User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 354 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 57 out of 354

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  1. Jul 31, 2021
    9
    Muy bueno, visualmente increíble aunque fallos en el rendimiento, nada grave
    .
  2. Jul 31, 2021
    9
    Um jogo magnífico. Gráficos incríveis. Cenários destrutiveis. Mtos inimigos na tela. Um mundo aberto caprichado e com muitos npcs. Trilha sonora maravilhosa e uma temática cyberpunk incrivel. Parece que tô jogando Blade runner.
  3. Aug 1, 2021
    9
    Impressive work by a team of 12. In it's current state it has some flaws, especially performance and coop-wise. Give it some time to become an even greater experience.

    A true masterpiece.
  4. Aug 1, 2021
    9
    The game has a few bugs, but the story is quite good for this setting, shooting is juicy and after about 3 hours you just can't stop playing.
  5. Aug 8, 2021
    9
    Great visual and shooter mechanic. High tech low life atmosphere and pure narrative.
  6. Mar 25, 2022
    9
    Ambientação cyberpunk incrível!! pra quem é apaixonado pelo gênero, mais RPG compra garantida !
  7. Jun 14, 2022
    9
    Joguei no lançamento achei ruim demais a mira.
    Um ano depois voltei a jogar e to achando magnifico o game, porem to jogando o teclado e mouse, nisso eu acho a mira precisa.
  8. 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
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  9. 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
  10. Jul 30, 2021
    8
    Man this game is bad Ass and so close to being Epic ,,except ,, it has the Game Pass cyrse. Its filled with jenk and bugs..
    The visuals , gunplay, progression, charter design is awsome. But the 3rd time you loose all you hard earned funds to a bugs , you cant help be pissed. Several time I bought an item and they took the money , but I never got the item.. Ive had several crashes and
    Man this game is bad Ass and so close to being Epic ,,except ,, it has the Game Pass cyrse. Its filled with jenk and bugs..
    The visuals , gunplay, progression, charter design is awsome. But the 3rd time you loose all you hard earned funds to a bugs , you cant help be pissed. Several time I bought an item and they took the money , but I never got the item.. Ive had several crashes and missons bug out or freeze..
    I really hope this game gets a more polished version for a psyical release, because they were so close..
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  11. 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.
  12. Aug 10, 2021
    8
    A fantastically crafted world that feels alive and looks stunning. Filled with believable characters who are all voiced to a very high standard. The overall presentation of the game is extremely cool and goes a long way to making the game enjoyable.

    Gameplay wise it’s a top down shooter, which I’m generally not a massive fan of but it works well in The Ascent. You can choose from
    A fantastically crafted world that feels alive and looks stunning. Filled with believable characters who are all voiced to a very high standard. The overall presentation of the game is extremely cool and goes a long way to making the game enjoyable.

    Gameplay wise it’s a top down shooter, which I’m generally not a massive fan of but it works well in The Ascent. You can choose from countless abilities and weapons, all of which change up how you approach missions. Do you want to go full damage? Sure, or maybe you want to take a ton of defensive and healing abilities, that’s viable too.

    On a more negative note the game does suffer from a lot of bugs right now, especially in co-op, my friend and I ran into issues such as our UI just disappearing, or not being able to break from NPCs dialog options, as well as hard crashes to desktop. Performance is also not great, I am using a high end PC and the frame rate was all over the place, with DX11 being playable and DX12 being completely broken, the devs are aware of these issues so I’d maybe wait until the game is fully patched as it did hurt my experience.

    Overall I enjoyed The Ascent a lot, it’s a great game with a few fixable technical issues. I finished the campaign in just over 10 hours, and I had a lot of side quests left to do so I’d estimate about 15 hours if you did everything.
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  13. 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
  14. 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.
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  15. Aug 12, 2021
    8
    Finished the game in three days (around ten hours playtime).

    I am a huge fan of sci fi and the cyberpunk setting and the art team has done a fantastic job with world building. There are so many small details (just peak into lit windows or small alleys) and they absolutely nailed it. Shooting was fun, the guns felt all different and powerful and graphically it impressed me but that
    Finished the game in three days (around ten hours playtime).

    I am a huge fan of sci fi and the cyberpunk setting and the art team has done a fantastic job with world building. There are so many small details (just peak into lit windows or small alleys) and they absolutely nailed it.

    Shooting was fun, the guns felt all different and powerful and graphically it impressed me but that also brings some negative points. Running this on a 3080 it was impossible to get an acceptable framerate with DLSS and Raytracing.

    I also had bugged waypoints, quests and crashes and saw a few typos. I am surprised this was not spotted in playtesting and was a bit disappointed because this game has a lot of potential. The story was also nothing special and the ending cut short.

    Overall fun but those bugs need to be fixed.
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  16. Aug 4, 2021
    8
    The Ascent is a gorgeous game that knows exactly what it is. Doesn't complicate things just for the sake of "More" and isn't simplistic just for the sake of "Less." It's exactly what it needs to be, knows it and it thrives because of this. Did I mention is gorgeous? The Ascent really nails the art direction and level design. While many players complain about the map, I instead think theThe Ascent is a gorgeous game that knows exactly what it is. Doesn't complicate things just for the sake of "More" and isn't simplistic just for the sake of "Less." It's exactly what it needs to be, knows it and it thrives because of this. Did I mention is gorgeous? The Ascent really nails the art direction and level design. While many players complain about the map, I instead think the developers did never had the intention for us to play it following the map as we do with an open-world game. I think the map is something we could've done without, because having it has left a desire for more on it, when it's not entirely necessary. One con I have with the combat is that you could be walking down a hallway with no enemies, but when you encounter one up in front of you, enemies would spawn out of nowhere. So, if you backtrack a bit from where you came from, where there were no enemies before, you now, out of nowhere, may encounter several of them. This really makes no sense and it's a bit frustrating to me, because when I have many enemies in up front I'd like to be able to walk back to safety. I understand devs probably want me to keep moving, but I think there are other and better ways to accomplish that. Yet, my biggest complaint is the game's performance. The game stutters with effects, especially with explosions, to the point where is game breaking. Apparently as you play along it starts to perform better. But when you close and open the game again, it starts with the struggles. I've also encountered a few bugs here and there. For example, Bosses and some battle arenas have a cinematic, but if you skip these too quickly the enemies would not load properly, making you have to restart the game. I've also encountered an issue where I quit to the main menu and the game would not recognize any inputs from my controller nor keyboard, so I have to force alt-f4 to quit the game instead of through the menu. There's a bit of polishing that needs to be made but this game is a true gem, in my opinion. Is one of the coolest games I've played this year and I can't wait for the devs to expand on it with, possibly, new game modes and content. Expand
  17. Aug 1, 2021
    8
    Um bom jogo, excelentes gráficos e boa jogabilidade. Tem alguns problemas com a mira alta, mas no mais, um ótimo game, principalmente considerando que foi desenvolvido por 12 pessoas. Vale a pena conferir.
  18. Aug 5, 2021
    8
    Played on both Xbox Series X and PC but mostly switched to PC for the better mouse controls and quite a few crashes on Xbox.

