Ascent DX

Ascent DX

Johan Peitz · March 26, 2025 · Adventure, Metroidvania, Exploration, Atmospheric, Platformer

Ascent DX is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

PC
Very Positive99% · 313
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

Screenshots

Ascent DX price

Ascent DX is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About Ascent DX

Ascent DX is a tiny metroidvania brought to life in glorious 64 x 64 pixel art and soothing chiptune music. Crashed on an unknown planet you have to explore lush jungles, lifeless deserts, and luminescent caves in search of anything that can help you understand what has happened to the planet and how to get off it.While the game is a bigger version of the original Ascent, with almost twice as many locations to explore, it is still quite a short game. With the same celebrated gameplay and atmosphere, the DX versions also brings more items to find, more platforming puzzles, and more lore to uncover. 

FEATURES

  • A world brought to life by tiny but expressive pixel art
  • Explore the planet's many biomes in your own pace and direction
  • Find new powers and abilities that help you on your way
  • Uncover the fate of the planet as well as your own 
  • Different endings based on how much was discovered

CREDITS

Design, code, & pixel art: Johan PeitzMusic & sfx: Brent HoustonCapsule art: Jon Nielsen

Ascent DX — game info

Platforms
Windows, macOS
Player modes
Single-player
Controller
Full controller support
PC Game Pass
Not included

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

✦ AI summary

Players praise this compact Metroidvania as a brilliantly designed gem that proves PICO-8's capabilities, with smooth controls, charming chiptune music, and excellent level design packed into a short, free package. Common complaints center on the retro pixel graphics being somewhat underwhelming and occasional readability issues with dialog boxes, though these minor gripes don't significantly detract from the overall enjoyable experience.

Recommended Sep 5, 2026
i really enjoyed this game, i felt some kind of dread along with the explorer. really fun 9/10 got lost a couple times
Recommended Sep 3, 2026
Short but sweet, loved exploring this tiny world.
Recommended Sep 2, 2026
A nice free, short, metroidvania game, should take only about an hour, so why not give it a try? Good story line for such a short game.
Recommended Sep 1, 2026
It's a free metroidvania with a perfectly small scope. It's a condensed, intricate world, so you probably will get lost just long enough to exercise your new movement abilities in areas you might not otherwise return to. The gamefeel is very comfortable despite how it looks. I'm a little pretentious so I would have enjoyed if the game had a little more friction to suit the serious tone of the story being told, but for most people I think it'll just be a great short nonlinear platformer. This is one of those free games that is worth your time.
Recommended Aug 25, 2026
Little lovely game <3
Recommended Aug 23, 2026
What a great little game. Want more.

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