The Ascent

 PC
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 354 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 249 out of 354
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 354
  3. Negative: 57 out of 354

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  1. Bitek
    Nov 24, 2021
    10
    Superb twin stick shooter. I cannot get enough of it. It is like Ruiner but on steroids with more guns,more customization and more enemies. The game looks stunning on large ultrawide monitor. Guns sounds, music are all spot on. What makes this game superb is absolutely superb combat.This game is awesome! I want The Ascent 2 or at least DLC please. 10 out 10 for me. I have not had that muchSuperb twin stick shooter. I cannot get enough of it. It is like Ruiner but on steroids with more guns,more customization and more enemies. The game looks stunning on large ultrawide monitor. Guns sounds, music are all spot on. What makes this game superb is absolutely superb combat.This game is awesome! I want The Ascent 2 or at least DLC please. 10 out 10 for me. I have not had that much fun playing a game in a very long time.… Expand
  2. cmfrip
    Nov 4, 2021
    8
    I really liked the Ascent ! It's like Diablo, but with GUNS!
    It had good combat, Guns options, combat-buffing extras and the RPG system was good. The story is worth playing through too: it was not predictable and typical of a good indie game!
    Other really great creative aspects such as world design and information on the world itself. The art was really impressive and clearly    I really liked the Ascent ! It's like Diablo, but with GUNS!
    It had good combat, Guns options, combat-buffing extras and the RPG system was good. The story is worth playing through too: it was not predictable and typical of a good indie game!
    Other really great creative aspects such as world design and information on the world itself.
    The art was really impressive and clearly illustrated their love for their trade and considerable effort - I expected it to look worse - some scenes are impressive!

    Some Ok things, that could be improved:
    -The RPG system could have been better, but it was different and functional. I enjoyed the learning and rewards it gave!
    -The map was hard to accurately identify terrain at times (viz. Corp-zone) , however the game is saved, given the directions to the quest function worked well.

    However, there were some areas where it lacked and ideally should be fixed if possible[!] :
    -Some things regarding aiming did not work and made playing the game fustrating.
    -Camera behaviour where traversing the world (in few places) was quite bad.
    -The quest system was hard to navigate when you had a screen full of side quests at different locations.
    -Open world made travelling a chore sometimes - the devs could easily fix this!
    -Also the range of the screen also was a pain and could do with improving - though it worked    … Expand
  3. Mandulum
    Aug 31, 2021
    8
    A great mashup of cyberpunk and scifi with twin stick shooting. The story, unfortunately, was just getting interesting when they ended it.

    Date Completed: 2021-08-31
    Playtime: 18h
    Enjoyment: 8/10
    Recommendation: It's good fun
  4. RomperStomper
    Aug 12, 2021
    10
    I heard about this game by chance from a friend that is making an isometric game and wanted me to check it out for comparison. What a nice surprise. This is a Godlike game. It's the Cyberpunk we deserve and we got finally.

    Of course there are problems with a small team of 12 people core programmers making it but they put all their efforts into the right places. It's short but sweet. And    I heard about this game by chance from a friend that is making an isometric game and wanted me to check it out for comparison. What a nice surprise. This is a Godlike game. It's the Cyberpunk we deserve and we got finally.

    Of course there are problems with a small team of 12 people core programmers making it but they put all their efforts into the right places. It's short but sweet. And by short I mean I finished it in 3 days while I'm on vacation which means like 30 hours.

    The story is as good as an early Mass Effect and if they build onto it we might get some epic world and epic saga in the years to come.    … Expand
  5. ChiaFetus
    Aug 20, 2021
    10
    One of the most beautiful games I've ever played on PC. I love cyberpunk and I love twin stick shooters so this right up my ally. After the abortion that was Cyberpunk 2077 this is a breathe of fresh air.
  6. CptAhnungslos
    Feb 6, 2022
    8
    Came for the graphics, stayed for the atmosphere. The world is so dense with details ,the music is superb, everything just fits and creates an fantastic cyberpunk atmosphere. The gameplay is solid and fun, the story does its job. Pleasant surprise.
  7. mrpinsky
    Aug 21, 2021
    9
    Great game! It is a fast-paced shooter with some RPG elements in a cyberpunk dystopian futuristic city ruled by megaCorps. You can upgrade weapons, equip augmentations etc.