    Had a lot of fun with this game, and recommend it with some caveats. It has quite a few bugs/design issues with many side quests not accessible till later on but with no warning you can't get to the places you need to. Fast travelling is a real pain especially
    Played on both Xbox Series X and PC but mostly switched to PC for the better mouse controls and quite a few crashes on Xbox.

    Had a lot of fun with this game, and recommend it with some caveats. It has quite a few bugs/design issues with many side quests not accessible till later on but with no warning you can't get to the places you need to. Fast travelling is a real pain especially access tiers, although later on taxis help a fair bit. It can also be quite hard to distinguish a lot of the weapons and what advantage they give you.

    But the damn timed defend the area battles are a real pain and I wish they did something else instead. I'm only playing single player and they might be more manageable with more than one player. I quite like the limited heal and body battery mechanics normally but not in these battles.

    The game is stunning looking and sounding (with some audio glitches sometimes) and mostly a lot of fun. I hope they continue to refine and extend it because it's a great base but not quite fully fleshed out in a lot of areas.

    I just wish the boss battles weren't timed, and maybe had a bit more health in them for the ones that drag on. Sometimes you just can't outlast the waves without eventually accumulating too much damage. There's one I'm stuck on near the end (I think) that you can't leave a limited area or the timer resets and that is just infuriating.

    There are quite a few minor issues too like spelling mistakes and sometimes you can't shoot until you change your loadout for some reason. Also not being able to change the controls and keybindings is a bit of a problem. I struggled to use grenades due to stupid key binding and m for map is too far away (o for direction help also). I'm this will be patched at some point.
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  19. Aug 4, 2021
    8
    Me ha sorprendido mucho, me esperaba muy poco y es un juego super entretenido, con un sistema de combate, unos gráficos y forma de mejorar el personaje que me ha gustado mucho, igual a la larga un poco repetitivo pero ha sido una grata sorpresa.
  20. 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.
  21. Jun 13, 2023
    8
    I asked for a game like this for so long... and this game delivers. A real gem.
  22. 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.
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  23. Jul 30, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The ascent es un juego muy divertido y frenético, sin embargo creo que. La edición de xbox series x se quedó corta.
    No está totalmente pulido para consolas y no incorpora características como quick resume.
    Aun así son cosas que pueden mejorar y harán que la experiencia del juego sea maravillosa coló a l juego en sí
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  24. Aug 10, 2021
    8
    The game is good overall. I couldn't understand how long the loading screen took. Missions are fun.
  25. 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
  26. 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.
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  27. 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.
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  28. 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)
  29. Aug 17, 2021
    7
    Good enough game. The world design , graphics and the level of details are fascinating. Gameplay and mechanics are wonderful *in general*, despite some inconveniences at some points. Story/narrative is just ok and nothing more. Side missions are just tasks/chores and nothing more. And there are plenty of bugs, some are just irrelevant, but others do screw your playing session or yourGood enough game. The world design , graphics and the level of details are fascinating. Gameplay and mechanics are wonderful *in general*, despite some inconveniences at some points. Story/narrative is just ok and nothing more. Side missions are just tasks/chores and nothing more. And there are plenty of bugs, some are just irrelevant, but others do screw your playing session or your entire mission for good.
    I've had no freezes/crashes at all though. Took me 18 hours to complete the main game plus 16 side missions.
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  30. Mar 26, 2022
    7
    The Ascent brings one of the best depictions of a futuristic cyberpunk environment with an interesting take on class structure and looting. The world design is certainly the highlight of this game, often drawing you into how impressive some of the areas can be with tons of detail.

    Gameplay is solid enough with fairly good pacing. Playing alone kinda sucks, solely because the majority of
    The Ascent brings one of the best depictions of a futuristic cyberpunk environment with an interesting take on class structure and looting. The world design is certainly the highlight of this game, often drawing you into how impressive some of the areas can be with tons of detail.

    Gameplay is solid enough with fairly good pacing. Playing alone kinda sucks, solely because the majority of the challenge in the game is a steady diet of positioning, clustering enemies and periodic cover shooting - which is a hit/miss mechanic in the game. Playing MP is where the game shines as the sheer chaos multiple players brings makes for a bombastic blast that pales in comparison to the SP experience - in my opinion.

    So is the game good? I'd say yes, it certainly is - given the genre and style. However there are quite a few aspects I wish were done differently. There are often stretches where you are seeking your next point of reasonable progression, given while the world is open - traversal is time consuming. Also each encounter, can feel very similar to the last one? Some variations of enemies give a little spice, but more or less each encounter will feel very honed in, which can be a good thing for some. For myself, it was what made me eventually tire of the game. But I certainly enjoyed what I did play and am sure many others will continue to do so.
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  31. Oct 4, 2021
    7
    "The Ascent" is an isometric top-down shooter in a cyberpunk setting made by a team of 11 people.
    You are a mercenary in a futuristic world who does whatever job he/she gets. And what you do is kill anything that stands in your way. And if you wish also read dialogs about where you need to do this or about the world you play, which is interesting. But if you don't like reading anything
    "The Ascent" is an isometric top-down shooter in a cyberpunk setting made by a team of 11 people.
    You are a mercenary in a futuristic world who does whatever job he/she gets. And what you do is kill anything that stands in your way. And if you wish also read dialogs about where you need to do this or about the world you play, which is interesting. But if you don't like reading anything you can skip this part and just destroy.

