands of units on vast battlefields. As such, it requires relatively high-end hardware. A standalone expansion pack, called Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation was released in November 2016, but was later merged into the main game.

Gameplay

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Ashes of the Singularity is a real-time strategy video game, featuring two primary factions: the Post-Human Coalition and the Substrate.[1] Its main distinction is its ability to handle thousands of individual units engaging in combat simultaneously, far greater than most other games of its kind, across large maps and without abstraction. This is achieved through a newly developed engine called Nitrous designed to fully leverage modern 64-bit multi-core processors, reflected in the relatively high system requirements (which include a quad-core processor). To allow players to effectively control such large numbers of units, groups of individual units can be combined into "meta-units" which operate in a cohesive manner, upon which complex strategies can be developed.[2]

Development

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Ashes of the Singularity is powered by Oxide Games' in-house Nitrous Engine.[3] An in-development version of the game was released commercially via Steam Early Access on October 22, 2015.[1] The full version of the game was released on Windows on March 31, 2016.[4]

Because of the game's early DirectX 12 support and extensive use of parallel computation, it is commonly used as a benchmark. Controversy erupted when Nvidia GPUs were found to perform poorly relative to their AMD counterparts on early beta versions of Ashes;[5][6] this was due to the game's use of asynchronous compute and shading features which are implemented in hardware on AMD Graphics Core Next GPUs but had to be performed in software on Nvidia GPUs.[7]

On November 10, 2016, Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation was released. It is a standalone expansion that adds to the base game with more units, maps, and structures, as well as several interface tweaks. The total player count was also increased from 8 to 16 players. The expansion was later merged into the base game on February 16, 2017, after it became apparent that the separate games divided the player community.[8]

Players have requested a Linux version of the game since at least October 2016, one month before the game's launch.[9] On January 6, 2019, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell responded to a thread on the Steam discussion forums, saying "...It's looking more and more like Linux will be arriving this year."[10]

As of November 2024, no Linux version of the game has materialised.

Reception

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Ashes of the Singularity received an "average" reception from critics according to aggregate review website Metacritic.[11]

Giving it a good score of 7.7, IGN wrote: "This is a warzone where the shrewd general looking at the bigger picture will triumph over the fast-thinking ace with lightning hotkeys."[19]

PC Gamer gave it a score of 75/100.[20] GameSpot gave it a mixed review.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b Sykes, Tom (October 15, 2015). "Ashes of the Singularity hitting Early Access next week". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  2. ^ Oxide Games. "Ashes of the Singularity FAQ". Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  3. ^ "FAQ: Ashes of the Singularity". Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Chalk, Andy (March 9, 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity release date revealed in new trailer". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  5. ^ Mah Ung, Gordon (17 August 2015). "Windows 10's DirectX 12 graphics performance tested: More CPU cores, more oomph". PCWorld. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  6. ^ Dingman, Hayden (22 October 2015). "Ashes of the Singularity hits Steam, letting you benchmark DirectX 12 at home". PCWorld. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  7. ^ Wallossek, Igor (29 February 2016). "Ashes Of The Singularity Beta: Async Compute, Multi-Adapter & Power". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  8. ^ Wardell, Brad. "ONE COMMUNITY: Merging the Singularity". Stardock. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Lack of communication regarding Linux support :: Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation General Discussions". Steam Community. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  10. ^ "Linux Request sign up sheet :: Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation General Discussions". steamcommunity.com. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Ashes of the Singularity for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  12. ^ "Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  13. ^ Johnson, Leif (1 April 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  14. ^ Hafer, TJ (31 March 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity Review". IGN. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  15. ^ Hafer, TJ (10 November 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity Review". IGN. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  16. ^ Starkey, Daniel (25 April 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  17. ^ Donnelly, Joe (31 March 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity review". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  18. ^ Tack, Daniel (12 April 2016). "Ashes of the Singularity Review - Formulaic and Forgettable". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  19. ^ Hafer, TJ (March 31, 2016), ASHES OF THE SINGULARITY REVIEW, retrieved January 8, 2017
  20. ^ Johnson, Leif (April 1, 2016), ASHES OF THE SINGULARITY REVIEW, PCGamer, retrieved January 8, 2017
  21. ^ Starkey, Daniel (April 25, 2016), Ashes of the Singularity Review, GameSpot, retrieved January 8, 2017
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