The Ascent

I have mixed thoughts on this game overall, but can still recommend it due to how fun the combat loop was, even though it has some glaring issues in other departments. Combat: You have access to quite a large array of weaponry and powers, most of them feel fun to use, and can cause quite a bit of environmental destruction. Also, each weapon has a "universal" upgrade, meaning that even if you sell a specific copy of it, if you find another one on an enemy later on, it will retain the previous upgrade level, so you cannot lose upgrade resources. Selling unique weapons, on the other hand, is not something you can undo. My only real criticism in this department is that by the late game, a lot of weapons lose their usefulness, so your viable options shrink quite a bit. Besides the combat, the visuals do a lot of heavy lifting too. The cyberpunk environments are dense and colourful, so wandering around stays worthwhile even when the objective is just "go here, shoot that." The loop does not get much more complicated than that, but the guns feel good enough that I didn't mind. Story: Not the focus of the game. For the most part, you run jobs for mob bosses and megacorps who keep …

The Ascent is one of the most underrated cyberpunk action RPGs I've played.

May take a while to get used to the controls. But once you learn it gives for intense and satisfying game play. The artwork is wonderful, the camera angles are cinematic, and exploring is fun as you shoot your way through this dystopian world.

Better come out with #2 soon!

[table] [tr] [th]Visual[/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱(10/10)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Audio[/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱❌❌(8/10)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Gameplay[/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱❌❌(8/10)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Story[/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱❌❌❌❌(6/10)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Stability[/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱❌(9/10)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th][h2]Mittens' Verdict[/h2][/th] [td]🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱❌❌(8/10)[/td] [/tr] [/table] [p][/p] [table] [tr] [th]Key:[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] [b](9-10 🐱)[/b] = Recommended for all players [b](7-8 🐱)[/b] = Recommended for all fans of the genre [b](5-6 🐱)[/b] = Recommended only for diehard fans of the genre [b](1-4 🐱)[/b] = Not recommended at the time of review [/td] [/tr] [/table]

I think I picked this game up soon after release, but played only a few hours until I got stuck at a big mech in the Cosmodrome. I quite frankly lost interest when I could not get passed that excruciatingly difficult boss encounter. Several years passed, but I never quite forgot the game. If you like cyberpunk then the vast & highly detailed environments of The Ascent will surely leave an impression on you. This is even more impressive considering Neon Giant was just about a dozen developers when they were making this game. Very impressed about what they've achieved here. So yeah, The Ascent doesn't hold your hand and just throws you into this vast and beautiful game without much hand-holding. Sure, there is a Codex that showers you with lore and - albeit brief - tutorials but it works about as well as it did in Destiny: Ain't nobody got time for that. I didn't know I can take the Metro, call a Taxi from almost anywhere and when I got stuck in the Cosmodrome all those years ago I hadn't even properly skilled my character or sufficiently upgraded my guns. This game can be punishingly difficult when you show up to a higher level fight unprepared. Anyway, fast forward a few years …