The Ascent

TLDR: This one is imho, Criminally under-rated if you're into TDS. Only 6.7% of players Reset their talents and only 2.7% of players died 100 times. = Nobody really seemed to actually give this game the chance it deserved. The graphics are phenominal, the story isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Sure, it's not shakespear but ffs it's a TDS, we're here to shoot sh1t and look good while doing it. I think where this game sufferes isn't by any fault of it's own but merely as a consequence of the times. Yeah, you spend the entire game traveling afoot. So in a generation raised with COD style instant action shooters where combat is never ceasing, a game like this can feel "slow". Sometimes, you really are just traveling around, taking in the sights as you traverse the outstandingly well designed environments this game has to offer, occasionally encountering groups of mobs here and there. But see that's where "criminally underrated" comes to fruition here. I think so many who have "played" this game have just given up on it. Hell even I had a moment where I thought "Bruh, idk man, this is kind of slow". Because you can vendor purchase most every item in the game right out the gate. So you can transmog your character to look exactly how you want it, with the weapons you desire virtually immediately. Or so I thought. But once I trudged through the early/mid game and began to encounter mechs and suits and all the other awesome stuff, the gear quality started to improve and the sexiest of the armors began to drop. So if anything I think this game probably turns off folks that need more than a soiid gameplay loop, but demand and insist a "reward" system of some kind to keep them playing. I was perfectly content playing 80% of this game with the same gear I found pretty much early game. I upgraded my equipment, transmogged to look like a badass and then just enjoyed being a merc for hire. Because the combat just feels really good to me. The sound design is spot on (if you got solid headphones or surround sound it's a MUST), and once you start playing with all the gadgets you begin to realize that movement doesn't feel near as daunting as you'd once thought. Look. I'm not here to hold your hand and pat your back. FFS it's on sale right now for $7.49 (I paid full price, and I don't regret it). If you just want a game you can be a badass in, with some incredible visuals and sound design, just buy it. This is not a game that requires much brain power, just spend your points in a logically balanced manner and enjoy. I played on Normal and found it moderately difficult, and having just beat it after about 40 hours (twice as long as HLTB suggests it should take), honestly I'm already eager to play New Game + on hard..... and they tease that New Game + comes with new "tricks up their sleeve". The story ends on something of a cliff hanger that suggests a sequel, but based on the sales and reviews, it's hard telling if it'll happen or not. Though, personally, I surely hope to one day see a sequel.

I cannot recommend the game for co-op. The host may not encounter any issues but otherwise you will encounter crashes and bugs quite often. Not to mention it felt like a walking simulator trying to finish quests.

I recommend this game because it has a solid story, great RPG character builds, decent combat, and a lush, detailed cyberpunk setting. The Ascent takes place in a cyberpunk city plunged into chaos after a mega-corporation mysteriously shuts down. As an indentured worker, you must fight for survival and uncover the truth. Power shifts, rival factions, and hidden agendas shape your path forward, making for a gritty and engaging experience. The character builds are especially satisfying, thanks to the wide variety of weapon types, armor sets, and stat allocations that let you tailor your playstyle. Combat is good but not great—it can swing from surprisingly easy to brutally difficult without warning, and some builds may struggle more than others in certain encounters. The setting and environment are beautifully rendered and deeply immersive, with rich visual detail that enhances every moment of exploration and combat. The biggest negative is that during my over 50 hours of play, the game crashed six times.

Such a great game. A shame that the developers sold their souls and we will never get another DLC or a proper part 2.

Average shooter with a shallow progression system. While the visuals and core gameplay are fine, the overall experience is boring. The worst part of it is the backtracking. Which takes about 70% of the playtime. The navigation is just bad. The quest marker sometimes points in the wrong direction. Also, the routes and missions are usually filled with a comically large number of enemies. Which makes this part of the gameplay even more irritating. Mission design isn't good either. Visuals just don't worth it.

A VAST, very well made, highly detailed game that should put many AAA titles to shame This game is an absolute blast one of the better twin stick shooters currently at level 20 (second boss) and the game has just now entered a new level of chaos If this game is on sale for <$20 it's a no brainer purchase -Remember to crouch/ use cover and upgrade your weapons, especially your cyberdeck/hacking computer and use it often

Game keeps crashing and freezing, Task Manager doesnt even help to exit game. The game is somewhat fun, but only when it works!