    It reminds me of Syndicate Wars (1996), which I loved as a teenager. The locations, enemies etc. are all really well made and the sound design and music is especially good. The game is also fairly challenging,    Great game! It is a fast-paced shooter with some RPG elements in a cyberpunk dystopian futuristic city ruled by megaCorps. You can upgrade weapons, equip augmentations etc.

    It reminds me of Syndicate Wars (1996), which I loved as a teenager.

    The locations, enemies etc. are all really well made and the sound design and music is especially good. The game is also fairly challenging, which I appreciated. Highly recommended!    … Expand
  8. CamyVero
    Sep 14, 2021
    8
    I started to play this game in my Xbox One, but I was unable to finish it there. Some kind of error related to lack of memory closed the game and it don't allow me to play. So.... taking advantage of 'Play Anywhere' feature in Game Pass synced my save state in pc and continue playing. It's an excelent game in my opinion. Very good cyberpunk atmosphere, a huge and decadent city to explore,I started to play this game in my Xbox One, but I was unable to finish it there. Some kind of error related to lack of memory closed the game and it don't allow me to play. So.... taking advantage of 'Play Anywhere' feature in Game Pass synced my save state in pc and continue playing. It's an excelent game in my opinion. Very good cyberpunk atmosphere, a huge and decadent city to explore, to carry out missions and kill bad guys. I can recommend if you like top down perspective game, and twin stick shooters.… Expand
  9. nitorita
    Aug 31, 2021
    8
    An immersive cyberpunk experience never seen before. A ton of effort was poured into making the world as vast and authentic as possible, with plenty for you to explore at your own pace.

    You are free to approach the game however you like, and there is a sizable arsenal to choose from. Enemy difficulty is balanced well enough to necessitate a fair amount of micromanaging. Plenty of story    An immersive cyberpunk experience never seen before. A ton of effort was poured into making the world as vast and authentic as possible, with plenty for you to explore at your own pace.

    You are free to approach the game however you like, and there is a sizable arsenal to choose from. Enemy difficulty is balanced well enough to necessitate a fair amount of micromanaging. Plenty of story and lore is jacked into the game for you to really take in the atmosphere. The performance in the game is pretty good, as long as you do not enable any RTX (you don't really see those effects anyway).

    There are a few quirks though. The controls feel a bit clunky. The movement can get tedious as there is no sprint. Some merchants are largely pointless and many of the weapons are underpowered, causing you to upgrade the same basic ones you have throughout the game. Many side missions are offered long before you can actually tackle them.

    Overall, I felt it was time well spent. I found myself truly absorbed in The Ascent's world, unlike games like Cyberpunk 2077 which could not give me the same immersion as it had no real substance. I'm a sucker for meticulously designed worlds, and this game definitely packed one of the best I've experienced in a long time. The gunfighting may have been a little stale, but it did not weigh on my overall satisfaction with the game. I definitely recommend this game for every cyberpunk fan out there.

