The Ascent

 Xbox Series X
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 453 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 346 out of 453
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 453
  3. Negative: 67 out of 453
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  1. Thejodjeremie
    Aug 5, 2021
    7
    I enjoyed the game even though it wasn't perfect. The combat was very frustrating at times and the loot wasn't great. The story, music, and graphics were all awesome.
  2. ALEXX84290
    Aug 1, 2021
    7
    El juego gráfica y artísticamente es brutal, las mecánicas están bien pulidas, me recordó mucho cuando en mi niñez jugaba Contra (un twenstick shooter)
    La historia, si bien no me voló la cabeza es disfrutable, para mí en lo que más peca el juego es en ser repetitivo en algunas secciones y de tener algunos Bugs menores.
    Básicamente mi sentimiento con el juego es que le faltó un poco de    El juego gráfica y artísticamente es brutal, las mecánicas están bien pulidas, me recordó mucho cuando en mi niñez jugaba Contra (un twenstick shooter)
    La historia, si bien no me voló la cabeza es disfrutable, para mí en lo que más peca el juego es en ser repetitivo en algunas secciones y de tener algunos Bugs menores.
    Básicamente mi sentimiento con el juego es que le faltó un poco de cocinarse pero sin duda es una gran opción para jugar    … Expand
  3. CashMunnie7679
    Aug 9, 2021
    7
    Solid game but I dislike the rpg elements. It would have been better as a pure twin stick shooter.
  4. Tomoncio
    Aug 27, 2021
    7
    The Ascent es un buen juego, pero necesita arreglar muchos bugs que posee: ascensores que no se activan, indicaciones en el mapa erróneas, traducción al castellano parcial, desconexiones espontáneas en multijugador... Por esos bugs el juego no se puede disfrutar al máximo, y es una lástima, ya que es un juego de acción con una buena jugabilidad, una estética cyberpunk genial y donde elThe Ascent es un buen juego, pero necesita arreglar muchos bugs que posee: ascensores que no se activan, indicaciones en el mapa erróneas, traducción al castellano parcial, desconexiones espontáneas en multijugador... Por esos bugs el juego no se puede disfrutar al máximo, y es una lástima, ya que es un juego de acción con una buena jugabilidad, una estética cyberpunk genial y donde el componente multijugador es esencial. Es más, es un juego que se disfruta mucho más en cooperativo que en solitario. Eso sí, la historia en mi opinión es un poco compleja, por lo que es necesario prestar mucha atención si no quieres perderte en los detalles.… Expand
  5. forgedsledge
    Feb 25, 2023
    7
    From Night City to the grimy alien planet of Veles. While both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Ascent are forms of cyberpunk fiction, involving intense gunplay, hacking and upgrading your player character, that's where the similarities end. Veles feels grim and oppressive, built on the backs of slaves, such as yourself, fighting each other for scraps whereas in Night City you feel like you'reFrom Night City to the grimy alien planet of Veles. While both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Ascent are forms of cyberpunk fiction, involving intense gunplay, hacking and upgrading your player character, that's where the similarities end. Veles feels grim and oppressive, built on the backs of slaves, such as yourself, fighting each other for scraps whereas in Night City you feel like you're rising through the hierarchy of the criminal underworld to make a name for yourself. Make no mistake, grim doesn't mean better. Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to tell your own story but the atmosphere of The Ascent is what really sold me.

    I will not pretend, I suck at twin-stick shooters, yet I welcome the challenge. Right from the get-go, you're thrust into this immersive, story-driven world and asked to survive and my lack of skill only amplified the story. Overall, the game feels oddly familiar, like NES games of old with a fresh new coat of paint. While I struggled at first, I started to get the hang of the game and it became far more enjoyable.    … Expand
  6. Bokugakirada
    Aug 2, 2021
    6
    Looks beautiful, but performance issues and enemies not scaling to player made this a bit of a slog to finish. Think the devs did a good job though, and will be interested in what they do next
  7. Filmanwalt
    Feb 3, 2022
    6
    11 hours and 675 gamerscore in a beautiful looking cyberpunk action roleplaying game with some gameplay flaws.

    story It's about a corporation "The Ascent Group" that basically controlled everything in a dystopian future and then it came to a collapse, from which factional fights for power and more arose. You yourself are basically a normal person who then struggles through mercenary    11 hours and 675 gamerscore in a beautiful looking cyberpunk action roleplaying game with some gameplay flaws.

    story

    It's about a corporation "The Ascent Group" that basically controlled everything in a dystopian future and then it came to a collapse, from which factional fights for power and more arose. You yourself are basically a normal person who then struggles through mercenary work and tries to find out what happened to the large corporation or which threads are actually being pulled in the background.
    Most of the time I didn't actually understand much because I don't really pay too much attention to the story in this type of game either. But towards the end it clicked and everything was clearer and easier to understand.
    The story isn't particularly spectacular and I personally wasn't really interested in it from the beginning until shortly before the end. A German voice output would also have been nice, even though I have no problem with English at all, but if you only want to be enlightened by the background of the story, then a missing voice output in German makes it more demotivating.

    gameplay

    In a top-down action RPG, this should definitely be the heart and the shining core of the game. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it drove me insane.

