REVIEW: The Ascent - (PS4)

Review by Jon Donnis

Are you a fan of isometric cyberpunk-themed action role-playing video games? If you answered yes, then you might be interested in taking a look at The Ascent, which has just been released on PS4/PS5. Originally released on Xbox and PC in the middle of last year, PlayStation owners have had to wait to get their hands on the game.

From Swedish indie game studio Neon Giant and published by Curve Digital developed using Unreal Engine 4, The Ascent is a twin stick shooter, and although the viewpoint is advertised as Isometric, it does change in some areas of the game, there is also the ability to shoot high and low, which is great when an enemy is on a higher level than you, or further away. Now you may wonder why they would develop a mechanic like this at all, well it is important as it gives you a new dimension of play, whereby you can take cover and then shoot at enemies over obstacles.

The game has the usual customization options for the character, appearance, armour, Cyberware, and so on. You also have something called a cyberdeck device, which allows you to "hack" into certain machines, for example to allow you to enter an area, or open loot chests.

As you kill enemies they will drop various items, which you can pick up, you can also destroy various environmental things, which may also drop items.

As for the story itself, you find yourself in a futuristic dystopian world called Veles, a megacorporation called "The Ascent Group" was in control. You play as a worker who had been enslaved, but now The Ascent Group has collapsed, and the world is a free for all. you have been hired by an alien called Poone. Districts now compete against each other, gangs and groups fight for control of areas, your job is to stop others from taking over your area, and find out what really happened to The Ascent Group.

You have main missions and side missions, directed by your boss Poone. Missions tend to involve your typical loot and shoot mechanics, the more you do, the better upgrades and equipment you can get, your level will grow and so on. Main missions tend to end in a typical boss fight. Shoot, run away, shoot, run away and so on. And finally, there are bounties which you can take up, to also earn extra points. You can change weapons as you play, different weapons will have different affects depending on the enemy you are trying to kill.

Weapons include your classic pistols, machine guns, and shotguns, as well as grenades. You can upgrade weapons at the various gun vendors, using points you earn through your missions.

There are also "augmentations". These are special attacks that deal extra damage. For example, a super punch that clears all around you.

Basically, there are a lot of customisations you can do to your character, weapons and armour, and all have a meaningful affect as you play.

As you play you will soon realise the scale of the game, once you get past the opening mission, you find yourself in this industrialised world, which is very impressive looking.

There are various ways to play, single player, online co-op or regular couch co-op.

The Good

Graphically the game is incredibly detailed, personally I liked the option to change the colours, this is mainly for people with various colour blindness issues, but even though I have perfect vision, I changed to a lighter scheme, as I just prefer that. It is nice the choice is there.

The game play is easy to pick up, and the game handles very well. The whole world feels very alive, with NPCs just going about their daily lives.

The Bad

The missions can get a bit repetitive, shoot, loot, collect, grind, repeat. And travelling can get tedious fast.

Overall

A fun action RPG shooter. Not very everyone, but for its genre, it is one of the better games I have played.

I score The Ascent a fair 7/10

Out Now at https://amzn.to/3qUccpv