    Certainly devs put their soul in "the Ascent". A lot is done great, but some gameplay mechanics just leave a bitter aftertaste.
    So a huge plus for the whole picture, beautiful little details, music, design, etc, but also little nasty holes of negative appear here and there.
    Most of the time game is brilliant and fun to play. There are many pros in little details and huge visible moments. The most important is neat gameplay and nice plot.

    More detailed cons and controversial points:
    Camera - the most important, seems like a little one, but it ruins too much of the hardwork of the devs. It's uncomfortable and uncontrollable at the same time. Lacks a simple possibility to zoom out/in, nothing more. Sometimes you don't even see your enemies, but they see you. It not such a big deal to add a little zoom feature from the devs, which will fix quite a lot.

    Bad navigation. Both mini-map and main map are a confusing when it comes to multilevel system, which is present in the game, but doesn't show enough info about levels on maps.

    Not a con, but a warning. You will die often, which doesn't spoil anything.
    It may be a little hard for beginners on normal difficulty when you face your first enemies with gun.
    You will have to use game mechanics not to die too often and master the game. But from the other side game doesn't punish when you die. You start from the last checkpoint and these are literally everywhere. No matter where you die, you won't lose your progress. It's certainly good if the game crashes. And there is a possibility for it to happen. Hard to say how often, but sometimes it will in the current state of development.
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  32. Aug 2, 2021
    7
    The game has a whole bunch of bugs at release. You got bugged keybinds, weapon skins and stuff just disappearing from your inventory, enemy NPCs being multiplied when you first meet them, including game bosses. Also the game presents a lot of stuttering when explosions happen.

    Ok, now about the content. This game is NOT and RPG. You can kick and scream all you want, but it's not a real
    The game has a whole bunch of bugs at release. You got bugged keybinds, weapon skins and stuff just disappearing from your inventory, enemy NPCs being multiplied when you first meet them, including game bosses. Also the game presents a lot of stuttering when explosions happen.

    Ok, now about the content. This game is NOT and RPG. You can kick and scream all you want, but it's not a real RPG, it's just a top-down shooter with some minor RPG elements. If you think this game is an RPG, then you probably think Farcry 3 is an RPG too, so I don't know what to tell you.
    The RPG elements refer only to character creation and the barebones stat allocation system upon leveling up.
    There are no expansive dialogues, no multiple ways to solve a quest, no changes to the world depending on your choices, no relationships with certain characters, no followers, nothing that makes an RPG what it is.
    The NPCs are also extremely forgettable.

    Also this is not a Diablo-like game either. The item drops are very scarce and they don't have randomized stats and qualities. The only thing random about the loot is which NPC will drop that standard gun or armor that all the shops in the game have. Although you can upgrade weapons to epic quality, using a currency in the game.
    Also there are some secret special weapon locations, that give you some stronger than average weapons.

    The game world is absolutely insanely detailed. There was a whole lot of attention put in creating the backgrounds, perhaps too much. Every backdrop is incredibly detailed and atmospheric.
    The sound is right on point as well.
    The story is serviceble, it won't blow your mind but it's not stupid either.

    All in all, this is most definitely above average for an indie game and you should totally get it.

    PS: Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but considering this is "current year" and the country of origin for the developers, it seems someone went out of their way to avoid any R34 content. The NPCs are...pretty damn ugly to say the least, even Kira, the only NPC who was interesting enough to probably inspire such material, looks like wearing a sumo costume.
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  33. Dec 4, 2021
    7
    + Cool graphics & drawing style
    + Cool setting / atmosphere
    +/- Missions + sidemissions take about 20 hours to play. You could get a bit more out of the world. - The game is sometimes too difficult on level "Normal", even as an experienced player. You should be at least 1-2 levels above the mission recommendation. Towards the end it suddenly becomes too easy. - A bit much running
    + Cool graphics & drawing style
    + Cool setting / atmosphere
    +/- Missions + sidemissions take about 20 hours to play. You could get a bit more out of the world.
    - The game is sometimes too difficult on level "Normal", even as an experienced player. You should be at least 1-2 levels above the mission recommendation. Towards the end it suddenly becomes too easy.
    - A bit much running around on the map
    - Still many bugs
    - Various "quality of life" features are still missing, such as all missions being displayed on the map (not just the active one).
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  34. Aug 24, 2021
    7
    Very cute ARPG with gorgeous graphics and a very interesting world.

    What stops it from being a fantastic game is polish and a bit of repetetiveness.
  35. Nov 15, 2021
    7
    Gameplay is really awesome, the design and graphics are very unique, I deducted -1 points because the last bossfight.
  36. Jan 9, 2022
    7
    A lot of high octane fun in a very beautiful package held back a bit by some bad design choices (map looks cool, but is useless, etc.), some technical issues, and could do with a balancing pass.

    Gameplay: - top down open world twin stick shooter – some rpg / rpg lite elements, some rogue-lite aspects - the mission design is pretty one sided, tbh – go here, shoot this – some minor
    A lot of high octane fun in a very beautiful package held back a bit by some bad design choices (map looks cool, but is useless, etc.), some technical issues, and could do with a balancing pass.

