Ashes of a Former Life

What is Ashes of a Former Life?

Ashes of a Former Life is a story-rich dark fantasy visual novel from Leonardo Guidolin. Its starting point is Caio Ferrante, a 34-year-old who has spent six years shut inside a São Paulo studio apartment, with fourteen unanswered calls from his mother lying on the floor. When he was fourteen, he stayed motionless on a rock as his little sister drowned. A rainy night finally moves him, but too late for the life he had. He comes back as a newborn called Lior, in a farmhouse set two hundred paces from a dark river, in a world where magic is spun from unseen threads.

Rebirth does not clean the slate. Lior keeps the same flaws: a tendency to lie, a cowardly streak and the arrogance of a man who believes he has already lived enough. The story tests whether he repeats the same mistakes or finally jumps into the water. The structure is substantial: twelve chapters and one bonus interlude, roughly 80,000 words per language, adapted from the novel Cinzas de Uma Vida Anterior. Its tags point toward anime-styled dark fantasy, drama, isekai, multiple endings and psychological horror.

How to play

Play is built around reading and choosing. The novel runs through twelve chapters and a bonus interlude, and the decisions are not cosmetic: 113 choices track Courage, Truth, relapses and five relationships. Those bonds are named Mirel, Odessa, Ysolde, Gaven and Bram. Seven endings sit at the far end, including one secret ending that unlocks in New Game+. A first run is estimated at about four hours, while seeing everything is estimated at about ten hours.

The story is not a single clean line. Relapses are tracked alongside positive qualities, so a run can bend toward failure even when the player intends a better Lior. The interface supports auto-save, six save slots, a log, auto mode and skip-read text, so a session can pause or a branch can be revisited without losing the thread. The full story is available in English and Brazilian Portuguese, switchable at any time. A free browser demo covers the first chapters; the full version is a single offline HTML file opened in a browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or Android.

Controls

The available reading controls are auto mode, skip-read text and a log. Auto mode advances the text, skip-read text moves through material already seen, and the log brings earlier lines back for review. Auto-save and six manual save slots make it possible to stop at a choice and return later. The language can be switched at any time, which is useful for comparing the English and Brazilian Portuguese versions without restarting.

The full version is an offline HTML file opened in a browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or Android. The free demo is browser-based and covers the opening chapters. Because auto-save works alongside the six slots, a player can keep a main path in one slot and test a different choice in another.

Tips for your first run

A first run is best treated as one version of Caio's second chance, not as a completion checklist. The choices track Courage, Truth, relapses and five relationships, so a player who tries to please everyone may spread those threads thin. The game has six save slots and auto-save; use them to keep a main path and a test path. The first playthrough is estimated at about four hours, and full coverage at about ten.

• Decide early whether to prioritise Courage or Truth, then watch how relapses and the five bonds respond.
• Keep one slot for a clean main route and another for choices that seem likely to swing a relationship.
• Leave the secret ending for New Game+, where fifteen extra scenes from other characters' perspectives also appear.
• Use the 44-entry codex, twelve recoverable Memories of Caio and 29 achievements as completion targets after the first ending.

Content and replayability

The content package is large for a single visual novel: twelve chapters, a bonus interlude, about 80,000 words per language and seven endings. The first run is estimated at four hours; seeing everything is estimated at ten. New Game+ is not a victory lap only. It adds fifteen scenes told from other characters' points of view and holds the one secret ending.

Replay value is also built into the choice tracking. The 113 decisions watch Courage, Truth, relapses and the relationships with Mirel, Odessa, Ysolde, Gaven and Bram. A 44-entry codex, twelve recoverable Memories of Caio and 29 achievements give completionists concrete targets beyond the endings. The bonus interlude sits beside the twelve main chapters, and the New Game+ scenes are additions to the main route.

Presentation and performance

The visual presentation relies on illustrated characters, backgrounds and event CGs. The soundtrack is original, with fourteen tracks and an original song. The game is a visual novel with anime, dark fantasy and psychological horror tags, and its story is adapted from the novel Cinzas de Uma Vida Anterior. The English and Brazilian Portuguese scripts can be switched at any time.

The full version is a single offline HTML file that opens in a browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or Android. That makes the release portable across the listed systems, and the free browser demo offers a way to test the opening chapters before buying. The demo covers the first chapters; the full version carries the complete twelve-chapter story plus the bonus interlude.

Who should play it

This is for readers who want a dark fantasy visual novel with a heavy emotional core, not a light power fantasy. Caio's second life as Lior is shaped by guilt, family loss and the question of whether a person can act differently when given another chance. The 113 choices, five relationships, seven endings and New Game+ scenes give that question a mechanical shape. The Brazilian Portuguese and English scripts and the offline HTML build add practical appeal.

The content warning matters. The story confronts mourning, the loss of relatives, an off-screen drowning of a child, violent episodes, alcohol dependence, psychological trauma and guilt. There is no sexual content. Players who want a gentle redemption story should approach with care; those who like psychological horror and multiple-ending drama will find the material directly on target.