    On a side note, I personally did not experience any of the game breaking issues as others have noted (and I'm on the Xbox Game Pass version), so chances are high that they have been patched out already.    … Expand
  10. Gorehound
    Jan 29, 2022
    9
    I only come across this game month ago on game-pass and I have for game that was made by first time developers this is one of the best looking games I've seen this year and the gameplay is pretty good as well looking at the world the game it is set in it give me Blade Runner/ Altered Carbon vibes to it the only minor issue I have with the game is that it might crash but apart from that II only come across this game month ago on game-pass and I have for game that was made by first time developers this is one of the best looking games I've seen this year and the gameplay is pretty good as well looking at the world the game it is set in it give me Blade Runner/ Altered Carbon vibes to it the only minor issue I have with the game is that it might crash but apart from that I have no major issues with game and to me this is how Cyberpunk 2077 should have been so give this game a shot… Expand
  11. TheMoil
    Sep 13, 2021
    9
    Impressive game. So glad I picked this up.Game environment is stunning and the story drags you in. At first it was hard to use any fast travel as just wante to keep in the environment. However once you discover how big this game is you don’t miss a thing.
  12. Yougod
    Feb 5, 2022
    9
    Great game! Very nice graphics
  13. Nomax
    Jan 26, 2022
    10
    Довольно динамичный геймплей, саундтрэк и атмосфера в этой игре заслуживают отдельной похвалы, сюжет конечно такой себе но это не мешает играть вместе с другом и получать удовольствие.
  14. Nick111
    Dec 26, 2021
    9
    Кайфовая игра для того что бы посидеть вечерком и часик расслабиться, в геймпасе вообще кайф такие игры получать.
  15. PrancingPony
    Sep 17, 2021
    10
    Simply amazing cyberpunk RPG game. Astonishing beauty and level of details (just try to play it on a RTX video card). Level design is amazing, you truly feel the verticality.
    Of course, it is not perfect. There can be bugs : I experienced one when I couldn't go on with my quest because enemies wouldn't pop. Checked online : solution is to restart the game, just perfect to take a little    Simply amazing cyberpunk RPG game. Astonishing beauty and level of details (just try to play it on a RTX video card). Level design is amazing, you truly feel the verticality.
    Of course, it is not perfect. There can be bugs : I experienced one when I couldn't go on with my quest because enemies wouldn't pop. Checked online : solution is to restart the game, just perfect to take a little break ! There are indeed few possibilities of character customization and there are some missions you can't do at the beginning although you may have the required level. That's only because you have to advance in the main missions in order to get access to some parts of the map. Sometimes you can even be bored by the quests, partly because you don't have any stuff management : no ammo count, no armor damage to repair; and partly because you, maybe, already met all the existing enemies.
    But boy, the universe is immersive ! Everything in level design, artistic direction, level of details and, last but far from least, the sound fx and musical direction is delightful. Sometimes I just love to have a walk in those Veles archology streets, on those bridges and those catwalks because it's simply magnificent. To get a picture of the level of detail, just imagine you can switch off/on the news screens or hologram ads in the city ! Combined with what you hear, from sound fx to especially music, the game achieves to project you in a Blade Runner movie.
    This is largely enough to deserve the best reception from the cyberpunk fans. I hope this will be the case, so the development team will have the possibility to fix the few bugs, maybe add some content, and, why not, think about a sequel.
    Thank you very much for this fantastic experience, Neon Giant & Curve Digital !    … Expand
  16. Jandersen
    Aug 17, 2021
    9
    It is a very fine game - Good fun from a very small but obviously talented team. Of course this needs some time to be in the best shape, but hell - It is great at v1.0
  17. fastoch82
    Mar 18, 2023
    8
    Deserves way better than the actual Metascore of 73. Great visuals, great gameplay, average story, very nice game in the end. Made by something like 12 people, it's outstanding to see what such a small studio can accomplish. Can't wait to play their next game.
  18. Nite4awk
    Jun 13, 2023
    8
    I asked for a game like this for so long... and this game delivers. A real gem.
  19. dotrem
    Nov 15, 2021
    8
    Great game. Surroudings and ambient are real beautiful, so sometimes i just running around in photo mode. Nice writting and characters. Good design work.
    But gameplay not so great. i'm not counting bugs, it understandable for small indie team. There a lot of thing in gameplay.
    1 Map. It's aful usually i have no idea where is PoI what i looking for. Map doesn't help. 2 Game is really    Great game. Surroudings and ambient are real beautiful, so sometimes i just running around in photo mode. Nice writting and characters. Good design work.
    But gameplay not so great. i'm not counting bugs, it understandable for small indie team. There a lot of thing in gameplay.
    1 Map. It's aful usually i have no idea where is PoI what i looking for. Map doesn't help.
    2 Game is really short. There are only a few main quests.
    3 Half of main quests are defending a endless waves of enemies with timer. Really boring beating same enemies in same decorations.
    4 Unsatble difficulty curve. When i reach level 10 i hit found myself in locations with enemies of 14-18 levels and they hit hard.
    5 Almost every abilitiy and agumentation is useless or dangerous for the player. Most usefull thing are Hydraulic Slam and healing field.
    6 Burst rifles with homing bullets are too overpowered. Once you find one of those rafles and you will never use anything else. With these rifles 1/3 of abilities become useless. You don't need to put any points in Aiming or Balance.
    7 No fast trevel. Yes there are such a thing like a taxi or subway, but it's not a fast travel. Existing system ligicaly correct, i think, but unhandy and stupid in terms of the game. For example if you need to travel from one level to another, you have to use taxi to elevator location. After run to elevator to needed level, use it. Then call taxi to needed location again. It takes a lot of time and load screens.

