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The Ascent review: a fun cyberpunk shooter that takes a while to warm upRequires a stretch
Requires a stretch
Havingpreviewedtop-down cyberpunk shooty RPGThe Ascenta little while back, I thought it was just all right at the time. But now that I’ve plugged myself into the mainframe for many hours, I see that it takes time for The Ascent’s mechanical heart to get the blood pumping. After it’s limbered up, this game is often a great time.
I say “often” because The Ascent can veer from extremely fun to extremely infuriating in a matter of nano-seconds. There’s a lot to like here, but the way it’s wired means it frequently trips itself up. Remain patient enough to untangle the mess, though, and you’re in for a real RGB romp.
Play The Ascent Day One with Xbox Game Pass – Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2021Watch on YouTube
Play The Ascent Day One with Xbox Game Pass – Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2021
Don’t expect to dig deep into The Ascent’s characters either. You’re simply their errand boy, and they’re simply vessels for context. They don’t deal in emotional ties or bonds, only lots of swearing and dodgy business transactions. Does it really matter, though? No, not really. The Ascent does just enough to keep a vague amount of intrigue going, but mainly ensures that you’re jetting around its world with a gun in tow.
And what a cyberpunk world The Ascent plops you in. There’s no doubt it would makeCyberpunk 2077overheat with jealousy - it’s a feast for the robotic eyes. You’ll dive into rusted tunnels, explore bustling cities teeming with buzzing neon signs, and slug it out in dingy clubs packed with sweaty aliens. This is a believable cyberpunk universe that’ll steadily open up as you complete main story quests. Many of these involve moving from point A to point B, hacking something, then doing some fighting.
Exploring The Ascent’s various highrises and underbellies is mostly a treat, but be warned that there’s a fair amount of jogging and backtracking to be done. Often, you’ll run into packs of nasty creatures and gangs on your way to and from these areas, and it can get a bit tedious having to deal with them. They’re reminiscent ofYakuza’s roaming thugs who just won’t leave you alone. Sometimes you just want to soak up the atmosphere for a bit, but the game won’t let you.
You can fast travel via metro stations or taxi, but even then, there’s still alotof running to be done.
How do you go about these disparate tasks? With a great deal of violence, that’s how. Ideally, you want to turn your enemies into packs of mince meat, and The Ascent gives you many ways to do this. You can swap between any two weapons, with a wide-ranging arsenal opening up a few hours in. Everything from hefty mini-guns, to beefy energy revolvers, to burst-rifles with homing bullets are yours to mix and match. They’re all weighty and satisfying, with each trigger-pull and sound feeling mean as hell. Some rare chests and side quests dish out unique weapons you can’t snag anywhere else, one of which has become my go-to. It’s a fat revolver which sets enemies on fire or turns them into red paste. Yum.
You’ll need to switch up weapon types to deal with different enemies. Ballistic works well against human enemies, while energy chunks that annoying robo-armour nicely.
Take your electronically-enhanced tootsies off the pedal and you’ll be dead in seconds, basically. Early on The Ascent’s pretty brutal, and perhaps a bit samey because you don’t have access to many fun weapons. As you level you get skill points to improve yourself; increasing your weapon handling skill means faster reloading, better evasion means more dodge rolls, etc. But it’s once you’ve plugged a few interesting Augments into your cyber-bod that the combat elevates.
Performance was great on my RTX 2070-powered rig at 1080p. I whacked all the settings - of which there were many - up to max and experienced no hitches.