    Cyberpunk setting, great and cool weapons, where you can try out a lot and also destructible environment objects. There are abilities and skill points to distribute in order to customize your character's play style. But I had some problems with the character progression in particular: I simply never felt really strong at any point in the game. I didn't notice that I've already completed quest and side quest xyz, distributed experience points and skills and became more and more powerful. On the contrary, I had to lower the difficulty level of the game at times and even had problems on Easy.
    Either I've fundamentally lost my skills here or didn't have or found certain skills and thus spoiled the fun of the game, which definitely comes up when you're in the flow. The opponents, who unfortunately respawn again and again, were sometimes so difficult and the menu jungle of augmentations, skills, abilities was not always transparent for me, I could never really say what exactly brings me something.

    I also found the "cover" gameplay rather obstructive and demotivating, because I don't want to hide in such an action RPG, but rather just shoot away masses of opponents. But there was clearly a lack of the possibility of constantly and reliably regaining life (apparently there is a lifesteal option, I haven't found it) in order to survive longer fights better. Especially when it comes to health objects, the loot for opponents could have been much more generous. Ultimately, I also have different skills, e.g. the life giver, not understood why this but not others, such as e.g. the mech, have such incredibly long cooldowns. I then just played through with the mech and a superhero jump, which worked much better.

    But the weakest thing for me was the map and all the WAY TOO LONG paths and that one is often not simply coordinated to the metro first. The map was sometimes not easy to understand and the metros were far behind quests. Paths that are then completely paved with waves of enemies that have been killed countless times and a character that runs so incredibly slowly. Why don't you get a bike or mech in the course of the game for faster bridging of the whole path? It would have fitted wonderfully and would have been cool on top of that. You should have been a bit careful when driving, because there is already a lot going on in the world!

    Even if there is a lot of nagging in the gameplay, it was still okay overall.

    Graphics/Presentation/Bugs

    The graphics, presentation and atmosphere just blew me away. This looks phenomenal from front to back and is optimally implemented, especially in the cyberpunk setting. The lighting effects, reflections, everything around it in individual sections of the city, the stacking of the city levels on top of each other or the effects in combat were made with a lot of love and a lot of development time was certainly spent here. The world that has been created is really very pretty to look at and you keep getting lost in it and marveling at the splendor of it all. I really have to say, even though this aspect of games isn't the most important thing to me, The Ascent graphics etc. let me go through with the game in some annoyed moments.

    Conclusion

    Long story short: The Ascent does some things right, is impressive for an indie developer and unfortunately weakens in the core area of ​​the gameplay. Nonetheless, a recommended game and not very long either, 6/10 medipacks.    … Expand
  8. Karottedraak
    Aug 17, 2021
    6
    Looks great and has a awesome world. But besides that it doesnt have a lot going for it. it is a looter shooter without any interesting loot or way to build your character. its more just a normal isometric shooter. there is also a lot of level problems where the mission tells you the recommended level is lvl13 and than throws level 23 enemies at you, which you can defeat because of theLooks great and has a awesome world. But besides that it doesnt have a lot going for it. it is a looter shooter without any interesting loot or way to build your character. its more just a normal isometric shooter. there is also a lot of level problems where the mission tells you the recommended level is lvl13 and than throws level 23 enemies at you, which you can defeat because of the weird mk (weapon upgrade) system but they feel as bullet sponges. the mk system is just a system where you get components to upgrade your weapon and nothing more. this ended up in being just upgrade two weapons you use and nothing more.