    Gameplay:
    - top down open world twin stick shooter
    – some rpg / rpg lite elements, some rogue-lite aspects
    - the mission design is pretty one sided, tbh – go here, shoot this – some minor variety, like you get a timer here, you get a couple main targets which summon minions there, etc. not a complaint, but an observation – despite the setting and some of the tacked on features, this is a game that is primarily focused on combat, and there is a lot of it. You want some quiet moments in between? Not really a game for you, in my opinion.
    - too grindy, after you get halfway through the game, leveling becomes a chore, even when killing equal or higher level enemies and doing all of the side content, it will feel slow – would not be as much issue if the combat wasn’t so damn stats based, but it is and leveling up sufficiently is a requirement, forcing you into a repetitive, slow going, boring grind. As you approach level 30, it starts feeling like a free to play gacha MMO where trying to progress anything by gameplay takes ages
    - combat itself feels great, fast paced, visceral, a lot of fun, even has some vertical elements which is unusual for this type of game
    - has a couple issues – often you get shot / attacked outside of your view because of camera placement, and even outside of your minimap/radar, feels a bit unfair.
    - the world is pretty complex in places and can be hard to navigate – the map is bad, the GPS is okay but far from perfect, but you can’t place your own markers on the map, so it can only lead you to active missions
    - as mentioned before, combat is heavily reliant on stats, higher level enemies take much less damage from you, and do much more damage to you, to a point where they can pretty much one-two shot you if they are 5+ levels above you, at least in the early game. It’s not really possible to discern them from equal or lower level enemies, making early game exploration hit and miss and unnecessarily frustrating, not to mention the GPS that leads you to missions will sometimes lead you through parts of the map occupied by these high level enemies, just for lulz, I guess?

    Story:
    – has some interesting elements, some pretty memorable characters as well, interesting lore as well. It’s not super high quality and deep, but it’s good enough to give you some background to all of the slaughter and mayhem.
    - side missions have a bunch of pretty funny and wacky stuff in them, but they still remain pretty well grounded in the world of the game, interesting quest givers as well, I recommend doing the side content as well, not just rushing through the main story – you kinda will have to for the XP rewards unless you want to endlessly grind the same respawning encounters

    Graphics:
    - great overall
    - technical side is okay, but there are some minor issues– some misaligned textures, some floating object, in loading screens and when entering new locations sometimes character T-pose for a moment before their animations load, etc.
    - the style is great, the design of the world, the peds, everything looks awesome - just stayed still sometimes just looking at the beautiful designs, the lively and moving backgrounds, etc.

    Sound – great sound design and direction, weapons sound great, a lot of intricate ambience, music is awesome, gets blood pumping in combat

    Notable bugs:
    - Enemies did not load in a main story mission, or spawned inside inaccessible building / in a wall where they were stuck, or killing them did not trigger mission completion – basically, every couple missions, something will break, forcing game restart and redoing the mission.
    - Sometimes after a cutscene, movement gets stuck for 10-20 minutes and no matter what you do, your character automatically moves in one direction – only appeared after a couple hours into the game.
    - Game randomly crashes during loading screens when moving between the world tiers, no progress loss as the game saves before changing the locations, but still annoying
    - When enemies get too far away from their “turf”, they get into a “flight” mode and try to return to their base location, while taking considerably less damage (something like 90% damage resistance) and can also regenerate health, but do not attack. However, they do so without rhyme or reason. The distance is random, their remaining HP is random, whether you are actively fighting them or running from them does not matter. Sometimes, it also glitches out, and they stay in flight mode when they reach their base location, you can literally stand in a place shooting a glitched out enemy for 2 minutes.
    - not really a bug, but the game is a bit underoptimized and has some framerate drop issues, even in non intensive situations
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  37. Aug 10, 2021
    7
    As good as isometric shooters get, if the environment was destructible as in Hatred and the story had the oomph of Hotline Miami, it would be objectively the best one i played.
    It has some irks, like money and vendors(aside from the one that upgrades your guns) being useless, when you die theres is no punishment at all you just respawn again, and you are just a silent errand boy.
  38. Aug 2, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great gameplay and visuals but it has some boss balance issues playing solo, poor fast travel system and some map issues. Otherwise super fun game. Expand
  39. Aug 20, 2022
    7
    =========
    worth it
    =========
    -eye candy graphice and rebitive fun gameplay
    -ruined by freezes ur pc, bad story and bad characters design -disappointment final boss only fight mobs and bad open ending
  40. Apr 18, 2022
    6
    The game looks stunning. Artists did an amazing job! Core gameplay is fun. There is a lot of content. But after a several hours I started to realize that it's pretty repetitive, RPG mechanics are underdeveloped, and there is a lot of bugs.
    I dropped this game after around 8 hours because I was bored. But then started to play in online co-op with 3 friends. There is 4 times more bugs for 4
    The game looks stunning. Artists did an amazing job! Core gameplay is fun. There is a lot of content. But after a several hours I started to realize that it's pretty repetitive, RPG mechanics are underdeveloped, and there is a lot of bugs.
    I dropped this game after around 8 hours because I was bored. But then started to play in online co-op with 3 friends. There is 4 times more bugs for 4 players . We beat the game, but aftertaste was pretty bad. Last few levels was a buggy mess (we played after 03.2022 update).
    I definitely recommend to play the Ascent for a few hours, but do not try to beat it.
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  41. Aug 3, 2021
    6
    If you ever played Smash TV back in the day... this feels like an unofficial homage/sequel updated for 2021. Game is absolutely beautiful but the gameplay just feels too pretty simple. Not a whole lot to do in this world aka quests or even npc's to talk to. Barely feels like an rpg. Sadly it feels like the graphics/design is the only thing holding the game together enough to play throughIf you ever played Smash TV back in the day... this feels like an unofficial homage/sequel updated for 2021. Game is absolutely beautiful but the gameplay just feels too pretty simple. Not a whole lot to do in this world aka quests or even npc's to talk to. Barely feels like an rpg. Sadly it feels like the graphics/design is the only thing holding the game together enough to play through it. If you took that away you would be left with an average forgettable game. Play it on game pass till you've had your fill. Expand
  42. Aug 15, 2021
    6
    **I had to come back and change my review from a 9 to a 6 sadly. I'm about 12 hrs into the game and I've run into what might be the last difficulty spike I'm willing to put up with. Difficulty spikes can be fine. Sometimes it's just to tell you 'HEY! Stupid! Don't go that way yet' and then you go do some grinding and eventually return after beefing up your character. So I returned to the**I had to come back and change my review from a 9 to a 6 sadly. I'm about 12 hrs into the game and I've run into what might be the last difficulty spike I'm willing to put up with. Difficulty spikes can be fine. Sometimes it's just to tell you 'HEY! Stupid! Don't go that way yet' and then you go do some grinding and eventually return after beefing up your character. So I returned to the area at the VERY BEGINNING of the game for some grind time only to be met with characters that can now kill me in one hit. Hell, now EVERY area now has characters that are one hit kills. OK, not a big deal... I'll drop the difficulty. I've already dropped it from hard to normal about 6 hours in. I set the difficulty to easy and BAM... I'm still getting killed in one hit by what I assumed were the easiest enemies in the game. I know they put that little red dot above them so you go RUN, RUN NOW. But come on, with the difficulty set to easy and in the very first area of the game enemies can kill you with one hit? And not just a few times... CONSTANTLY. Anywho, maybe I'm just bad at videogames. But this is a real shame considering how much I was enjoying this game.
    Now back to my original naive review...
    Twin stick shooters... honestly, I could take um or leave um. I've enjoyed me some Z-Nation back in the day but never am I 'I CAN"T WAIT TIL THE NEXT TWIN STICK SHOOTER COMES OUT!' I tell you what though... that might change after The Ascent. First everyone is shouting about how good this game looks... and f*ck it, they're right. It looks amazing. Sometimes I find myself shimmying up to a guard rail to just gawk at a vista of the city. Massive structures stand with no discernible bottom or top and filled w a level of detail that's insane. The sense of scope and scale of the world is nothing short of impressive. ESPECIALLY knowing this game was made by a small team. The game's sound design and music are also super well done. The dystopian/cyberpunk synths play and echo a sort of isolation and when battles kick in it's suitably intense. This thing is just firing on all cylinders. The game also plays great. The gun fights are fast and stressful, but the satisfaction you get from taking out a gaggle of thugs, barely surviving yourself... is super rewarding. The RPG elements give this game a depth I didn't expect. My ONE complaint are the menus are awkward to navigate and A LOT of what makes up the RPG elements are not explained. So you just have to kinda figure it out yourself. Thank god I'm so smart. It's not an easy game however, prepare to die a whole bunch. But at not point did I feel like giving up. Sometimes i would just respawn and go 'maybe I'll go this way this time...' This game has been a pleasant surprise, and kudos to the team that made this game.
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  43. Aug 1, 2021
    6
    Until this game is updated (and game pass version requires additional updates for completely missing features that steam version has) it is simple a fun game that has major issues.

