Try this story-driven fantasy card-battler for free before it launches in April

Ash of Gods (opens in new tab) looked really good when it was revealed in 2018: “A game about angels and free will that looks like The Banner Saga” is how we described it, and that sounds like an interesting idea to me. It was renamed slightly to Ash of Gods: Redemption (opens in new tab) when it launched on Steam in March of that year, which was fortuitous because it simplifies the naming process for the follow-up, revealed today as Ash of Gods: The Way (opens in new tab).

Ash of Gods: The Way tells the story of Finn, who must protect his homeland from an invading enemy—the same enemy who destroyed his home and killed his family years earlier. Like its predecessor, the new game features card-based combat using decks of warriors, weapons, and spells taken from across four different factions, which can be expanded and upgraded through major tournament battles. Ash of Gods: The Way is not a direct sequel, however: It takes place 20 years after the events of Ash of Gods: Redemption and features some characters from that game, but there are no direct story connections and its card-based mechanics are separate and distinct.

RPG elements also feature prominently: Over the course of the game, “you will meet new characters, have conversations, and make decisions that will affect the fate of the entire world,” and victory or defeat against major enemy characters will change the course of the story. And of course, what starts out as a simple tale of good versus evil may not be as black and white as it first appears.

“The story centers on young Finn who is sent on a dangerous mission that could stop a murderous war,” the Ash of Gods: The Way Steam page says. “But on his journey he’ll learn that some of his enemies are quite different from what he’s been told. There will be hard decisions to make and Finn will have to live with the consequences. In addition to the non-linear main plot, told through (fully voice acted) cutscenes and conversations, there are also side quests to explore.”

Ash of Gods: The Way is set to come out on April 27, but you can get a sense of what it’s all about right now through Ash of Gods: The Way Prologue (opens in new tab), a free demo that includes the first act of the full game.