    the devs sure have something great in their hands and if they improve it with the rpg/looter shooter elements in this game than it could go to serious hidden gems.    … Expand
  9. tom974
    Dec 31, 2022
    5
    This is my 2022 disappointment of the year. The game has a solid base, oustanding environments, nice gameplay, average scenarios, reasonable variety of loot/weapons/equipments, a classic RPG based character building and coop should be the base on such a game. Well past a few hours, the game is severely bugged : the game may randomly and frequently crash, bugged quests (including the mainThis is my 2022 disappointment of the year. The game has a solid base, oustanding environments, nice gameplay, average scenarios, reasonable variety of loot/weapons/equipments, a classic RPG based character building and coop should be the base on such a game. Well past a few hours, the game is severely bugged : the game may randomly and frequently crash, bugged quests (including the main one, can stop you progression or make you replay a mission you took hours to succeed in), character behavior (shooting in the ground thus not damaging any enemy for example), you cannot speak to the same merchant at the same time with another player because it may block the game and make you restart your session, at least two bugged achievements.. The whole thing totally waste my experience on what could have been a nice game.… Expand
  10. FoxStorytelling
    Jul 31, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Awesome art direction and immersion. Fun gameplay with minimal bugs. Best with a second player, but great regardless.… Expand
  11. Spencersboy
    Aug 24, 2021
    5
    Very simple and easy twin stick shooter disguised as an RPG. No HDR, no Ray tracing, buggy acheivements and poorly implemented coop.
    Once the wow of the graphics wear off, you'll be glad it was on gamepass and you didn't pay for it.
  12. ElPolloLoco82
    Aug 7, 2021
    4
    This game starts off too slow and currently has too many technical issues. On the XBox One X, it's practically unplayable and desperately needs a big a patch to get it into a playable state.

    I was getting dashboarded in both co-op and single player about once every hour, and regardless if I was the host or not, there is no way to rejoin the game and everyone must quit and regroup in    This game starts off too slow and currently has too many technical issues. On the XBox One X, it's practically unplayable and desperately needs a big a patch to get it into a playable state.

    I was getting dashboarded in both co-op and single player about once every hour, and regardless if I was the host or not, there is no way to rejoin the game and everyone must quit and regroup in the host's lobby. It also doesn't seem to have matchmaking, so you have to preassemble your squad before playing.

    Pros:
    -The Environment and the Script
    It's impressive that a 12 man team could create a world as they such did, it does look good and has layers upon layers built on top of each other. People also seem to like the writing and find it quite funny and a lot like Borderlands in that regard. However, for whatever reason I can't explain why, I just didn't care and wanted every cutscene and dialog to just end, and I think subconsciously my mind just didn't want to absorb anything story or plot wise from this game. To me, it's just another futuristic "corporations and capitalism bad" plotline, like they are trying to indoctrinate us into some sort of communist revolution that will set us back 100 years.

    The bad:
    -Combat
    You have to rely on running around the enemy in circles and an auto aim feature that stops working the second melee enemies get nuts-to-butts with you. Enemy spawns and their group configuration make using cover pointless, because they tend to always ambush you with spawns coming from the area you just passed through and flush you out with melee mobs. This extremely problematic before get augments and modifications.

    -Map and Navigation
    The map is 3-D rendered and hard to get used to. Quest navigation stops working and will lead you to literally no where and then it will change and send you 600 meters to another new nowhere. Quest navigation issues can be patched, the map needs an overhaul.

    -Traveling the world
    Before you unlock taxis and the ability to fast travel, the game feels like a walking simulator where you get attacked every 50m to get to your objective 1500m away. Along the way, you can be fighting enemies at or below your level, and then you get a mob that's 10 levels higher than you, highlighted with skulls, that will kill you with a sneeze.

    -The game isn't deep
    Each area seems to have one of each type of weapon, so while you are on that level you will see the same guns and armor drop over-and over until you go to the next area. Weapon skins you acquire disappear from your inventory completely when you quit the game or get dashboarded and restart the game, so acquiring them is pointless until that's patched. Upgrades are basic with no customization given to upgrade the gun; armor can't be upgraded, and the only build control you is in where you allocate your attribute points and the gear you equip. It's simple and in no way deep. Use items that coincide with your attribute point distribution, that's the basic idea. Any depth this game has can only be attributed to the lore and world building and not to the gameplay aspect in it's current state.