How the heck could this game be so cool?! I just started but man. I have to rate this up. I'm constantly blown away by the environment. It's so rich, so detailed, yet so vast and the sense of scale is insane. So many places I thought was just set pieces turned out to be accessible. And it looks so good! Not only detailed but the design is so interesting to look at. The lighting is so spot on the atmosphere is incredible. And how they designed the map just makes you feel like there this futuristic dystopian city just has no boundary. the buildings go so deep you can't see the bottom yet they are so detailed all the balconies and air conditioning units, etc. The game worth the price for the cyber punk dystopia along!

Look, I'm not gonna pretend this is the best game I've ever played. Quite the contrary, in fact; this game is not the greatest game you will ever play. It is pretty fun though if you can get over the endless backtracking, which is alleviated by the metro and taxi fast travel options later on. I'm a huge fan of cyberpunk dystopias, and this one is cool looking as hell. So in my honest opinion: give it a shot if that's something you're into. I am enjoying this game.

Buy this game and expected local co-op with my nephew, but can't play local co-op because it require something annoying to play as Xbox controller, it's not recognize 2P when you play as Xbox controller, both keyboard and controller still same 1P profile

6.5/10 Fun game, great co-op, Crashed too often. would be 9/10 if it were stable

Can't say much for a review of the game due to it constantly crashing after about 15-20 minutes. This seems to be a common issue and signs point to it being abandoned so this issue won't be resolved.

A solid AARPG. The visuals are excellent, but it gets crowded due to camera and FX. Guns are very satisfying most of the time. Augmentations kick ass, very cool. The skill system is ok, albeit a bit skewed and unbalanced. Gear bonuses are just numbers you cant easily translate into gameplay. Tactical slot is the widely unbalanced one, healing is almost a must in hard, and pocket mech is basically a chore. I think most flaws in the game are fixable in the teased sequel. Some discounted price is definitely worth the fun.

Super graphics, sound and world building. At discount a must play.

Awesome! I love top-down shooters, and this one is among the best in the genre. It features outstanding level design (10+/10), solid gameplay, a nice RPG component, impressive graphics, and countless small details that make the game a truly atmospheric masterpiece.

In a world full of grindy and comically over-complicated action RPGs, this game gives an excellent experience for those not looking to make it a second job. The environments are pretty, the writing is amusing, and the action has just enough variety to keep it interesting.

This is the best diablo-esc game that i've played. It's incredibly underrated and plays like the love child between diablo IV and cyberpunk. A must play for any fans of either games. I did experience heavy frame rate drop issues but my rig isn't the most up to date and this game doesn't play that well on the steam decl despite the gameplay and controls feel like they're made for it. The game makes up for it by being absolutely stunning. The lights and textures in this game are very well done. Overall I would highly recommend. So stop reading reviews and buy the game! :)

It's a blast! Literally. The combat is visceral, limbs flying everywhere. Many weapons to play with and armour to defend yourself with, the skill system is an awesome take on things too! Pros: Beautiful environments Awesome lighting Fun combat Transmog system Easy to learn !nogHead! Cons: Some voice acting feels a little stiff The map...bloody nora it's hard to navigate using it sometimes 8/10 game for sure.

Amazing graphics and atmosphere, fun gameplay. Thoroughly enjoyed the game. Also run great on SteamDeck.

Excellent. Most fun i had lately with a game. It looks stunning, gameplay is great, and it has just enough to be engaging all the way through. I get easily lost in its world and i tend to stay a long while after this review.

An amazing game. Absolutely beautiful, good story and OK gameplay. Neon drenched ultra violence sums it up. Combat gets better after the main game has finished (enemies are pretty stupid and hiding behind stuff makes you pretty invincible while dealing death from cover). Not a difficult game, but rewarding to explore all of the locations and uncover the lore. On sale, this game is an absolute steal. Couple of crashes in my 25 odd hours. I did take one piece of advice from the comments on here: disable cloud saves. If you only play on one device like me. Apparently there's a bug that deletes your save file...fortunatley haven't encountred it. On Cyber Heist content now...waiting for the bugs to hit, but finished the main game which was worth the price anyway.

Great game if you like the movement/combat style. played for like 50 hours and my save got deleted for some reason... shit hurts, other than that GLARING ISSUE its a great game.

This is an excellent game. I particularly like the atmosphere and surrounsings displayed in the game's world. They are incredibly detailed and give a really great cyberpunk vibe.

If you enjoyed playing cyberpunk 2077 you should definitely give this game a go. This a top-down/twin stick shooter that's best played using a controller. The camera angle and controls will take getting use to but this make the gameplay snappy and there is a certain level of John Wick appeal within this genre. Visually the game is stunning and the camera angle allows you to better take in and enjoy the artwork of the game. If you enjoy playing using a handled this game runs well. If you have a higher end handled make sure to unlock the 30fps hard cap in the "Gameplay" settings. I'm able to run a solid 45-60fps. I enjoy playing this on the go.