    I can compare this game with Remember Me. Both stunning games. But gameplay itself so bad that i only asking self Why devs made action games but not adventures instead.    … Expand
  20. borla
    Jan 30, 2022
    9
    A real cyberpunk game with great graphics and gameplay mechanics. The only thing that it is quite bad it is the story, but this does not interfere the quality of this masterpiece.
  21. GeminiX
    Sep 11, 2021
    10
    This is an incredibly engaging and fun game, with interesting character developement and upgrade paths. I really like the fact that the map is mostly unlocked from the start; you can enter most of the main areas without needing to progress very far in the story. The only negative I can find is the occasional stutter with all graphics options maxed, although I'm sure that will improve withThis is an incredibly engaging and fun game, with interesting character developement and upgrade paths. I really like the fact that the map is mostly unlocked from the start; you can enter most of the main areas without needing to progress very far in the story. The only negative I can find is the occasional stutter with all graphics options maxed, although I'm sure that will improve with future updates. I have played The Ascent on both of my gaming PCs: with graphics & ray-tracing maxed out on my i5-10400f/RTX 2080 machine I average 90fps @ 1080p, on my more powerful i9-9900k/RTX 3080 Ti machine I'm getting 100-144fps @ 1440p.… Expand
  22. balzak
    Oct 10, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. De las mejores experiencias jugables que he tenido este año, si bien el juego presentó de inicio una serie de bugs, en ningún momento fue impedimento para poder apreciar lo que ofrece el juego. Destaca la ambientación y el apartado grafico, es que el nivel de detalle de verdad puede volar la cabeza a cualquier amante del cyberpunk. La música es otro apartado que sobresale en el juego, emocionando e intensificando ciertas batallas como con el jefe Celine y suena la música de extraterra, no me importaba perder tanto pues al final disfrutaba cada vez que repetía esa batalla y sonaba la música de fondo, y así hay otros momentos sublimes donde la música mejora la experiencia como en dreamworld. Finalmente puntúo con un 8 pues no pude experimentar el modo multijugador que muchos aseguran el juego se vuelve mas divertido aun.… Expand
  23. Zeneko90
    May 7, 2022
    8
    Ein wirklich tolles Spiel. Optik, Gameplay, Balance, Welt, Immersion, Charaktere alles wirklich top.
    Es machte so viel Spaß in dieses Spiel und dessen Welt einzutauchen. Die Optik ist auf alle Fälle über alle Zweifel erhaben. Das Gameplay schön wuchtig. Die Welt sieht einfach richtig klasse aus (Cyber Punk). Ob nun jede einzelne Kleinigkeit ausgereift bis zum Ende ist? Bestimmt nicht. Der    Ein wirklich tolles Spiel. Optik, Gameplay, Balance, Welt, Immersion, Charaktere alles wirklich top.
    Es machte so viel Spaß in dieses Spiel und dessen Welt einzutauchen. Die Optik ist auf alle Fälle über alle Zweifel erhaben. Das Gameplay schön wuchtig. Die Welt sieht einfach richtig klasse aus (Cyber Punk). Ob nun jede einzelne Kleinigkeit ausgereift bis zum Ende ist? Bestimmt nicht. Der Loot könnte mehr Vielfalt und Kreativität vertragen. Die Charaktere tiefgreifender. Die Quests mehr ausgearbeitet und das zum Teil unnötige umherlaufe nervte auch ein klein wenig. Das sind aber alles nur kleine Punkte im großen Ganzen. Das Ende lassen wir vorerst raus, da ich das Gefühl hatte, dass es definitiv zu einem 2. Teil kommen soll bzw. wird. Je nachdem wie erfolgreich das Spiel am Ende geworden ist. Ich habe das Spiel erst im Januar 2022 "nachgeholt", also knapp ein halbes Jahr nach Release. Und ich muss sagen, dass ich weder Glitches, Bugs, noch Abstürze oder sonst was. Es lief auf meiner mittlerweile betagten 1080 auf 1440P mit Ulti/Max Einstellungen mit flüssigen 80-90 FPS. Außer bei einigen Boss Gegnern mit vielen Projektilen gingen die FPS drastisch runter.

