The Ascent Reviews
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
This game is not perfect, but these days we see fewer games like it, the story of the game, although not great, but encourages you to continue and gameplay innovation can be seen on it.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Ascent’s excellent atmosphere and gameplay might just save it from a weak story and a lack of polish, wherein the whole is just less than the sum of its parts.
The problem with beauty is that it lets us imagine perfection on all levels. And The Ascent, despite a truly sublime setting, is far from meeting all the requirements that would allow it to rise to the level of the most memorable experiences of 2021. In 15-20 hours, we navigate between the happiness of discovering environments that do more than tickle our Cyberpunk fiber, to fight hard but correctly against hordes of enemies and a certain frustration.
Review in French | Read full review
The Ascent delivers meaty action and gorgeous visuals in an imaginative cyberpunk package.
I bounced so hard off The Ascent that it left a bad taste in my mouth and a wish that it spent another few more months in the oven.
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.
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
Despite its stylishly designed atmosphere and graphics, The Ascent can distract the player with numerous optimization problems.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The Ascent gives off an impeccable first impression. The game is one of the most atmospheric titles I have experienced this year. Graphically, the game has some of the best environmental art styles of 2021. It’s a testament to the small developer team to be able to pull off these kinds of feats. However, where The Ascent does fall is in its uninspired RPG mechanics that felt like an afterthought. That, coupled with disastrous UI, difficulty spikes, and quest-scaling issues, hampered that amazing first impression. Though a later patch remedied some of these technical issues. All in all, The Ascent is definitely worth your time. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and will leave you a lasting impression of the dystopic nature that is the Arcology.
The Ascent is a nice experience hampered by technical issues but ultimately it's fun and keeps us waiting for what this 11-person studio can offer in the future.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
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
it is only one step away from becoming one of those games that mark a generation.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Ascent is a technically impressive and rather gorgeous cyberpunk twin stick shooter held back by a number of issues. This includes the basically broken coop, the mind boggling checkpoints and the insane difficulty spikes.
The Ascent succeeds at delivering an action-shooter with challenging enemies and a diverse set of levels to explore. This is bolstered by a rich universe that’s practically bursting with interesting lore at every seam. Despite some wonkiness with the in-game map layout, it’s a quite enjoyable experience, especially if you decide to go online and team up with friends. The Ascent is a vastly impressive first outing for Neon Giant, and one that sets the bar high for the studio’s future endeavors.
The Ascent equally frustrates and impresses me, one moment dropping my jaw with the city's neon-soaked beauty and the next making me clench my fists in anger. Veles is a brutal, unforgiving world, but it's one I enjoyed blasting my way through...when the game was being fair about it. Navigating the menus is a chore, but building a character is fun and the story is interesting enough that I don't mind the technical issues that pop up. It's not a perfect game, but if this is the beginning of a new franchise then it's a solid foundation from which to make its Ascent.
The cyberpunk world of The Ascent seems dazzling on the surface, but much like your standard cyberpunk world, the grime underneath all of the neon and futuristic landscapes ends up revealing a hefty mess once you go exploring it.
From no two dinged up vehicles or future-rubbish bags looking the same to graffiti strewn walls to cracks and seams covering every inch of the future real estate you get to explore.
I went into The Ascent excited for a game to fill a cyberpunk-shaped hole in my heart, but came out feeling deflated with the thought that this was a big missed opportunity. The stunning landscape and excellent soundtrack can’t take away from the game, but the messy gunfights and cumbersome movement paired with accessibility issues makes this a very hard game to recommend.
One particular mission ended in a robot boss that was resistant to the types of weapons I had spent all of my upgrade materials on thus far. OK, I told myself, that's on me. I should have been prepared. The problem then became finding the requisite components to upgrade an energy weapon I had neglected. In order to do so, I had to slog back through previous environments and take on side quests that ran the gamut of quality: One sent me on a prolonged fetch quest in search of a suitcase, while another tasked me with gathering testicles from slain enemies. One hour and countless frustrations later, I was ready to once again take on that robot boss.