Competing corporations swooped in like vultures, appropriating the different facilities and services with their private armies, with desperate indents like yourself caught in the crossfire. The Ascent also refers to the game's Ascent Group, which had full control over the arcology until their business mysteriously collapsed. The Ascent Review July 2021 2 (Image credit: Windows Central | Neon Giant) The arcology is separated into several floors that represent the poorest indents at the bottom, with the rich corporate suits at the top, in a near-literal ivory tower. The game charters your ascent to the pinnacle of the arcology, clawing your way up the ranks of different crime lords, hackers, and eventually corporate interests, growing in power and affluence as you go. You start out in the irradiated underbelly of Veles, literally in the sewage works. The game's title describes pretty much how the game plays. Indeed, a lot of people want to kill you in this game. It's a bit tricky to get to grips with at first, but with some practice, you'll become a cybernetically enhanced walking tank, tearing through hordes of enemies with reckless abandon. Robots take more damage from energy weapons, while organic unarmored enemies are susceptible to ballistic weapons and fire. There's a truly dizzying amount of combat choices you can get your teeth into while crafting a build, or meeting specific challenges. Produce a gigantic proton beam and vaporize scores of gangbangers in a flash. Incinerate enemies with flamethrowers, laser rifles, and microwave emitters. Spawn waves of robots that explode on death, producing torrents of charred viscera. There are piles of weapons and abilities to choose from, enhanced by specific stat choices you make throughout the game. You're one of these indents.Īt the start of The Ascent, you make a character with a limited but passable customization system, and eventually evolve into a cybernetic murder machine with extreme prejudice. Veles is essentially a work colony, where predatory corporations exploit the desperate with promises of a new life in the stars, except they pay back their travel and accommodation fees by becoming indentured servants, or "indents." Many of them won't ever know true freedom, as the unregulated corporations deploy layers of bureaucracy and debt to keep indents in perpetual servitude. Source: Windows Central | Neon Giant (Image credit: Source: Windows Central | Neon Giant) Huge tokamak fusion reactors power the world, while also recycling the waste from the millions of Velesian citizens. The arcologies are incredibly well realized, with mountains of lore that explain how the world works. Arcologies are theoretical structures that serve as a type of artificial ecosystem, potentially built on planets that lack natural habitats. Veles is a towering arcology structure, comprised almost entirely of steel and concrete. Despite the fixed camera angle, which can often feel a bit claustrophobic, The Ascent's unique vertical world design gives you a persistent view of the wider world, creating a breathtaking sense of scale. Every seedy bar, strobe-blasted nightclub, cybernetic-selling storefront feels handcrafted, with jaw-dropping 3D vistas. Life on Veles seems miserable, but hey, at least it looks beautiful from the safety of my QLED TV.Įvery corner of this mechanized world will be quenched in blood by the time you finish the game.Įvery corner of The Ascent feels hand-crafted, with minimal copy and paste. Mountains of bodies lay discarded and ignored in the streets, while NPCs cry, "It's happening again!" every time you kickstart the next round of violence. Factories and facilities break down and explode in front of your very eyes, while crime scenes play out in the background. Indeed, the arcology feels like a society on the brink of collapse. Dozens upon dozens of NPCs going about their daily business, with drones floating overhead, flanked by massive hologrammatic billboards and towering habitats washed in layers of interstellar grime and nuclear pollution. Truly meticulous detail meets absolutely stunning lighting and shadows. Set on the cyberpunk multi-species planet colony of Veles, The Ascent defies the developer's svelte employee count and delivers something with visuals you'd sooner expect of a AAA studio.
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