    There is quite a lot of small things that add up to lessening the overall experience. One of the large issue that bothers me a lot is lack of matchmaking. This game would be incredible with some type of
    Until this game is updated (and game pass version requires additional updates for completely missing features that steam version has) it is simple a fun game that has major issues.

    There is quite a lot of small things that add up to lessening the overall experience. One of the large issue that bothers me a lot is lack of matchmaking. This game would be incredible with some type of matchmaking and ways to meet people/make friends in game. Not adding ANYTHING like that at all is just plain bad. I know it is a small team but that doesn't change anything. This game needs matchmaking.

    Releasing a product on multiple store fronts, and having different feature sets in them is also just plain bad. This should never be done. The game is not ready to release if you are holding back features on any store front.

    Significant updates could raise this game up to a really fun coop romp. Especially seeing as it is on game pass. Until then. It's ok, but frustrating to play.
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  44. Aug 14, 2022
    6
    This isnt what i expected. The game looks nice and the shooting is decent i guess. But its boring af. The location variety is so low you often forget where you are. The story is boring and the walks from a to b are sooooo long its insane. Even later on with taxi and train is still way too long. Well i guess i recommend this if you wanna see an immersive world. But the rest is subpar.
  45. Mar 30, 2022
    5
    Um tiroteio bem cativante, numa cidade enorme e envolvente, mas com uma trama bem chata e repetitiva. Pareceu ser mais divertido com amigos, mas joguei solo.
    A versão analisada é a do gamepass de PC.
    PONTOS POSITIVOS: + Gameplay bem bacana, tanto no teclado/mouse quanto no controle, responde bem; + Visual e som muito envolventes, capricharam muito na ambientação desse jogo; PONTOS
    Um tiroteio bem cativante, numa cidade enorme e envolvente, mas com uma trama bem chata e repetitiva. Pareceu ser mais divertido com amigos, mas joguei solo.
    A versão analisada é a do gamepass de PC.

    PONTOS POSITIVOS:
    + Gameplay bem bacana, tanto no teclado/mouse quanto no controle, responde bem;
    + Visual e som muito envolventes, capricharam muito na ambientação desse jogo;

    PONTOS NEGATIVOS:
    + instabilidade técnica, com travamentos e jogo fechando e instabilidade na taxa de quadros, com alguns congelamentos mesmo em ambientes pouco movimentados;
    + Tradução das legendas incompleta, com parte do texto em português e parte em inglês;
    + A cidade até que é grande, mas você fica muito tempo indo e voltando aos mesmos lugares.
    + A história no geral é bem sem graça e esquecível.
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  46. Aug 9, 2021
    5
    The game would be great if it had a balanced difficulty level, on the "easy" level, I often died 20 times. Enemies pop up from every direction, even from the one that has already been cleared. After 5 hours of playing I did an uninstall.
  47. Aug 1, 2021
    5
    My new obsession. Beautiful, brutal and a blast to play. I love this game so much.
  48. Nov 28, 2021
    5
    The most average game I played recently. Looks pretty good, but the gameplay is so boring. Want a good top down shooter? Go Helldivers
  49. Sep 28, 2021
    5
    Одна из тех скучнейших игр которые облизывали и будут облизывать на фоне в каком-то смысле провалившегося Cyberpunk 2077.
  50. Aug 3, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Jogo até tem suas partes mas é frango não dá para tirar o jogo porque aparece bug Expand
  51. Jan 11, 2022
    5
    Boring.
    Nice graphics, physics.
    Too slow walking, transport, map etc.
    Little wrong mechanics and presentation. Top down shooter isnt good idea with off screen shooting range.
    RTX - enabled looks worse and much slower. Simillar to other RTX games.
  52. Mar 1, 2023
    5
    I tried to enjoy it twice, as did my friend, but it felt like nothing we haven't already done before many times. Graphics seemed above average for sure, but little else in my opinion. I would describe it as pretty, yet somewhat janky and unexciting. May be worth it for you, I think mostly if you really like gritty twin stick shooters.
  53. Sep 21, 2021
    4
    This game is an easy 8 when and if it ever works but it doesn't work atleast not all the time. I'm giving it an unfair score for 2 reasons. 1) because the devs thought it acceptable to release a broken game. It's not so this is their reward.

