NO missable achievements! – DLC “Nightstorm Isle” required. – NO multiplayer achievements, though playing co-op with a friend is recommended.
Main Story & NPC Questlines
Unlike the usual souls-like game, Ashen has an actual story with actual quests. These are all very straight-forward, as their questmarkers will always show you where to go. Just complete all quests in your log and all the achievements within this chapter will be unlocked.
First of all, there’re the obligatory boss achievements for a souls-like game:
As well as a few more guaranteed story events:
All the required NPCs will first be encountered as part of other characters’ quests. No chance of running past them or something.
Upon completing the quests just above, your starting hub – Vagrant’s Rest – will slowly turn into a presentable little village. During that process, you’ll get the following achievements. No collecting of anything required.
And you’ll come across these encounters:
Miscellaneous
Progress through Eila’s questline, until the harbour is in a reasonable shape and you’ll find a barrel directly next to her. Just interact with it.
Progress through Flokir’s questline, until you can buy 2 different lanterns at his crafting station. Buy them both and this achievement will unlock.
You’ll encounter rafets (Rabbits) and squorks (Ravens) right at the very start of the game, and the Deers not long after.
Directly north of the camp:
On the northwest side of the camp, jump unto the other side of the river, just next to the little harbour:
Explore the ruin at this location until you find the Grit Talisman at the end of it, unlocking you the achievement:
After the first few sets of stairs, you’ll need to climb into this tunnel with the help of a companion. From there, it’s easy enough:
Kol is located directly beneath the belly of the Diasora (Dragon):
You can equip Relics at a crafting station in the main building of Vagrant’s Rest, same crafting station as the Talismans.
There are 6 relics within the base game:
- Hearth:
Starting Relic. - Ukkuto’s Guile, Gefn’s Blessing, Umbral Veil:
Rewards for killing the first 3 bosses of the game. - Guardian’s Pact:
Unlocked by meeting with Kol – see achievement “Fleeing the nest” further below. - Orli’s Fuse:
Needs to be collected right behind the wooden spider.
[DLC] – Nightstorm Isle
Once you’ve done so, he’ll relocate to the beach below and will transport you to the DLC’s location:
Unlike the base game achievement to “Unlock all townsfolk outfits”, which only requires you to complete all quests, you actually need to find and loot the 5 new armors of the DLC for the achievement above.
If you need help with finding them, refer to this youtube video by Raul Bismarck:
“Children of Sissna” Mode
The mode will be unlocked during the main story of your first run; more specificially as you unlock the achievement “Shadow Walker”.
Starting a Children of Sissna run does NOT overwrite your previous run. You’ll still be able to access both characters from the title menu.Note that you CAN still play co-op with a friend, who plays a “normal” run, making this a lot easier on you.
I highly recommend to finish the game normally first, before creating a second character and going for the two achievements above. Take in what the game has to offer in a casual run… and then embrace the speedrun strats for Children of Sissna mode.
A full map with all collectibles for an efficient second run can be found here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AshenTheGame/comments/atnpbk/ashen_complete_item_map/
And a Sissna speedrun as inspiration, performed by youtuber and speedrunner Anemion: