RoguedexPart 2 (May 2024) · #11 of 13 in that tierWatch the moment (1:40:51)
Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok
- Developed by
- Noxfall Studios
- Published by
- Noxfall Studios
$9.99
Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok, is a challenging Norse inspired roguelite-survivor game, where you’ll have to survive hordes of creatures that come your way.
Consensus
B75.3/100
Steam players88.2% positiveVery Positive6,343 reviews
Metacritic ↗Users: 6/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈190K copies · ≈$887K gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2023 · #1 of 9 in that tierWatch the moment (0:51:17)
What players say
A cartoony Norse-mythology survivors-like (bullet heaven) where you fight through nine realms in short runs, buying gear at checkpoints and chasing a large meta-progression of characters, constellation skill trees and relics.
Steam players rate it Very Positive (about 88% positive; roughly 6,300 reviews, about 1,950 shown on the store page's main view), with a softer recent score (75% of 20 recent reviews at the time of the store fetch). Fans call it one of the better survivors-likes: charming art, a strong soundtrack, a large varied roster, cheap price and frequent developer updates. Critics are few and lukewarm-to-positive, scoring it around 78-80. The recurring complaints are a very grindy meta-progression, builds that converge on the same optimal setup, balance problems across characters and difficulties, and two grievances with the developer: a repeated bug that pushes the Yggdrasil leaf balance negative after updates, and a first DLC many players dislike. It entered Early Access on Dec 15, 2022, launched 1.0 on Apr 26, 2024 and is still actively updated, with a DLC (Twilight of Yggdrasil) released in 2026.
Players love
- Charming hand-drawn cartoon art and a strong Norse theme; several reviewers single out the soundtrack as a highlight
- Large roster (about a dozen base characters, more with DLC) that plays differently thanks to per-character constellation skill trees shaped like their theme
- Huge amount to unlock: realms, weapons, relics (150+), skins and 150+ achievements give a constant carrot to chase
- Short runs that are easy to jump in and out of; good for quick sessions
- Runs great on Steam Deck (Deck verified, 60 fps at low wattage per one reviewer); full controller support
- Cheap price (about $9.99) and steady content updates; daily challenges with global leaderboards and a Tower mode add replay value
- Item synergies and upgrades, plus a checkpoint shop and ultimate abilities, add decisions beyond plain auto-fire
Common complaints
- Meta-progression (Yggdrasil leaves, skill points with steeply rising costs) is slow and described as a chore or 'grindy hell', especially for completionists who must play every character on every realm
- Balance: some characters are weak or unviable on harder realms and difficulties (e.g. Niflheim on Expert), and several reviewers find end bosses trivial while earlier trash enemies or specific mechanics feel unfair
- Builds feel samey: players quickly settle on a meta build and randomly offered stats or altar picks replace real build-crafting; one critic (The Games Machine) flagged limited build variety
- Slow feel for some: movement, time-to-kill and early progression are called sluggish compared with Vampire Survivors-style rivals
- Clunky controls and annoyances: mouse-movement mode locks out keyboard, long death cam, confusion effect that scrambles controls, enemies stuck outside the golden circle trapping the player
- Repeated updates push Yggdrasil leaf totals negative (devs say a bug gave free leaves), forcing hours of re-grinding and angering some players
- Nightmare mode freezes and weak optimisation reported on Steam Deck and other handhelds by some players
- Some felt it gets less fun over time rather than more, with little identity compared to other survivors-likes
- Skill trees are described as linear and dull, with few meaningful decisions compared with Vampire Survivors
Can feel tedious
- Grinding leaves and achievements for unlocks, with costs rising steeply (one reviewer says a single upgrade cost about three full runs around 200 leaves)
- Replaying the same realms and enemies with every character to chase completion
- Randomly generated daily quests described as unfun when they force a fragile hero with a weak weapon
- DLC content that keeps a separate grind, and some achievements locked behind paid DLC
- Hunting the last enemy or the last leaves to finish a wave or collection
- Early hours are very slow before the roster and meta tree open up
What's unique
- Checkpoint shop between waves: each realm has three waves with bosses, and gold is spent on items, unlike pure pick-one-upgrade survivors-likes
- Per-character constellation skill trees that are laid out in shapes matching each character (for example a bow for the hunter)
- Nine Norse realms from Midgard to Asgard, each unlocking the next realm and a higher difficulty tier
- Hidden meta characters such as KAOS that play very differently from the regular roster
- Distinct DLC modes: Remnants of Corruption is effectively a separate game mode with its own rules and progression
- Twitch chat integration for streamers, daily challenges with global leaderboards, and a Tower mode
Players want
- Speed up or flatten the meta-progression cost curve and leaf drops so unlocks do not require repeating the same early levels
- Give players real build choice (evolutions, fewer random stat picks) so runs differ more
- Rebalance characters, bosses and the Expert tier so every hero is viable on all realms and end bosses are not trivial
- Fix the recurring negative-leaf bug and communicate update side effects more respectfully, or compensate affected players
- Improve quality-of-life: skippable death screen, keyboard/mouse switching, handheld optimisation, better leaderboard criteria (kills rather than shop time)
- Add co-op, which several players say they miss compared to Vampire Survivors
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Action RoguelikeBullet HellRogue-liteEarly AccessArena ShooterTop-Down ShooterTop-DownCasualActionAction RPG
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Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Nordic Ashes is a horde-survivor style roguelike with a single-level-per-world structure, where you play many different characters and level them through a skill tree instead of finding unique abilities. He was impressed by how much content it has: roughly nine or ten worlds with their own enemies, mini bosses and bosses, plus lots of unlockable characters. He calls it one of the better games of the genre and a very solid take, placing it in low A tier. He enjoys it regularly because unlocks come fast and every run feels rewarding.
Liked
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