    Fazit:

    Aber alles in allem ein richtig gutes Game, dass ich jedem empfehlen kann.
    Also auf alle Fälle jeder der den Gamepass schon abonniert hat. Wer es noch nicht gemacht hat, dann tut dies und holt das Spiel unbedingt nach.

    Meine Wertung sind 8,5 von 10 Punkten.

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    A really great game. Looks, gameplay, balance, world, immersion, characters are all really great.
    It was so much fun to dive into this game and its world. In any case, the optics are beyond all doubt. The gameplay is pretty massive. The world just looks really great (cyber punk). Whether every single little thing is mature to the end? Definitely not. The loot could use more variety and creativity. The characters more profound. The quests were more elaborate and the sometimes unnecessary walking around was a little annoying. But these are all just small points in the big picture. We'll leave out the ending for the time being, because I had the feeling that there should definitely be a second part. Depending on how successful the game ended up being. I didn't "catch up" on the game until January 2022, almost half a year after the release. And I have to say that I don't get any glitches, bugs, crashes or anything else. It ran on my now aged 1080 on 1440P with Ulti/Max settings at a smooth 80-90 FPS. Except for some bosses with lots of projectiles, the FPS went down drastically.

    Conclusion:

    But all in all a really good game that I can recommend to everyone.
    In any case, everyone who has already subscribed to the game pass. If you haven't done it yet, then do so and definitely catch up on the game.

    My rating is 8.5 out of 10 points.    … Expand
  24. DGPonyh
    Dec 20, 2021
    10
    What a fresh breath of (toxic) air. I've been playing this game for the past few weeks and I'm really very impressed with The Ascent.

    The artwork is so friggin' detailed, inspired and believable it's uncanny. I just love it to bits and I think the people responsible for the world design should win a few prizes. It's simply ART with a capital A in my book and they must have invested an    What a fresh breath of (toxic) air. I've been playing this game for the past few weeks and I'm really very impressed with The Ascent.

    The artwork is so friggin' detailed, inspired and believable it's uncanny. I just love it to bits and I think the people responsible for the world design should win a few prizes. It's simply ART with a capital A in my book and they must have invested an incredible amount of passion, time and effort into it. The writing and characters really complement that art-style and I love the overall idea behind the setting.

    Game play grows on you quickly too, and though quite simple, it is highly compelling and more engaging than the average hack-and-slash action rpg. Another thing this game does well is the pacing of its rpg elements like loot and upgrades: valuable upgrades at the right intervals, appealing chests to hunt down, interesting abilities to unlock, cool guns, etc. Not much filler stuff here and you won't be overburdened either.

