Towers of Aghasba Preview
I’m always down to beautify and restore a wild desolate space in games. It’s very satisfying more or less every time. Towers of Aghasba is the latest game to capitalize on this mad impulse that dwells in so many gamers. Maybe it has something to do with the actual planet slowly crumbling into dust and nightmare? Either way, my initial span of time with Aghasba has been pretty enlightening. When it works, this game feels amazing. On the other hand, reviving the natural world can be kind of a chore.
You play a young member of the Shimu tribe returning to their homeland after many years on the move. The place is looking extra desolate, so you’ve got to jazz it up. You know, trees, plants, a thriving wildlife population. That whole song and dance. The flora and fauna are pretty fascinating. They all look relatively alien and weird, which I appreciate. Restoring the land to its former splendor is always satisfying. There’s a remarkable difference between what you start with and what you get. Thankfully, the progression path towards this is generally pretty intuitive. Some of the other mechanics are more obtuse, however.
Always Love Restoring Natural Splendor
Seeing as this is an early access release, you can expect some of this to change in the future. But I found some weird design decisions, even in my first hours playing Aghasba. The map doesn’t let you put down markers or highlight destinations in any way. I didn’t realize how ubiquitous this mechanic is until I couldn’t do it. Finding certain objective details, namely ingredient lists, is less than intuitive. It’s not impossible, but it isn’t easy either. Crafting and building are nice and smooth though. Combat is also very straightforward, and even dying in battle is pretty seamless. There are some bugs, of course.
We’re still a long way from a 1.0 release, so feel free to ignore me here. But I ran into a bunch of bugs during my time playing Aghasba. Cutscene objects popping in partway through. Plantable seeds unable to find the ground. Animation glitches, enemy pathway problems, and object collision issues abound. My laptop had no problem running the game, but there was a general jankiness once it started up. Once again, we are in the beta phase of things. There’s plenty of time between now and 1.0 for things to change. But early access is a bit of a dice-roll at present.
A Few Bugs To Iron Out
So far, Aghasba is crammed with little details that make the world feel real. While there’s voice acting, the language is a sort of Simlish. It sounds authentic, but also not like any language I know. Not that I know a lot of languages! All the outfits feel handmade and well-worn. Your buildings are crude but sturdy, although your tools wear out quickly. The plant life is gorgeous and very alien, much like the local wildlife. You can also distinguish between aggressive and docile creatures based on their design.
Fights are just a matter of aiming and engaging your equipped weapon, which is nice. I’m less enthused about only coming back from defeat with a tiny portion of your health, however. It’s all too easy to get locked into a cycle of death and long walks if you don’t pick up a bunch of food in between battles. Traversal is mostly fluid. You’ve got a paraglider and freedom to climb almost anything, so long as your character can actually attach to the surface in question. You eventually unlock mounts and a portal system, although I never got to the portals phase during my preview playthrough. It seems like Aghasba will eventually be an incredible alien world, you just have to build it first.
In spite of my grievances, I think Aghasba has a ton of potential. You’ve got a massive canvas to play with, and a lot of ways to fill it up. The twin quests of settlement and restoration run together nicely, and crafting is pretty intuitive. On the other hand, there are still a lot of bugs to patch out. The game isn’t unplayable by any means, but it feels like a rough draft at this point in time. Still, the foundations are very solid. If you’re one of those players who enjoy the whole early access journey, maybe wanna check out Towers of Aghasba.
***A Steam key was provided by the publisher***
