The Ascent (2021) [PS5] review

Anything Else Besides Diablo!

For me, The Ascent harkens back to my days on the PS2 when I first got enamored with Diablo-like hack-n-slash RPGs like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2, Champions of Norrath, its sequel Return to Arms and Justice League Heroes to name a few. 

The Ascent comes at these games with one large difference: its focus on ranged combat instead of close quarters melee action. I originally thought this would be off putting, since who doesn’t like getting up close and personal eviscerating hordes of demons in a vortex of pure bloody chaos? Have no fear, though, because the chaos of those legacy hack-n-slashers remains – but now with shotguns, rifles and bazookas. 

The Ascent creates a solid blend of fast-paced and cover-based enemy encounters within its isometric walls. Depending on my weapon of choice I found myself either rushing into a mob of enemies with the shotgun or methodically taking out my prey from cover via a precision rifle. One unique battle mechanic allows you to aim either high or low, making shooting from cover initially desirable. However, the enemy swarm always managed to overcome my position and the need to switch to some close-ranged gun-blasting mayhem ensued. If I aimed high out of cover the heads of my human enemies fell under tight scrutiny, but the shorter aggressors got a free pass under my bullets, which made this mechanic pretty dynamic in use.

The Corporate World of the Future

You play as an Indent (future speak for an Indentured Servant) working to earn your freedom in a futuristic mega city akin to the Total Recall set piece. Within the world of Veles, the mega corporation The Ascent Group mysteriously collapses and you quickly get swept into the fray of syndicates and rival corps trying to take up the mantle of their fallen business adversary.

I spent about 27 hours playing the main campaign story, a host of side missions and the DLC Cyber Heist. I enjoyed pretty much every moment of playing The Ascent. I can say I was apprehensive about jumping into the DLC after I had obtained the platinum trophy from the base game (yeah, I’m a trophy collector), but Cyber Heist threw in some new mechanics that were so good it made me sad it was only a couple hours long – more on that in a bit.

The Depth of Customization

One of the main draws for me was crafting my character’s load out in the early game as I swapped from my current weapon or grenade to a newly-found shiny shooter. This process was also enhanced by finding augmentations (future speak for spells) that ranged from healing to a super punch to a legitimate Kamehameha wave right out of Dragonball Z to add to my arsenal. 

As you level up your character you also gain points to allocate to six skills, which not only boost things like your HP, evasion and energy (future speak for mana) but also color-coordinate to augmentations. This means when you’ve found the augmentations you’ll be using for the long haul you can also focus on leveling up those sister skills for not only a boost to your character but also to that type of augmentation.

On top of all that there are also modules (future speak for accessories) that can add bonuses to certain things like earning you more uCreds (future speak for money), boosting your HP or even giving your character a different type of dodge roll.

Tricky Transversal

Not everything is all sunshine and roses in this dystopian arcology. The world map took some getting used to. Initially it was hard to decipher exactly where items are located when I was devising a path to loot and mission objectives. The mini map in the upper corner however, has a very accurate green arrow that points you toward your current objective almost every step of the way.  You can also push up on the D-pad and the game gives you a little red path to show where you should be headed. Unfortunately for me I didn’t figure out either of those path finding tools until about halfway through the game. This didn’t help me in finding some of those precariously placed chests in the world, but it did alleviate a lot of my issues with transversal.

The game crashed on me about four times. I noticed this happened mostly when there were either a lot of enemies or explosions on the sceen at the same time. Luckily, The Ascent has a robust autosave function so I never lost much progress, just a portion of my patience during that current gaming session. 

A Multiplayer Mess

There also seems to be some issues with multiplayer that I’ve read on some forums and also experienced firsthand when playing with one of my friends for a night of co-op gun running. We ran into an issue with a mission trigger not working after I pushed the button prompt. My friend was hosting and I had joined his game since I had already beaten both the main story and the DLC. The forum posts I had read warned us that if you care about trophies, as I do, that only the host may get the story related trophies, even if the co-op partner has yet to earn them. I’ll be honest, I was eager to show off my level 35 character build that wrecked almost anything that came within weapon range, so we ran a couple missions together since I wasn’t worried about trophies anymore, having earned them all already (future speak for a humblebrag). We were unfortunately unable to continue with the mission even after some light problem-solving, like fast traveling away from the area and closing the game. So be careful if you are looking to play this game in co-op because it seems to not only be a little buggy but also not trophy-friendly while playing with friends.

Cyber Heist My Heart 

At the beginning I had said that this game takes the classic hack-n-slash template and moves it from close combat to all range all the time, but I found the DLC, Cyber Heist, added a melee focus to the game – and it works! The main game had a melee weapon or two but they were versions of baseball bats and not even I could be convinced a Louisville slugger was a better option than a burst rifle. The DLC adds giant war hammers and swords, all with a secondary super attack that makes melee viable. Sure, it’s a bummer it takes 20 or so hours before those become viable, but I have to applaud the developers for seeing a gap and filling it in with a katana called the Guillotine. 

The Future Looks Good Just Not Great

The Ascent may have come out just under two years ago, but I would welcome another DLC or a second game by Neon Giant of the same ilk. I had a great time playing through the story and building up my character throughout. Towards the end I was truly satisfied with the powerhouse of a character I had built with all the tools given to me. Armed with a fully leveled up Guillotine, I was chopping giant mechs in half with Goku’s laser beam and a full mech suit equipped with a gatling gun as my plan B and C left me wanting more.

If you’re going into The Ascent expecting some fun, serviceable, top-down action RPG goodness then you’re in luck. Just don’t hold your breath on a problem-free co-op experience, especially if you’re a trophy seeker like myself.

PIXEL PERFECT

Recommended

TigerCastle spends his days thinking about the next RPG or platinum trophy he can tackle. His nights are spent making YouTube videos and hosting a couple podcasts, First & Last (a TV podcast) and Mega Potion (a podcast that attempts to talk about video games). You can also find him on the highest peak spreading the good word of the Suikoden series.