REVIEW — The Ascent
If you want to inject your life with more Cyberpunk, this has exceptional world-building, gorgeous design, and a fun isometric combat loop…
If you want to inject your life with more Cyberpunk, this has exceptional world-building, gorgeous design, and a fun isometric combat loop with light RPG elements. I couldn’t put it down. NameBrand
The Ascent is a sleeper hit. I honestly truly believe that! It’s got its quirks and it absolutely has some rough edges, but I had such a good time in it, that I really hope that there’s more of this universe in the future. Maybe not just in DLC, but a full-on sequel, complete with sequel levels of polish and change. As I go over the elements in the game I think it’ll be pretty clear as to why I think that is.
I’m a huge fan of the majority of the world-building. Of course, it makes sense that a Cyberpunk dystopian landscape would exist in a futuristic sci-fi ‘beyond earth’ kind of setting! And it's done so well too. The alien designs are interesting, and the lore behind the enemies and the areas was good enough that I read it all and thought everything was extremely cohesive… except maybe the voices that came out of some of these creatures, they sounded a little too human for me… but beyond that, this world-building felt like some kind of twisted cousin of Mass Effect. Super here for it. The environments being incredibly detailed and have their place in the lore also helped with the environmental storytelling and just gave me something cool to look at most of the time.
One of the biggest shortcomings is how many crashes that I had to endure. I can’t tell you how many times I sent these devs a crash report because the game would hang and close itself. The other thing is that the enemy AI is pretty weak, and I kid you not, every combat scenario, EVERY ONE, spawns in enemies behind you to flank you. At first, I thought this was a neat feature, thinking that the AI was purposefully running behind my cover so I didn’t have anywhere to hide, but nope! Their way of balancing the cover is spawning in a group right behind you, every time without fail. But dang this is still a fun game, and I still practically 100%’d the crap out of it despite my frustrations.
The combat loop as a whole I thought was fun, mostly because I enjoyed experimenting with weapons, tactical tools, and cybernetic abilities. These all have exceptional sound design, and I loved bursting people into clouds of blood. The stasis technology I found to be immensely satisfying in this regard. Eventually, I found what I liked, and I ran it Witcher style with two burst rifles, one energy and one ballistic. Pocket Mech was very fun as a tactical (and dare I say necessary for some end-game content), and I loved the mega punch with the Dragon stasis ability. It’s a good build. Many enemies didn’t stand a chance, and I had a fun time switching up and using everything in my arsenal to annihilate dudes until I found what I liked.
Speaking of builds and the light RPG mechanics: They mostly don’t matter! While you do level up… there aren’t really “good” builds that you can throw your skill points into, but there are definitely “bad” builds… you want to spec into vitality and probably critical chance of course, but other than that, a lot of those skills make such a small difference that leveling up barely feels like anything at all. Combined with the lackluster 4(!) available “modules” you have some pretty weak build crafting… but, this means that just about every “build” is viable, so you don’t necessarily have to worry about what you are throwing your points into.
What you do have to worry about a little more is weapon upgrades. As someone who completed the main story and then the DLC content, I have to say that the components you find to upgrade weapons are a little bit too hard to find. As they’re not purchasable from vendors, you’ll find pretty quickly that if you’re not an explorer, you’ll be hurting for damage. I think solo players (such as myself) especially will HAVE to explore these parts to get the DPS they need for some of the later missions. I really don’t like that you can’t buy them. That being said, it was immensely satisfying as an explorer to get some high DPS weapons early on and cruise through the game. Somehow though, I found that there are more “Superior” components than every other component in the game. I never had enough basic and advanced parts to put into upgrading the DLC weapons, and the DLC just kept giving me superior after superior… so I found that there was a weird balancing issue there. I imagine the intention is that they want me to do a new game plus, but I’m disappointed that’s my only option for farming more of those.
I loved exploring the world and especially loved grabbing cyberdeck upgrades. That really made exploring feel worth it, and almost Metroidvania in a way. But good heavens, the map is really, REALLY, not your friend in that regard. As someone who has collected every chest in every zone, including the DLC… trust me, it’s not your friend. But good heavens, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the quest marker that appears at the edge of the screen is absolute wizardry, and I never got lost following that… somehow. I have no idea how that thing is coded, but it is magical.
I really enjoyed the boss battles and wished there was more of them. The soundtrack and ambiance were perfect. The moments where the camera pans so you can appreciate the desolation of the Ascent Group or just the general landscape of an area were always cool finds that I appreciated. A little disappointed that there wasn’t more variety in color palates for areas besides the Pinnacle (and I was slightly disappointed that there was no bloody battle here amidst all the clean and white spaces).
I feel like I’ve been talkin’ down on a lot of points with this game, but I only do that because I can really FEEL the potential behind it all. It’s so close to being a masterpiece, to having everything in the right places, I can’t help but point out the few things that were little bumps along my play through. In truth, I played the crap out of this game, wanted more, bought the DLC, and even now I kinda want to play more. It’s so good, and they get some things so so so right, that it makes it tough to ignore the few speed bumps along your practically perfect drive.
Overall, I absolutely recommend it for fans of isometric action games and fans of the cyberpunk genre. I could not put it down for the duration of the entire game, through the main stories, all the side missions, and even the DLC, I had an incredible time and found myself really engrossed in the combat and the world-building. If any of my friends pick it up, I would be more than happy to jump in and play more with them. Until then, I eagerly anticipate a sequel where I hope the devs can iron out my woes so they can churn out the perfect game, and get the widespread praise I think they so clearly deserve.
Now a few words about the DLC, which I’ll get into more in a separate review. To keep it short, Cyber Heist is great for those looking to stick around and play more of The Ascent. The caveat is that it’s extremely combat-focused with large groups of enemies around every corner (EVERY CORNER), and it doesn’t give you any higher DPS options to deal with them. So if you’re not into the idea of more, even grindy-er combat, in perhaps a little too familiar feeling of an environment, then it might not be for you. I had fun with it for the few hours it offers but I was definitely hoping for more.
Originally published 28 Sept 2022 at https://www.backloggd.com.