Astria Ascending Reviews
Astria Ascending's 2D puzzle platforming blended with turn-based combat and stunning art style does all the heavy lifting to keep players interested as the game's writing feels a bit generic.
Astria Ascending has the makings of a unique RPG but never builds on its strengths to rise above average.
A sensory achievement for nostalgic JRPGs left without any enjoyable game under the hood and falls short of an already exceptional 2021 JRPG roster.
Despite its convincing 2D aesthetic, its music and its undeniable richness, Astria Ascending misses the boat a little to hope to compete with the greatest of the genre. The fault is a certain lack of inventiveness in the gameplay, a difficulty sometimes too demanding and an unclear course of missions, not to mention some fatal flaws.
Review in French | Read full review
Review code provided by the publisher.
Astria Ascending attracts you with its art, keeps you interested with its combat, but may lose you entirely due to its bland story full of annoying difficulty spikes.
Despite some of the JRPG royalty involved, Astria Ascending just isn’t able to live up to the high expectations. The good news is that Artisan Studio seem committed to updating the game over time, so ideally the rough edges present will get smoothed out.
Astria Ascending is a JRPG of remarkable ideas and great visuals, but, unfortunately, its execution leaves much to be desired. The combat system that rewards exploiting enemies' weaknesses is promising, though the fact it's deeply unbalanced and the pattern repetition makes the battles frustrating. There are many options to customize and develop characters, nonetheless, a lot of grinding is necessary to make the most out of these resources. Orcanon's many activities and an elaborate minigame may satisfy eager players but it's a shame the plot, characters, dungeons and locales lack inspiration. At least, the universe has a really beautiful visual and quality music. In the end, its meager qualities aren't enough to save Astria Ascending.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Astria Ascending is a bit of an odd bird to me...
An ambitious project featuring big names from the JRPG scene. It uses many JRPG conventions from the past, but ultimately, fails to stand up to the best in the genre.
Astria Ascending has the makings of a great game, but it falls short on several fronts. A version of the game that started out at an earlier point in the story, in order to gradually introduce each character and their abilities, would have helped smooth the transition into the main quest. A number of QoL improvements, especially related to the speed of the battles, would also drastically improve the gameplay. As it stands, Astria Ascending feels like a throwback to a different era, while needlessly ignoring the modern conveniences that have improved the genre in the time that has passed since then.
An exciting battle system paired with gorgeous visuals will pull players in. Astria Ascending has the makings of a classic JRPG but falls short with forgettable storytelling and a bad English dub.
Astria Ascending is a good RPG that is quite easy to recommend despite its obvious shortcomings. While you’re able to adjust the difficulty, including removing most of the challenge if you want, the game isn’t holding your hand when it comes to quests and exploration - and thus it may not be for everyone.
Astria Ascending is not a great JRPG. I would hesitate to label it a good one. In a year of winners, it's not a complete outlier but it's no contemporary classic. Despite a few flirtations with intrigue, the story is generally vacant of anything compelling enough to stick around until the credits. Poor writing compounds the problem and unlikable characters can't overcome it. Gameplay ranges from strong to stale, with just enough gumption and innovation to keep things lively. Pound for pound and for all its pedigree, this is a disappointing experience I'm not inclined to recommend.
Astria Ascending is a beautifully hand-drawn game with an old school JRPG feel. It tries to keep the experience modern with some much needed quality of life improvements, but annoying bugs hold it back. It's a bit of a shame that the story is fairly forgettable but the fun combat system does help alleviate this to an extent. With a very detailed job system and plenty of optional side content to get involved with, there is entertainment to be found here if don't mind the grind - but as an overall role-playing adventure, Astria Ascending has clear flaws.
For a game with so many valid criticisms, a recommendation might not seem forthcoming, but Astria Ascending rises above all of these issues as a total experience, with the art alone making worth the price of admission.
Overall, Astria Ascending is a perfectly good JRPG that is familiar and traditional in a way that is both refreshing and frustrating. What it does differently from others in its class (fun and unique temple puzzles, amazing quality art assets) are enough to help it rise from the ashes of its storytelling faults. Major difficulty spikes and repetitive encounters hold it back from greatness and may make this a skip for some, but the adventure will speak to many fans of classic JRPGs.
Astria Ascending had me invested in the 25 hours it took me to get to the final dungeon. However, that comes with a padded runtime of level grinding, lengthy battles, dungeon navigation confusion, and many menu interactions. So if you begin, prepare not to understand what is going on until 10 hours into the game, but if you don’t have that time, don’t bother. However, those who do get far enough are in for a genuinely fun JPRG experience that only requires a few quality-of-life improvements.
Astria Ascending is surprisingly an accessible JRPG that could appeal to both veterans and beginners. The fact that your health replenishes after each battle makes dungeon crawling not as stressful as other RPGs. Not to mention the 2D graphics look awesome on both PS4 and PS5. This is definitely if you are a JRPG fan in general.
When it comes down to it, Astria Ascending is a charming blend of new and old, and a very enjoyable RPG experience overall. I’m always happy when I see a game successfully emulate the spirit of the ever-sacred old-school RPG, and I can happily say that Artisan Studios really outdid themselves with this one!