Cyberpunk is not dead

The Ascent is broken in a lot of ways. The co-op is extremely buggy. The game crashed a few times. It takes a while to get interesting, and yet even with all these flaws, I had an outstanding time playing it. Coming from a small team consisting of 12 developers The Ascent is a title that bites off a bit more than it can chew. Still, it is impossible to discount the sheer immersion from the dingy world. The combat feels great, the powers are super fun to use, and playing with friends is an absolute blast. While it might be rough around the edges The Ascent managed to draw me and not let go.

The world of The Ascent is drenched in cyberpunk. Players take on the role of a mercenary trapped on a planet doing odd jobs for seedy individuals. What I love is how immersive this world is. It is dark and wet and full of NPCs that simply go on about their daily routine. The world feels alive. Even more so than other games that claim a larger scale. I love how people react to firefights that break out. Everything about the world here just feels immersive.

MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99

Characters love to talk and they have plenty to say. There are multiple dialogue options and world building that is there for players that want to discover it all. This environment has been thought out and there is simply a ton to explore and discover.

At its heart The Ascent is a twin stick shooter with RPG elements tossed in for good measure. Playing with a controller felt good as I aimed the reticle with the right stick and moved with the left. What makes combat more interesting is that the game works with elevations. Players can duck to get behind cover or pull the left trigger to raise the barrel of the gun higher to hit specific parts of enemies. It is something I haven’t seen in most isometric-style games. It adds enough flavor to the combat to make it feel more than the sum of its parts.

The RPG systems are pretty boilerplate with each level giving a set number of skill points that can be tossed into various attributes such as health and crit chance. It felt more arbitrary than anything else and not quite as in-depth as other parts of the game. I do love the augments and modifications though as they really amp up the experience. Augments are active abilities that can range from melee attacks to spawning helper robots to deal with enemies. I found myself experimenting with different ones for different situations. I do wish I could hot swap them with a weapon wheel instead of having to change them via a menu.

The mods are passive and offer up various buffs for characters. While not quite as interesting as the augmentations, it is nice that I am able to find and purchase new ones throughout the game. The weapons are pretty standard fare with pistols, machine guns, shotguns, etc. This is not a typical loot game where each weapon has unique attributes. Instead, gunsmiths are available to upgrade a specific weapon type. I found several of the same type of weapon and ended up selling the extras at vendors in order to purchase upgrades. The loot in The Ascent is more about quantity than quality.

Playing with friends is where the game shines though. This is the perfect chat room game where I was constantly teaming up with buddies to take down missions over and over, while grinding XP and collecting more weapons. The missions are fun enough that doing them over and over never wore me down. It reminded me of grinding through dungeons in Diablo. The co-op is quite buggy though. There were several instances where the level took forever to load or events would not trigger. I assume this is due to growing pains of a new game of this scale and expect them to get ironed out over time. The biggest compliment I can pay to the game though is this never stopped us. We simply created a new lobby and continued on.

Visually the game is gorgeous. As I mentioned there are hundreds of NPCs walking around. The world feels alive and lived in. Destructible environments and scattering pedestrians lead to some truly awe-inspiring moments. The game runs at 60fps on Series consoles and feels great. The neon lights and isometric viewpoint really do a nice job of making this game look stellar. I was simply in awe at the scale and scope of the game considering the team that made it. This is one visual showpiece. The music is equally impressive delivering synth tones that match the world. I was getting massive Ghost in the Shell and Akira vibes from the soundtrack. This game truly stands out in the presentation department.

The Ascent is a wonderful experience that is easy to recommend thanks to Game Pass. It has some technical issues, some bugs, and also takes a while to get to the point, but it is worth the investment. There is little reason to not check it out if you have Game Pass. This is a game that is great with friends and even solo manages to entertain. I hope they continue to clean up the bugs over time, but for now it is easily one of my favorite experiences of the Summer.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.