Idols Of Ash

Climb down a hole, pursued by a centipede

Idols Of Ash is about the mastery of space and the horror of time

Spiders don't bother me at all, but centipedes? Centipedes glisten. Centipedes look like worms wearing a crab exoskeleton. Centipedes, wet slick and scurrying, are the perfect organism for sluicing inside small holes and pipes like Eugene Victor Tooms - and as a human being I contain an unfortunate number of small holes and pipes.

Luckily I never need to encounter the giant centipede pursuing me in Idols Of Ash. As long as I can perfectly descend into an impossibly deep well and navigate forgotten caves and crumbling megastructures using nothing but a grappling hook, I'll be just fine. Just fine!

Uh oh.

Idols Of Ash costs $3 from Itch.io and I completed it in an hour or so, much of which was spent clumsily falling to my death. You could go play it in lieu of reading this post, and you should.

Despite my clumsiness and dislike of chitinous arthropods, Idols Of Ash is surprisingly generous. Your health bar is substantial, you can fall further than you expect without taking damage, and there are glowing health pickups and a handful of checkpoints to mark your journey downwards. If you do fall further than you would ordinarily survive, your grappling