    2) because of all the insane 10 / 10 paid shills for a broken buggy game which even at its best is still only a fancy indie twins tick shooter. And
    This game is an easy 8 when and if it ever works but it doesn't work atleast not all the time. I'm giving it an unfair score for 2 reasons. 1) because the devs thought it acceptable to release a broken game. It's not so this is their reward.

    2) because of all the insane 10 / 10 paid shills for a broken buggy game which even at its best is still only a fancy indie twins tick shooter. And don't be confused. It's nothing more than that. Its not an adventure game or an rpg or any thing other than an old school twin stick shooter. But it is made by a team of 11 which is impressive but also shows in its many short comings and limited scope.

    But it is a good (enough) twin stick shooter. It's oddly enough very much like a side scrolling shooter called sine mora. Sinemora was an amazing looking game...far better than it had any right to be. The story was a consulted mess and forgettable. The graphics brilliant as was the music. The sound was fine. The gameplay was average at best and it was buggy at launch.

    I always loved sinemora for what it promised but never delivered. The same could be said of the ascent. It looks amazing. And has much potential but it squanders much of that on fest quests and repetitive tasks. The music is awesome but the gameplay is decidedly average and uninspired.

    And the bugs are a problem. The cool multiplayer launched broke as well which is inexcusable.

    So I hope this game sells well enough to get an awesome aaa sequel. And I hope the devs fix the bugs and supply quality free dlc. Or a an expansion with superior story telling and new modes like horde or anything vs nothing. And id like to see melee combat. That's right no melee for no logical reason.

    There has been like 4 patches so far but some have made it worse. And the devs haven't exactly worked with the community.

    8 out of 10 when fixed but 4 until that is true.
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  54. Aug 9, 2021
    4
    This game is a bugged exercise in frustration.

    Even if they ever fix all the bugs that will make you miserable (crashes, lost items, lost saves, bugged quests, ...) the game is simply not good. Let's ignore the story : unless you consider a bus ticket to be the pinnacle of storytelling, you'll ignore it pretty quickly. The map navigation is confusing. Icons labeling a shop or
    This game is a bugged exercise in frustration.

    Even if they ever fix all the bugs that will make you miserable (crashes, lost items, lost saves, bugged quests, ...) the game is simply not good.

    Let's ignore the story : unless you consider a bus ticket to be the pinnacle of storytelling, you'll ignore it pretty quickly.

    The map navigation is confusing. Icons labeling a shop or quest don't tell you if what you are looking for is above or below. I got annoyed with this pretty quickly.
    For the quests though, there is a pathfinder. Alas, it will regularly require you do go through some impossible path and you'll still have to circle around to find your way.
    Most of the time the view is isometric, but sometimes it show you from the side or another very annoying angle.

    The encounters are very random and you will either go smoothly from point A to point B, or you will be attacked by mechas the size of the screen and damage-sponge enemies with way more levels than you. After your inescapable death, you'll re-spawn a few screens from there with barely any obstacle on your path ... or you'll die again a few times before you get "lucky".

    Another kind of random **** is when, during a "boss" fight, you get bounties spawning among the "normal" enemies. They are usually stronger and will make your fight more difficult.

    Speaking about fights, the combat system is lame. You have two weapons. You can roll-dodge a couple of times, with a cool-down. You can hide behind some obstacle and shoot over it, or below some stairs and cheese through enemies coming from above.
    Sometimes though there is no cover and you will simply die if you get swarmed by enemies.

    You could of course think about running around, followed by the enemies (in a word: kiting), dodge some of the damage and fire back. Alas, in good old-fashioned bad design, the enemies will soon rush back, invulnerable to attacks, and heal. You will not of course, guess what's next?

    One of the worst aspects is that the focus of protection for some damage types.
    You must equip an armor that will protect you against what your enemies are firing. If you don't, you are toast.
    But how do you decide what to focus on you ask?
    Simple, if an encounter kills you in a fraction of a second, change your armor focus to something else. Rinse and repeat as much as needed. It's bad design and, in my opinion, the opposite of fun.

    Another strictly not fun thing in this game is that, after pushing your way through enemies to reach a boss, you'll sometimes realize you simply cannot win and will need to leave, level up and try again.
    Yes the quest is recommended for 5 levels below you, it doesn't mean there aren't swarms of enemies 5 levels above you inside.

    Don't bother sparing "innocent" bystanders. They run to you during fights and you will be too busy trying to survive to ask yourself "is this guy rushing me an enemy or not?".
    You'll get complains from some alien but otherwise there is no consequences. This is just another minor annoyance of this game.

