The Ascent Review

There are many opportunities to improve your character with a variety of skills, but I don't think I've ever really understood how to improve, nor has it helped me in any tangible sense. Weapons and armor are designed to defend together against different elementary resistances, but the game does not adequately explain how to equip each one for each task, why some kind of weapon works better against a particular enemy, or why an achievement emerges to celebrate a combination. In fact, there are a lot of small factors that make The Ascent look more like a PC game than an Xbox Series X showcase, as it turns out.

The Ascent (which you can get with Game Pass on the PC) is an action RPG, and its battle has plenty of quirks that distinguish it from genre staples like Diablo. The game spiced things up by deploying its horde-hunting, XP-grinding gameplay to a fully realized cyberpunk world and adding a unique level on top of that, due to the fact that the fight is a twin shotgun and not a melee clickfest. The Ascent is a twin-stick shooter, and once shooting begins, you will see your trigger finger clamped to your left thumb and circling as you circle enemies to avoid intruding fire.

The Ascent suffers from some frustrating design decisions, but it's a fun way to spend over 15 hours. The Ascent has a lot in common with Blizzard's action RPG, from the crisp fighting feel to the way your character grows stronger, to the isometric camera. The result is a game that feels like something that has not been played a thousand times, but is still very good.

The unique weapon mechanics of the game is not a traditional cover system but by holding the right mouse button on the left trigger button your character can carry his weapon and shoot at any obstacle ahead of him. This works really well, and the extra precision of the mouse target has made it difficult for me, and it is almost funny how many enemies can be thrown at you at once. You can play The Ascent as a cover shooter, duck behind the cover and shoot out of cover, but the mechanics of obtaining weapons are completely unlimited, and if you turn a high enough object into a temporary cover, you can send your own fire out of reach and hide behind it.

The weapons-throwing enemies are often accompanied by large groups of melee grunts wielding katanas, reed knives and other pain-seeking weapons. These enemies invade from everywhere and never give you the chance to get comfortable cover, which can be exhausting. Enemies are also intelligent, and all have the same archetype of trying to flank you and force you to move.

Most of the time you spend running and shooting through vast RPG-style isometric dungeons, and the thoughtful combination of armor, cyborgs, and magic is just as important as the right weapon for the job. Hacking expansions like Rat Bites and Joyrun Dragons just don't feel viable due to the sheer amount of enemies, and most fights are an easy thing to do, causing as much damage in seconds as possible. Once your mission is complete, you can go to one of the busy shopping districts to spend skill points on various character statistics, upgrade, buy new items and buy new cybernetic toys to connect with.

The Ascent tries the age-old trick of bringing a boss or a tough enemy into play, recycling and stacking them in different scenarios. This is appropriate for a game that focuses on the exploitation of workers, but The Ascent feels like makework and, dare we say it, boring. It's a game of simple, bubbly joy, but you'll waste hours on an endless parade of mutant cyborgs.

As I have seen countless times during the campaign, those who subscribe to the latest game design philosophy will throw the toughest enemies you'll ever face at you, but it's never fun not to be there. Combat sings when you're pushed with a co-op partner into a corner, sent wave after wave by turbo vipers, and it feels like a neo-romantic dream. Once you get into the rhythm of the encounters, the right play can feel like the product of a house brand, delivering the kind of ups and downs that might be associated with the alienation of Nex Machina.

The deeper the difficulty peaks in the game, the more I had to stop after a few hours of grinding to prevent the game from being fun.

Returning to the captivating action, the game feels great, and as an introduction to the world, I can't wait to see what will be expanded in future sequels.

The Ascent is set in a mixture of neon-speckled 80s cyberpunk and grim science fiction, which is absolutely great. I'm a seeker for well-designed worlds, and this game wraps up one of the best experiences I've had in a long time. I found myself completely immersed in the world of The Ascents, and while games like Cyberpunk 2077 don't give me the same immersion, here it is that there is real substance.

The Ascent, a blend of neon-speckled 80s cyberpunk and grim science fiction, is set in Arcology, a self-contained city wedged between giant skyscrapers, and is obscene in every detail. Arsenal is not that exciting, but a lot of work has been done to make sure the weapons feel like they're packing a punch. The special thing about The Ascent is how detailed the setting is on a micro level.

You can't choose between quests to play or NPCs looking for different rewards, and the combat approach forces you to have a limited number of builds that put damage over mobility.

The Ascent is part of the twin-stick shooter, part of the role-playing game and part of the vanilla marauder festival. After each mission, you return to various hubs around the world to upgrade your gear and take on new side quests. You collect new armor, weapons, and cybernetic combat skills that you can use in hectic, exaggerated combat.