    Verdict
    This game is currently in a broken state and gets a 4/10, for now. If properly patched, it's a solid 6/10 or 7/10; and I'm not going to boost the score because it was made by a 12 man team or costs $30 to purchase, if you don't have Ultimate or Gamepass. It's impressive what they did, but it doesn't make it any less broken. At this point it has no end game and I see no real point in why anyone would choose to play it again or invest more than 2 weekends on.    … Expand
  13. Queruba
    Jul 30, 2021
    4
    O "novo cyberpunk" é mais um jogo medíocre, sem relevância e que não vale o investimento feito no Xbox Series X. Não sei porque ficam inflando o gamepass com jogos bem bosta, cadê os jogos AAA?
  14. Ursoaica202
    Aug 4, 2021
    4
    It's long boring to much back track to many bugs. Many times I can't shoot the enemy it's like my character can't shoot that low. Side quests are one of the worst aspects about this game. Skills are very limited. Rpg elements are the most basic I have ever seen. Definetly not abuy. Get it on gamepass
  15. MFxd
    Jul 30, 2021
    4
    kinda dull and boring, had low speciation's and still got disappointed just play shadow run or next Machina if you want a good RPG or fun gameplay
  16. Sun3030
    Aug 5, 2021
    3
    The Ascent looks really good in the game trailer and I really looked forward to this title but like most all little Indy games on Xbox Game Pass they fail to deliver and this game is no different. The story is soso and the game play gets repetitive quick and the combat in my opinion is not good with the controller maybe a option for lower sensitivity that i couldn't find but maybe it hasThe Ascent looks really good in the game trailer and I really looked forward to this title but like most all little Indy games on Xbox Game Pass they fail to deliver and this game is no different. The story is soso and the game play gets repetitive quick and the combat in my opinion is not good with the controller maybe a option for lower sensitivity that i couldn't find but maybe it has one idk. For me this game became a bore and frustration that i could not push through and that led me to the low score.… Expand
  17. cobra969
    Aug 2, 2021
    3
    Juego con grandes fallos. Partes en inglés y español en el mismo cuadro de dialogo. Rascazos importantes a cada momento Y por supuesto, como ya nos tiene acostumbrado Xbox, no está doblado al castellano. El juego en si me resulta aburrido y una ambientación confusa, fácil de atascarse en los rincones y la IA de los enemigos, dejan mucho que desear. No sé como un usuario se puede conformarJuego con grandes fallos. Partes en inglés y español en el mismo cuadro de dialogo. Rascazos importantes a cada momento Y por supuesto, como ya nos tiene acostumbrado Xbox, no está doblado al castellano. El juego en si me resulta aburrido y una ambientación confusa, fácil de atascarse en los rincones y la IA de los enemigos, dejan mucho que desear. No sé como un usuario se puede conformar con éste tipo de juegos. Resultaría perfectamente para jugar en móvil o tablet. Un juego muy genérico.… Expand
  18. Mindurbidniss
    Apr 12, 2023
    3
    More Isometric dribble to utilize the all powerful Xbox Series X teraflops. Another game that feels like it released in 2009. Sure the graphics look decent with the whole cyberpunk theme, but it's not doing anything Shadowrun didn't already do. I guess this will appeal to someone out there, it just didn't do it for me
  19. Gaymerpika
    Jul 31, 2021
    3
    For all the amazing graphics, the area map is incredibly muddled and hard to read. Controls are iffy at best, with too many of them being contextual. Felt woefully unprepared for the first boss fight that happens within the first 30 minutes of the game, seeing as the chests gave me more cosmetics (that I couldn't figure out how to equip) and power-ups (that you have to visit a vendor toFor all the amazing graphics, the area map is incredibly muddled and hard to read. Controls are iffy at best, with too many of them being contextual. Felt woefully unprepared for the first boss fight that happens within the first 30 minutes of the game, seeing as the chests gave me more cosmetics (that I couldn't figure out how to equip) and power-ups (that you have to visit a vendor to use that you can't access until after the first boss) than it did gear. Everything was else was fine. Nothing special, though, and certainly not enough to make up for gunplay that just felt bad and frustrating. Might come back if they tighten the combat and progression up a bit.… Expand
  20. Dreniast
    Aug 1, 2021
    2
    The game seems to have a good idea, not fresh but good, unfortunately i played in multiplayer online with a friend and it crashes a lot, performance was very bad, even Nvidia GeForce experience was not able to measure FPS, second boss never spawn and our save match got corrupted, lost 2 hours on this unplayable game.
  21. Anandu
    Aug 1, 2021
    2
    This game has a lot of issues,if they could have sorted out all of that by the launch,it would have be so much better.
  22. Junkreviewer
    Aug 22, 2021
    2
    Played this on Gamepass. I usually like top down shooters. But throughout I thought something was off with this game. The aiming of your weapon is difficult. You'll find yourself running backwards a lot of the time to stop getting hit. The world seems vibrant and interesting but you can hardly see it as you're so far away. Story is generic and gets quite repetitive.