    meh

    Looking at other reviews, I'd ignore the 10 and 0. The game is certainly not worthy of a perfect score, nor is the worst game there is. It's simply mediocre.
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  55. Aug 6, 2021
    4
    This is an incredibly average game with a very generic story and characters that live in a world that you have seen a million of times done before(but not done good). The gameplay is generic and incredibly easy due to the developers not thinking ahead of how easy it is to spam an RPG non stop since the game doesn't have an ammo system. It gets boring very quickly and becomes tiresome whenThis is an incredibly average game with a very generic story and characters that live in a world that you have seen a million of times done before(but not done good). The gameplay is generic and incredibly easy due to the developers not thinking ahead of how easy it is to spam an RPG non stop since the game doesn't have an ammo system. It gets boring very quickly and becomes tiresome when you keep shooting down the same generic horde of baddies. The walking is the most annoying part and the fast travel system is pretty weak.I have also encountered a lot of bugs that ruin the game or make you restart the level because key enemies didn't respawn.Music and voice acting is fine and I did enjoy some of the aesthetic and city but it gets pretty boring fast. Avoid or buy on a huge discount is my suggestion. Expand
  56. Oct 2, 2022
    4
    First it was way too easy so i had to set hard difficulty, until it became ridiculously hard even on normal. Game is really beautiful, too bad **** balance made me drop it.
  57. Jul 30, 2021
    4
    le doy 4 solo por estar hecho por 12 personas. sino, sería menos. no habilita el DLSS no hay diferencias en RT muchos bugs graficos y no tiene historia entretenida. la jugabilidad es apenas correcta. peca de querer ser dificil, sin apelar a la iA sino, limitando las habilidades del personaje.
  58. Nov 2, 2021
    4
    Some of the filler scenes and dialogue is so good that it almost makes you forget how dull and repetitive every single part of this game truly is.
  59. Aug 6, 2022
    4
    Slick graphics, amazing world design, deeply flawed and infuriating gameplay. Abandoned.
  60. Aug 25, 2022
    4
    For me The Ascent became a controversial game. It contains BAD plot, grind system, boring characters, but at the same time interesting cyberpunk setting, interesting and not typical gameplay, amazing aesthetics.

    I won't lie, for me this game didn't gift nice emotions and i won't comeback for this one, but it has it's own pluses. Summing up the pros and cons i would give it 5/10. Average
    For me The Ascent became a controversial game. It contains BAD plot, grind system, boring characters, but at the same time interesting cyberpunk setting, interesting and not typical gameplay, amazing aesthetics.

    I won't lie, for me this game didn't gift nice emotions and i won't comeback for this one, but it has it's own pluses. Summing up the pros and cons i would give it 5/10. Average game, but sadly, not more.
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  61. Sep 14, 2021
    3
    Good graphics and VFX that's all pros.
    Bad story, bad gameplay, useless stores all perks and weapons dropping from combat. Tons of bugs after month of release date. Bad balance. To much walks on quests
  62. Aug 15, 2021
    3
    Look past the gorgeous graphics swarming with details and you end up with a formulaic, redundant, unoriginal and frankly boring (and dysfunctional) run of the mill twin stick shooter with a sluggish pace that fails to bring anything new to the table. You already played this game a thousand times, they just amped up the appearance.
    In one ear and out the other.
  63. Aug 3, 2021
    3
    This Game has more Bugs then Cyberpunk. You can't Close the Game with the Exit button. Coop not really Playble
  64. Jul 31, 2021
    3
    This game is ok, but it's a little repetitive.. And the amount of gear isn't great so far, I'm level 11, you mostly pick up duplicates of guns.. seems a little too cookie cutter.. the character creation lacks a lot, no classes, no tech tree, just leveling up and picking from certain stats.. Honestly it's a decent game.. But I don't know what all the hype is about.. Cyberpunk is much betterThis game is ok, but it's a little repetitive.. And the amount of gear isn't great so far, I'm level 11, you mostly pick up duplicates of guns.. seems a little too cookie cutter.. the character creation lacks a lot, no classes, no tech tree, just leveling up and picking from certain stats.. Honestly it's a decent game.. But I don't know what all the hype is about.. Cyberpunk is much better when it comes to weapons, gear, stats, upgrades.. this is more if a run and gun twin stick shooter.. I'll give the devs props for creating a beautiful, detailed environment with only 12 developers, that's impressive. But other than that. . It's eh.. I haven't tried co-op yet.. I will have to see if that changes the game.. Expand
  65. Aug 29, 2021
    2
    This game looks amazing and tbh i was hoping for amazing things in the gameplay department to match! BUT alas its graphics are the only real good thing about it. A ridiculously clumsy and limited control system with no options to change is a big negative, then you have the even worse GUI menu with few very and limited options to change.
    The gameplay is very repetitive, cutscenes are
    This game looks amazing and tbh i was hoping for amazing things in the gameplay department to match! BUT alas its graphics are the only real good thing about it. A ridiculously clumsy and limited control system with no options to change is a big negative, then you have the even worse GUI menu with few very and limited options to change.
    The gameplay is very repetitive, cutscenes are ok-ish, the story is basic and reflects the repetitive mindless gameplay. Camera control is non existent so you are forced to play it one horrible angle with no zoom function at all, as a result you have no real idea of location as the map/radar function is useless also, also no real character progression or stats tweaking as you progress, as any options other than basic level ups are absent, combine all that negativity with the constant brain numbing mindless gameplay (after 5-10 mins you will know what i mean!) with enemies that just constantly pour at you from every angle quickly just walking/running towards you without any meaningful AI input at all, and you will soon see its a frustrating, repetitive and irritating experience.
    Its a shame as the graphics and ambience are both very cool and immersive, if using a somewhat cliched cyberpunk/bladerunner style genre, its still done very well.
    So it can be fun, if you like mindless shooting and walking around a limited on the rails/blinkered corridor space, with even worse limited camera angles and control options. My advice, wait until its on budget then give it a go.
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  66. Aug 2, 2021
    2
    This game looks gorgeous and the world is amazing. The basic gameplay of shooting and looting is, what probably a lot of people are looking forward to. But this game is just too mediocre or even downright bad to enjoy it.
    The writing is horrendous, dialogues feel stiff and awkward, no one talks like this.
    There is nothing story wise that gets you hooked. And then there is the horrible
    This game looks gorgeous and the world is amazing. The basic gameplay of shooting and looting is, what probably a lot of people are looking forward to. But this game is just too mediocre or even downright bad to enjoy it.
    The writing is horrendous, dialogues feel stiff and awkward, no one talks like this.
    There is nothing story wise that gets you hooked.
    And then there is the horrible level design. If this was randomized like in Diablo, it would have been okay at best. But this is just unbearable. No landmarks, everything looks the same, the minimap and fast travel are completely useless and then there are even multiple height levels, in an isometric game, which really is the epitome of bad game design.
    This game had so much potential and I was really looking forward to it, but it disappointed on every level, except the graphics.
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  67. Aug 2, 2021
    2
    una bazofia para los videojuegos y un insulto para los jugadores 2/10 somnifero una cagada
  68. Jul 31, 2021
    1
    It looks and sounds like a great game while you start playing it. It plays like a good game until the bugs start appearing. It already seems like a not so great game when you have to reload a save for the first time because somethings not working as it should. That's when the next 15 minutes of the game begin.
  69. Aug 17, 2021
    1
    Overrated game solely based on being a "Cyberpunk" genre. Avoid at all costs.
  70. Nov 16, 2021
    1
    I bought this game to play in co-op mode. But after 2nd save it became impossible to continue adventure together because all joined friends had corrupted and not working characters.
    Game was bought via steam PC shop.
    Release game in 2021 without working co-op is a great mistake.
  71. Nov 14, 2022
    1
    I really wish designers would quit focusing so much on “graphics.” Graphics don’t mean crap if the game is more or less unplayable or not fun. There are plenty of free games out better than this with lesser graphics but infinitely more fun and playable. One can easily tell that this was made as kind of a look what we can do game so that they can move onto something more lucrative which isI really wish designers would quit focusing so much on “graphics.” Graphics don’t mean crap if the game is more or less unplayable or not fun. There are plenty of free games out better than this with lesser graphics but infinitely more fun and playable. One can easily tell that this was made as kind of a look what we can do game so that they can move onto something more lucrative which is what the industry has become nowadays. Such a waste of what could be a potentially great game if it wasn’t for the poor quality in the actual gameplay. Only reason I gave this more than a 0 is because of the graphics and potential which I believe is all they really cared about anyway. Expand
  72. Aug 16, 2021
    1
    A lot of bugs, crashes, freezes A LOT, bad translations, sometimes there are no translation at all, no gun play, boring quests, boring characters, boring guns, boring mechanics, boring character upgrade, boring armor and etc., no balance at all. ONLY good thing is nice environment. I played ~5h, got 8 crashes without game saying anything. This 5h felt like 20h in a mine. Worst game I'veA lot of bugs, crashes, freezes A LOT, bad translations, sometimes there are no translation at all, no gun play, boring quests, boring characters, boring guns, boring mechanics, boring character upgrade, boring armor and etc., no balance at all. ONLY good thing is nice environment. I played ~5h, got 8 crashes without game saying anything. This 5h felt like 20h in a mine. Worst game I've ever played. Expand
  73. Jun 23, 2022
    0
    This game is such a wreck. It doesn't deserve the praise it's gotten. It crashes constantly, the gameplay and progression is more shallow then a wading pool and the story is the laziest most predictable pieces of Pablum I've seen in ages. The best thing I can say about it is it looks pretty and some of the voice acting is good. Development team also supported the game with plenty of freeThis game is such a wreck. It doesn't deserve the praise it's gotten. It crashes constantly, the gameplay and progression is more shallow then a wading pool and the story is the laziest most predictable pieces of Pablum I've seen in ages. The best thing I can say about it is it looks pretty and some of the voice acting is good. Development team also supported the game with plenty of free cosmetic DLC. But don't believe the hype! You'd be better off playing Path of Exile, Diablo 3, Torchlight or hell I'm gonna say it! I had more fun hate playing Diablo: Immortal for 4 hours then the 20 i sank into this. Expand
  74. Aug 6, 2021
    0
    This game is one of the most shallow isometric RPG's i've ever played , nothing is good in this game besides the scenery , the gunplay-aiming is terrible and not accurate , very repetitive / grindy enviroments , the story/lore is cyberjank I really cannot recommend this game , it's a CONTRA 2021 knock-off but way worse.

