SimulationStrategy
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Give it 20 hours
Gets good by 20h then rated almost like by veterans
Reach the ending 17% of players who started
Started playing 46% of owners
Steam reviews 74% positive of 5,007
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (59%); after 20h it's 1 in 11 (9%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 88% of games we track.
- 16% of players who start reach the ending.
- Most players drop off before “Hell from Above” (Completed the first Imminent Crisis mission): only 67% of starters get there.
- Only 46% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 5,028 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 278 reviews: 26.8h for positive, 3.9h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (46.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Hell from Above Completed the first Imminent Crisis mission Most players quit here 67% −33
- This Splinter is No Master Complete the third Imminent Crisis mission 54% −13
- Brainwhale! Completed the fourth Imminent Crisis mission 44% −9
- Artillery! Artillery! Uber Alles Completed the fifth Imminent Crisis mission 34% −10
- My Constructs Blot Out the Sun Completed the eighth Imminent Crisis mission 25% −9
- I Dread Very Little Indeed Completed the ninth Imminent Crisis mission 22% −3
- Wait, Don't They Eat People There? Completed the final Imminent Crisis mission 17% −5
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (54)
story milestone ending side
- A Little Help Down Here? Called in orbital support 100%
- A Quality All Its Own Fielded 1,000 Logistics worth of units 78%
- Hell from Above Completed the first Imminent Crisis mission 67%
- It's new and improved! Upgrade a building 66%
- Real Ultimate Power Won a match by destroying all opposition 59%
- Total Conversion Won a match on victory points 57%
- This Splinter is No Master Complete the third Imminent Crisis mission 54%
- Can I Play Now, Daddy? Completed the Tutorial 52%
- My Kingdom For A Suitably Entangled Set of Subatomic Particles Lost a skirmish game 50%
- Mo' Metal, Mo' Problems Didn't even sweat wasting 3,000 metal in a single match 49%
- Brainwhale! Completed the fourth Imminent Crisis mission 44%
- This World is Mine Won a skirmish game as the Post-Humans 44%
- Total Recall Reached level 10 in any global upgrade 43%
- Artillery! Artillery! Uber Alles Completed the fifth Imminent Crisis mission 34%
- Over ten thousand! Own 10,000 metal 29%
- There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine Reached level 5 with a Dreadnought 27%
- My Constructs Blot Out the Sun Completed the eighth Imminent Crisis mission 25%
- Fitter. Happier. More Productive Won a match without wasting a single resource 25%
- Glowing Green Own 10,000 radioactives 24%
- Beat The Turinium Test Conquered Roceda 22%
- I Dread Very Little Indeed Completed the ninth Imminent Crisis mission 22%
- Loot Crate Completed the first Memories mission 19%
- No Further, Expansionist Pig-Dogs Won a skirmish game as the Substrate 19%
- She's Really Incurred My Wrath Conquered Artorius 18%
- Come Get Some Won a skirmish against unfair teams 18%
- Strike Force Omega Conquered Falnass 17%
- For Humanity! Won the Ascendancy Wars for the Post-Humans 17%
- Wait, Don't They Eat People There? Completed the final Imminent Crisis mission 17%
- Probably Send These At The Other Guy's Nexus Fielded 30 units of bombers at once 16%
- Renegade Rumble Completed the second Memories mission 15%
- All I Do is Win Conquered Silgul 15%
- Sword and shield Completed the first Escalation mission 15%
- Alas, Poor (Space) Yorick Win a match after a teammate has lost. Thanks a bunch, pal. 15%
- Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! Completed the second Escalation mission 14%
- Love and Hate Completed the third Memories mission 14%
- Fight the Future Won a six-player match in the Ascendancy Wars 14%
- Hitting it where it hurts Completed the third Escalation mission 13%
- Harbinger of Doom Completed the fourth Escalation mission 12%
- Six on one, sounds fair to me Completed the fifth Escalation mission 12%
- Look at all of the wonderful toys Completed the sixth Escalation mission 12%
- Band of Tactically Compatible Networked Intelligences Stomped the comp with human teammates 11%
- Divided and conquered Completed the seventh Escalation mission 11%
- It's a mad, mad world Completed the eigth Escalation mission 11%
- Biting the hand that fed you Completed the ninth Escalation mission 11%
- Paranoid Android Won a 3+ player free-for-all game as Substrate 7.1%
- Not Too Proud Won a skirmish with a handicap 6.1%
- Big Brother Watch a game as an Observer 5.8%
- Good Sport Stuck around to the bitter end in a multiplayer loss 5.4%
- Don't Hurt Me Joined a ranked match 4.3%
- Master of the Singularity Defeated an unfair-teams skirmish against Insane AIs with no human help 3.9%
- Infinitely Improbable Won a game after your Nexus was dealt critical damage 3.7%
- Basically Like Worf And Chewbacca Fighting Back To Back Defeated an unfair-teams skirmish against Insane AIs with a fellow human fighting at your side 3.5%
- Seeing Stars Reached rank 5 in ranked multiplayer 3.5%
- The Final Countdown Reached Legendary status in multiplayer. #respect 3.5%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.