The Ascent Reviews
The world of Veles is a grim one, indeed. Beneath its multi-hued, rain slicked surface lies a world run by the corporate and served by the desperate. The small settlements that fill in for towns are filled with light, as if to hold back the encroaching darkness, the murky landscape that threatens to swallow them whole at any moment. It is Blade Runner without the soul. It is Shadowrun without the depth. In the end, perhaps a more fitting name for the game would have been “The Descent.”
The Ascent delivers meaty action and gorgeous visuals in an imaginative cyberpunk package.
Fans of twin-stick shooters and action RPGs are likely to get a good amount of fun out of The Ascent, especially if they have the patience to work though some of its issues. The fact that it looks so pretty, at least on Xbox Series X, means that some may find more of a reason to persist with it, too. With its merely passable story and small assortment of gameplay frustrations, however, it’s not quite the game it could have been. It simply feels a bit rough around the edges, though perhaps a patch or two could smooth them off.
The Ascent delivers on every promise. The combat is fast-paced, challenging, and explosive. The environment is gorgeous, gritty, and dark. Everything about the cyberpunk theme screams out for attention. If you're a fan of twin-stick style shooters and the thematics of the cyberpunk universe, The Ascent offers an exciting and rewarding adventure that is worth every second.
Although there are some minor issues here and there, The Ascent's great atmosphere and breathtaking action-packed gameplay are more than enough to convince almost any gamer to give it a try.
Review in Persian | Read full review
A worthy debut for Neon Giant. The Ascent is not a perfect, but a good game with a good combat system and stunning visual performance. In addition, you can clean up the streets of Sector 13 in the company of friends (both on the Web and locally) - the game itself does not change from this, but together, as you know, it is always more fun.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The Ascent is a fun action-RPG hybrid set in a beautifully crafted cyberpunk world.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Ascent throw in a bunch of games that on the one hand I love, and on the other hand I'm waiting for an update. I'll be happy to come back, check out the news, but it's definitely the perfect position for Game Pass. You play, you can have fun, and when the level of frustration pierces the ceiling, you turn off and wait for patches.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Ascent brings us all the frenetism and strategy of a chaotic and futuristic cyberpunk-style world, where our character must discover the places and secrets that this universe hides. Despite its flaws, it becomes an Xbox must-have.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Outstanding cyberpunk visuals and fun top-down shooting make The Ascent worth playing in single-player. But it could have been even better with less tedium, tighter pacing, and fewer bugs.
In terms of the overall gaming experience, the creators have designed a very exciting and engaging campaign for The Ascent, which doesn't lose its excitement until the end of the game by tearing enemies apart using a variety of weapons or special powers.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Ascent game is fascinating and entertaining, and especially co-op offers a pleasant and memorable experience, but unfortunately the game suffers from many problems large and small.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Considering it is the debut game of a new Indie developer, The Ascent having visuals this good is like a dream come true. Yet if you were to try and explore its depths, you will soon find out it is a pretty shallow game.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The Ascent is far from perfect. It has so many issues that normally I would not give it a second look. Despite all the issues and the fact that the gameplay is pretty basic, the story completely forgettable and it lacks any depth, I had fun with it and once I started playing it I was lost to the rest of the world.
The Ascent is, for fans of a good isometric RPG with a futuristic theme, one of the best experiences in recent years. Aesthetically beautiful, it is not the most innovative experience in terms of both story and gameplay, but it manages to be competent in everything it proposes, resulting in an intense and surprisingly immersive journey.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I must reiterate that The Ascent is gorgeous, and for a team of just a dozen developers, they have outperformed themselves in that regard. Unfortunately, because the narrative is so anaemic and there is so little that connects the narrative to the aesthetics and gameplay, The Ascent ends up feeling empty. There’s nothing memorable about the characters, the world is dull and far too large for how little it offers, and while, yes, the story hits those key cyberpunk talking points, the developers largely missed the nuances that elevate cyberpunk beyond pulp fiction. So, again, the game’s fine, if you are looking for a generic sci-fi shooter (and can ideally drag a friend along). As a work of cyberpunk, though, it’s a failure.
The Ascent is a highly enjoyable sci-fi twin-stick shooter with outstanding visual and audio presentation. It is let down at times by some boring downtime while moving through areas and some inconsistent AI but the overall gameplay is a blast whether you’re playing solo or with friends. Fans of twin-stick shooters and cyberpunk worlds will want to have this on their to-play list for sure.
The Ascent strikes the right cyberpunk and action-shooter chords to make a strong impression as Neon Giant's debut title.
The Ascent manages to create an unbelievably detailed and dirty cyberpunk world for you to explore and find your place in. All the while you’ll unravel cyberpunk-esque corporate schemes. I couldn’t stop playing the game, The Ascent is absolutely dripping with cyberpunk aesthetics and is a true love letter to the genre by clear lovers of cyberpunk fiction.
The Ascent is a very impressive indie game made by a small studio of fewer than 30 people. Neon Giant has created a fantastic isometric shooter that’s just as much fun as the games it painstakingly writes a love letter to. I highly recommend you check out The Ascent as it’s been one of my favorite games so far in 2021.