    Got insanely bored 3 hours in and uninstalled.
  75. Jul 31, 2021
    0
    Weak storyline, mediocre and boring gameplay, poor optimization. You can pass by, you will not lose anything.
  76. Aug 29, 2021
    0
    This game is unplayable on the xbox game pass. Its been out for a month and im still facing game progress halting bugs
  77. Jul 30, 2021
    0
    Es un juego con muy buenos gráficos e iluminación, pero su gameplay se hace repetitivo, aburrido, tiene problemas con la altura de disparos, su historia es aburrida, los enemigos se mueven mas rápido que el personaje(lo cual me parece estúpido para este tipo de juego), y tiene problemas de rendimiento(cuando hay muchas explosiones los fps bajan a 15)y tuve 3 crasheos.
    Si quieren jugar este
    Es un juego con muy buenos gráficos e iluminación, pero su gameplay se hace repetitivo, aburrido, tiene problemas con la altura de disparos, su historia es aburrida, los enemigos se mueven mas rápido que el personaje(lo cual me parece estúpido para este tipo de juego), y tiene problemas de rendimiento(cuando hay muchas explosiones los fps bajan a 15)y tuve 3 crasheos.
    Si quieren jugar este tipo de juegos recomiendo Hades, Alienation o Enter the gungeon; ya que personalmente no recomiendo The Ascent
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  78. Jul 30, 2021
    0
    Bad like really bad don't waste your time and money on this. Story is boring , gameplay is repetitive bad camera angle just worst
  79. Aug 5, 2021
    0
    Un juego magnifico con un aura increíble y con una banda sonora de 10/10..
  80. Sep 20, 2021
    0
    If you enjoyed the first few minutes of Ascent, you might enjoy the rest of the game. It's an astoundingly boring grind and every single minute is exactly identical to every other minute of mindless repetition. So if you enjoy the first few minutes, maybe you'll enjoy repeating them for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours
  81. Jul 9, 2022
    0
    extremely difficult. i am glad that hacking exists. i go to playlist stupid game for free. stupid mouse aim does not work. do not buy this game. i say again do not buy this game. stupid story difficult combat boring stupid game. the stupid character doesn't even talk. eight zero stupid idiot devs.
  82. May 7, 2023
    0
    Most of the game is tedious, but sometimes the difficulty suddenly spikes. This means the developer put zero effort into balancing the game. Don't give this kind of developer any money.
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 51
  2. 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. 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.
  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]