The Ascent Launched to Positive Reviews; Gamers and Experts Delighted
Yesterday marked the release of The Ascent, an isometric action RPG in cyberpunk style. Both players and reviewers assess Neon Giants' game positively.
- After yesterday's launch, The Ascent is getting (mostly) positive reviews;
- Among the game's pros are such aspects as: level and world design, attention to detail, combat and progression system;
- Among the cons the users mention mainly the multitude of glitches.
The Ascent, an isometric cyberpunk action RPG and a representative of the twin-stick shooter genre, debuted yesterday. The game by Neon Giants has already managed to collect the first reviews, which are largely positive.
Although if we were to follow only the popular review aggregator Metacritic, our optimism would have to be tempered somewhat - the PC version reached a nice 75/100 score, but the Xbox Series X release received an average of only 64/100 (falling into yellow). Nevertheless, the vast majority of industry website have a good opinion about The Ascent, which is reflected in the reviews.
Selected review scores of The Ascent:
- Gfinity: 90/100
- PC Invasion: 85/100
- Eurogamer: 80/100
- Game Informer: 75/100
- IGN: 7/10
- GameSpot: 60/100
Let's start with what everyone agrees on. The design of the game world and individual levels are praised from right to left. Reviewers emphasize how well the visuals managed to present a vision of bleak, dystopian sci-fi, with attention to detail:
"Cyberpunk as a genre wallows in dystopia. Sprawling neon megacities obscuring dirt, grime, bodily waste, and horror are the genre's bread and butter. The Ascent is no different, and as a sheer visual achievement, the design of Veles is striking. Every square inch of the place is teeming with unique visual elements, distinctive NPCs, expressive and unique enemy types, and a tangible sense of technological splendor gone sour."
- GameSpot
"The Ascent is a fun and galvanizing action RPG in all its parts. The Neon Giant team has managed to create a living and vibrant cyberpunk universe and for such a small group in such a limited time this is a great achievement."
-Eurogamer
In addition to the thrilling living world, The Ascent is praised for its system of gear upgrades and gaining unique abilities. Most also praise the combat system, which is a lot of fun most of the time. A fly in the ointment may be complaining about the uneven difficulty level, which sometimes makes The Ascent a game where you die often, sometimes unjustly. Some people also complain about the monotony that creeps in after a while. Things are allegedly easier and better in co-op, which gives a lot of fun from playing together.
When it comes to the plot, most opinions boil down to "it's ok". The story of a mercenary from the planet Veles, who embarks on a bloody struggle after the collapse of The Ascent Group corporation, doesn't impress, but according to most it's at least engaging (albeit conservative).
Finally, it should also be mentioned that some reviewers complain about the large number of bugs and errors of all kinds. Not everyone cited this complaint with the same force, so it should be assumed that the reception of the technical condition can be very different.
Player reviews
At this point The Ascent's card on Steam features 855 reviews, 736 of which assess Neon Giants' game positively, which gives the game 80% of positive reviews. Below we cite the most interesting user reviews:
"I really loved the idea of a Cyberpunk-esque looter-shooter. It's a bit of a learning curve in the beginning as you wrap your mind around some of the new concepts, but you pick it up fairly quickly. Definitely in the vein of "easy to pick up, hard to master". The artwork, the animations, the music, none of it disappoints. The atmosphere is absolutely beautiful. I love the upgrade and customization paths. Augmentations and loot boxes? Yes, please!
The missions are fun, and it runs smooth! The only drawback is that there are currently some bugs in co-op play, but the Devs are already on top of it with a thread started for posting co-op issues.
Definitely a game I can see myself playing for a lot more hours. See you on Veles, Indents!"
- user Surrealknyte.
"I'm playing exclusively CO-OP (4 man) and the game is absolutely riddled with bugs, but I'm only compelled to write this review to warn you moving forward until its fixed - we all wiped at a segment, and the screen did the death cinematic and after we finally loaded back in, we all had lost our characters and respawned as entirely new level 1 characters with no gear, Not even the same customizations.
So far it's fun, although its pretty shallow IMO, but fun. I'd give it a go, but just know the CO-OP atleast is scuffed AF. Not recommending till bugs are fixed, the possibility of at any moment VIA coop having to restart completely ruins it."
- user Akuza.
Leaving aside individual cases, where technical errors significantly affect the gameplay, most players on Steam are satisfied after having bought The Ascent. If the bugs and shortcomings that some people complain about are eliminated, the game's rating may go even higher.