    The game doesn't hold your hand much, it can be quite challenging here and there and at times explains very little. Eventually things work out though, doors get unlocked, locked out chests become available and the high level enemies that one-shotted you earlier, will be destroyed.

    Only downsides so far: the map can be confusing at times and I encountered a bug where a door in the Morgue wouldn't open for me for some time but I think they fixed that with an upgrade.

    Performance is excellent I think. I'm playing this at 1440p on my old GTX970 and I have most of the settings (that are available to my set-up) maxed out, except for shadow quality as I saw a yt vid on that being the biggest resource hog.

    Conclusion: If you like action rpgs and if you like an inspired cyberpunk setting it's simply a must buy. For around 20 bucks on Steam this really is kind of a steal. I'm really looking forward to see what these people will be working on next.    … Expand
  25. Depmaster
    Mar 25, 2022
    9
    Ambientação cyberpunk incrível!! pra quem é apaixonado pelo gênero, mais RPG compra garantida !
  26. katonglaksa
    May 21, 2022
    10
    Just phenomonal.

    Great world building.

    Very satisfying combat.

    Amazing, immersive graphics. This was ten times more fun than cyberpunk. And the voice acting was great too.

    Don't understand why this isn't getting better reviews.
  27. KinimodYunmi
    Sep 18, 2022
    8
    Bester Laufsimulator!

    Hätte ich so nicht rausgebracht, leider noch einige Bugs drin, weswegen man des öfteren mal neustarten muss. Vom Gameplay her ist es aber wirklich interessant und macht echt Spaß, eine Story ist gerade eben so vorhanden. Manche Kameraperspektiven sind etwas unübersichtlich und Games unter 30 Stunden Spielzeit sind auch etwas kurz, gerade lieb gewonnen und auch    Bester Laufsimulator!

    Hätte ich so nicht rausgebracht, leider noch einige Bugs drin, weswegen man des öfteren mal neustarten muss. Vom Gameplay her ist es aber wirklich interessant und macht echt Spaß, eine Story ist gerade eben so vorhanden. Manche Kameraperspektiven sind etwas unübersichtlich und Games unter 30 Stunden Spielzeit sind auch etwas kurz, gerade lieb gewonnen und auch schon wieder vorbei. Für den fairen Preis kann man dann aber auch wieder nichts sagen.

    Insgesamt hat es sich gelohnt, hat Spaß gemacht und ich musste mich nicht ernsthaft aufregen.    … Expand
  28. EVIL_UJIN
    Oct 15, 2022
    8
    + Стрельба супер
    + Детализация супер
    + Дизайн локаций просто офигенный, хочется делать скриншоты каждые 20 шагов + Проработка мира супер + Сюжет норм + Система развития норм + Спецэффекты огонь В общем, это больше киберпанк, чем Киберпанк 2077)    + Стрельба супер
    + Детализация супер
    + Дизайн локаций просто офигенный, хочется делать скриншоты каждые 20 шагов
    + Проработка мира супер
    + Сюжет норм
    + Система развития норм
    + Спецэффекты огонь

    В общем, это больше киберпанк, чем Киберпанк 2077)
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Awards & Rankings

25
#25 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 51
  3. Negative: 0 out of 51
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 17, 2022
    100
    The Ascent provides you with a unique opportunity to visit the not-so-distant dystopic future of our world in an action-packed manner and also in a graphically astonishing way. Its various possibilities of character creation allow for a unique playthrough and replayablity.
  2. Gamersky
    Dec 20, 2021
    76
    The Ascent has an excellent shooting experience and is great for playing with friends. However, apart from "shooting another wave of enemies", the game can bring very limited fun. The dull story and gameplay will easily bore you in this cyberpunk world.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 22, 2021
    79
    Many games go for the cyberpunk vibe lately, but few can live up to this style as good as The Ascent does. [Issue#255, p.44]
See all critic reviews »