Open Veils · Answer
What is the difference between ashes of the singularity one and two?
Ashes II is a full sequel, not a remaster or expansion. The original shipped two factions and a Nitrous 1.0 engine; the sequel adds a third faction, a rebuilt army-layer command system, and a materially upgraded engine descended from the Ara: History Untold codebase. The two games share a universe but are structurally different products.
Evidence
- Per the official Stardock FAQ (Dec 2025), the original 2016 game centred entirely on the Post-Human Coalition and the Substrate — two posthuman forces fighting across planetary-scale maps.
- On the engine side, Brett Norton of Oxide Games confirmed in a February 2026 interview with WCCFTech that Ashes 1 ran on Nitrous 1.0, the engine then evolved through Ara: History Untold, and Ashes II runs on a further-advanced iteration of that Ara engine — 'a substantial improvement technologically over both.'
- The campaign perspective also shifts entirely: the original told its story through posthuman eyes; Ashes II's campaign is narrated from the UEF's human point of view, and Stardock states no prior knowledge of the first game is needed to follow it.
- Ashes II introduces the United Earth Forces, described by Stardock as 'an entirely new faction with new units,' bringing conventional ground infantry and armour into a conflict previously fought by machine armies.
- The PHC and Substrate return, but with 'a mix of returning favourites, refits and fresh units that replace older ones' — not every original unit survives the transition.