  23. Mogwai76
    Jul 30, 2021
    1
    Style over substance. The game looks good (but that's not really hard to do these days in Unreal) but it plays incredibly poorly and gets boring quickly.
    It's clear that this is done by a new team, who might well have experience in the industry in making games, but don't really understand what makes a great game.
    While the visuals are great, they are also inconsistent - some things in    Style over substance. The game looks good (but that's not really hard to do these days in Unreal) but it plays incredibly poorly and gets boring quickly.
    It's clear that this is done by a new team, who might well have experience in the industry in making games, but don't really understand what makes a great game.
    While the visuals are great, they are also inconsistent - some things in the environment seem to pull me in to investigate, but I can't interact, while other items I am supposed to interact with look dull and part of the backdrop. There is no signalling or breadcrumbing for players, there is no consistency.
    The game clearly was made for PC and then ported to the console once the GamePass deal was done - from "press any key to continue" on the first screen, to text that is too small to read on a TV and menus that are a pain to navigate with a controller - it's not built for a console.
    Gameplay becomes tedious quickly, the combat is average at best and I can't see myself going beyond a few hours without getting bored.
    Above all else tho: the usability in general is just very poor. The developers seem to have made a game for themselves, and learned how to interact with it as they developed it, and not given a thought as to how a new player might experience the game. The first 30 min is just a shockingly poor experience.
    I am glad I got this on gamepass, spending money on this would have been a huge waste.    … Expand
  24. blade0r
    Aug 2, 2021
    1
    I feel like The Ascent has potential, but the game is broken, as I’ve seen so far.
    The aiming system is really bad and the tutorial doesn’t help at all (e.g. LT for 3D aim, insane).
    The game developers suggest that everyone use the aim assist at medium or high level, but that’s ridiculous! Also, every text on the screen (except the subtitles) is so tiny I can’t read anything (tutorials,    I feel like The Ascent has potential, but the game is broken, as I’ve seen so far.
    The aiming system is really bad and the tutorial doesn’t help at all (e.g. LT for 3D aim, insane).
    The game developers suggest that everyone use the aim assist at medium or high level, but that’s ridiculous!
    Also, every text on the screen (except the subtitles) is so tiny I can’t read anything (tutorials, suggestions, map, etc.).
    Biggest disappointment of 2021, so far.    … Expand
  25. Anuragkumar27
    Aug 1, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is full of bugs and the camera management is poor, should have not been released this year… Expand
  26. gyomei
    Aug 1, 2021
    1
    game has major issues with co op not connecting properly and camera management is poor, it is just something to fill space till halo
  27. Menacing-Fish
    Jul 22, 2022
    1
    No updates for Xbox it's buggy and didn't save my progress avoid this game until they show more motivation and update Xbox version
  28. mangelrogel
    Aug 16, 2021
    0
    No es un juego de 10 pero se lo doy por lo injusta que ha sido la prensa con él. Juegalo y disfrutalo. Graficos increibles.
  29. xenomorf
    Aug 10, 2021
    0
    Gamebreaking bug during the mission Mutual Dependencies. 4 enemies are supposed to spawn and they don't. Hence you cannot progress further. Wasted hours for nothing. Another developer who thinks they are able to create a game, alais another dissapointment.
  30. lllFredolll
    Aug 13, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. technique à la ramasse, y a des freezes et des lag toutes les 2 min alors quand ça pète de partout le jeu est à la ramasse. heureusement qu'il est compris dans le gamepass sinon ce serait un échec commercial.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best Xbox Series X Game of 2021
7
#7 Most Discussed Xbox Series X Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 34
  3. Negative: 1 out of 34
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 12, 2021
    85
    Style over substance – I bet Neon Giant has this cyberpunk principle printed above the office entrance. The design of their game is absolutely breathtaking, with huge, vertical, crime-infested cities and masterful use of lights and shadows. Add a pulp-style story and good dialogues (or rather monologues, as the protagonist is silent) immersed deeply in the cyberpunk lore, and you’ve got a pure gem for anyone who enjoys this setting. The shooting mechanics and progression system might be overly simple, but they get the job done and make it easier to catch the game’s flow. [10/2021, p.56]
  2. PlaySense
    Aug 19, 2021
    75
    A visual feast that, along with the great audio design, makes for a very atmospheric experience. It's not perfect, though. Navigation leaves a bit to be desired and some technical shortcomings put a damper on the fun.
    Read full review
  3. Meristation
    Aug 18, 2021
    75
    The Ascent offers cyberpunk lovers a setting where they can unleash their dreams of steel and neon.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »