Ashes of the Singularity | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | |
Publisher(s) | Stardock Entertainment |
Composer(s) |
|
Engine | Nitrous Engine |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release | March 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.
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]
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.
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | 69/100 [11] (Escalation) 81/100 [12] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Game Informer | 6.75/10 [13] |
GameSpot | 4/10 [14] |
IGN | 7.7/10 [15] (Escalation) 8.1/10 [16] |
PC Gamer (US) | 75/100 [17] |
PCGamesN | 9/10 [18] |
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]
GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by Nvidia and marketed for the performance market. As of the GeForce 40 series, there have been eighteen iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market, and later diversification of the product line covered all tiers of the PC graphics market, ranging from cost-sensitive GPUs integrated on motherboards, to mainstream add-in retail boards. Most recently, GeForce technology has been introduced into Nvidia's line of embedded application processors, designed for electronic handhelds and mobile handsets.
Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock and released in March 2003. The game is a remake of an OS/2 series of the same name. An expansion pack entitled Altarian Prophecy was released in 2004. A sequel, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, was released February 21, 2006. On May 14, 2015, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations III. On April 26, 2022, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations IV.
Stardock Corporation is an American software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998. The company is best known for computer programs that allow a user to modify or extend a graphical user interface as well as personal computer games, particularly strategy games such as the Galactic Civilizations series, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, and Ashes of the Singularity.
Bradley R. Wardell is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI engineer. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Stardock, a software development and computer games company.
Elemental: War of Magic is a fantasy 4X turn-based strategy game developed and published by Stardock, released on August 24, 2010.
N2O, subtitled as Nitrous Oxide in North America, is a 1998 tube shooter for the PlayStation, featuring a soundtrack composed by the American electronic music duo The Crystal Method. The soundtrack was heavily used to promote the game, and the music is stored in Red Book format meaning the game disc can be played as a music CD on an ordinary CD player.
The GeForce 900 series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, succeeding the GeForce 700 series and serving as the high-end introduction to the Maxwell microarchitecture, named after James Clerk Maxwell. They are produced with TSMC's 28 nm process.
Steam Machine is a discontinued series of small form factor gaming computers by Valve, designed to operate SteamOS to provide a home game console-like experience. Several computer vendors were engaged with Valve to develop their own versions of Steam Machines for retail, offering additional options atop Valve's requirements such as dual-booting options with Microsoft Windows and the ability to upgrade the computer. Consumers could digitally purchase video games on their Steam Machine through Valve's namesake Steam storefront.
Mantle was a low-overhead rendering API targeted at 3D video games. AMD originally developed Mantle in cooperation with DICE, starting in 2013. Mantle was designed as an alternative to Direct3D and OpenGL, primarily for use on personal computers, although Mantle supports the GPUs present in the PlayStation 4 and in the Xbox One. In 2015, Mantle's public development was suspended and in 2019 completely discontinued, as DirectX 12 and the Mantle-derived Vulkan rose in popularity.
TrueAudio is AMD's application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) intended to serve as dedicated co-processor for the calculations of computationally expensive advanced audio signal processing, such as convolution reverberation effects and 3D audio effects. TrueAudio is integrated into some of the AMD GPUs and APUs available since 2013.
Steam Link is a hardware and software product developed by Valve Corporation for streaming Steam content from a personal computer or Steam Machine wirelessly to a mobile device or other monitor. Steam Link was originally released as a hardware device alongside the debut of Steam Machines in November 2015. Valve discontinued the Steam Link hardware device in November 2018, in favor of supporting its software-based Steam Link application for mobile devices and smart televisions, as well as providing Steam Link as a software package for the Raspberry Pi microcomputer.
Total War: Warhammer is a 2016 turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega for Windows via the Steam gaming platform. The game was brought to macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive. The game features the gameplay of the Total War series with factions of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy series; it is the first Total War game not to portray a historical setting. It is the 10th title in the Total War series and the first title to be released in the Total War: Warhammer trilogy.
Oxide Games is an American video game developer based in Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. The studio was founded in January 2013 by Brad Wardell and former Firaxis employees Dan Baker, Marc Meyer, Brian Wade, and Tim Kipp.
Ryzen is a brand of multi-core x86-64 microprocessors designed and marketed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for desktop, mobile, server, and embedded platforms based on the Zen microarchitecture. It consists of central processing units (CPUs) marketed for mainstream, enthusiast, server, and workstation segments and accelerated processing units (APUs) marketed for mainstream and entry-level segments and embedded systems applications.
Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a turn-based role-playing video game developed by Airship Syndicate and published by THQ Nordic. It was released in October 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in May 2018 for Nintendo Switch and Linux. Based on the Battle Chasers fantasy comic book series by Joe Madureira, the game involves the cast of that series being marooned on an island and being forced to stop the plans of an evil sorceress in order to escape.
Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Paul Reiche III and Robert Frederick Ford, 2018 WL 7348858 is a legal case that led to a settlement confirming an intellectual property split for the Star Control series of games. After a motion at the United States District Court, the parties agreed that series creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford owned the copyrights for the games Star Control (1990) and Star Control II (1992), while Stardock owned the Star Control trademark, with neither side using each other's intellectual property in future releases.
The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer produced by Valve, designed to run the large library of games available on the Steam storefront client. Built upon the experiences gained from Valve's earlier ventures with Steam Machine and the Steam Controller, the Steam Deck integrates a custom AMD APU and SteamOS 3.0, a Linux-based operating system. The Steam Deck represents Valve's pivot towards a fully internal hardware development approach, following the challenges faced with Steam Machines' reliance on external manufacturers and the requirement for native Linux game support.
Siege of Centauri is a tower defense video game by Stardock for Microsoft Windows. It takes place in the same universe as Ashes of the Singularity, a game developed by Oxide Games and published by Stardock. The game was released on September 12, 2019, earning mixed reviews as a standard implementation of the tower defense genre.
Ara: History Untold is an turn-based grand strategy video game developed by Oxide Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced during Xbox and Bethesda Showcase 2022. It is about building and leading a nation throughout alternate history. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 24, 2024.