Very fun and beautifully designed game, camera shifts while playing to focus on the background or buildings is a very interesting twist to these type of games. Story feels interactive and worth following.

Overall a great experience, graphics and atmosphere were awesome but the story kind of meh. Had some technical problems, but nothing gamebreaking. Wasn't quite fond of the severe difficulty spikes with the introduction of some "Mini-Bosses", really brought me into rage-quit territory... Try it!

Its like Ruiner, except mainly its walking simulator, not action game.

Yet another one for the long list of game which fail to reach their potential due to poor design. Buying cosmetic DLC should give us access to it, either by putting it in our inventory (ideal) or allowing us to earn it via challenges (less ideal but sometimes appropriate). Maybe, if the devs are jerks, it might be in an in-game shop. Buying cosmetic DLC should not simply 'put it in the lootpool'. That's complete bullshit, and anyone that says otherwise is a simp. That right there, that's the level of time-wasting nonsense you'll find in this so-called 'game'. You don't 'play' this program, so I don't see how it's a game. Instead, you do endgame-level grinding out of the box, so really it's more like an unpaid job. I don't mind that the first enemy takes 5 shots from my crappy potato-shooter pistol the game gives me at the start. That's fine. I do mind that there's no sense of placement/location balance and they send too many of these enemies at you. I understand that games make you more powerful over time. I do not understand why the player starts SO damn weak. I've gamed for decades. Literally. I have never in my life died to so many low-level mobs so often. I say mobs, but they were just the same enemy over and over and over again. Not even so much as a palette swap. I played for at least an hour. I got sick of the games nonsense balance and decided to take a break. No worries, I'll just save where I am and give the game a break. But you can't save this piece of shit game, because *of course you fucking can't*. Yes, many other games do that. But these other games balance for that. This doesn't. The Skill List is just a way to improve your statistics. That's complete bullshit and anyone that says otherwise is a moron. You do get abilities but frankly who fucking cares - no doubt they're underwhelming as hell, just like the rest of this digital trash fire. This 'game' also punishes Mouse+Keyboard users, which is awesome because we aren't ignored enough by the gaming industry. Your dodge - a vital combat move - isn't reliable unless you're pointing directly up, down, left, or right. That's utter crap in a 3D iso game where the camera is set to a diagonal. The only way this game makes any sense is if it was designed by the Marquis De Sade and playtested by Helen Keller, This is the digital version of being punched in the face over and over again by a fist, a fist which somehow smells strongly of butt sweat and worn socks, oh and also the fist is holding a brick. This doesn't feel like a game. It feels like someone trying very hard to prove some kind of point, and failing to say anything meaningful before tripping over their own feet - but in super slow motion, so it's not even interesting to observe. You know how you have a 'Pile of Shame'? A bunch of games you regret never playing, stuff you wish you'd gotten around to? This piece of shit right here made me invent the 'Pile of Awesome': Stuff with design so anti-immersion that I'm genuinely happy to uninstall it so I can *actively enjoy not engaging with its nonsense*. I look forward to the moment when, in the far future, I remember that i owned this 'game' and haven't touched it for years. ======================================================== If a game launches and doesn't have abrasive gfx/sound, I'm usually happy to give it two stars out of ten. I won't be doing that here. We have now both reached the limits of the amount of time I'm prepared to spend thinking about this piece of shit.

The graphic and the atmosphere is 9/10 The gameplay falls off after a few hours, kinda repetitive objective / quest. Gameplay 6.5/10 Get it on SALE

🌆Disappointing and forgettable sci-fi RPG. It offers a top-down cyberpunk setting, but everything from the gameplay to the story feels mediocre at best. The combat is repetitive, the world looks decent but lacks real depth, and the overall experience just never clicks. It feels like style over substance — and not even much style, honestly. I’d strongly recommend skipping this one. There are far better sci-fi action RPGs out there. Just don’t play it. 👍 2/10

Absolutely no enjoyable experience for me. It's buggy, too deathtrappy and you can't even conveniently travel out of dungeon areas. I tried this game multiple times over the past couple of years, but it didn't get better.

Worth it alone for the cyberpunk graphics Have not played many isometric shooter but this seems like one of the best!

Game is buggy. I couldn't progress past a certain point and had to start a whole new game. Because it has an autosave feature I couldn't even load a previous save. Enemies come from all directions simultaneously giving you no real chance and you have no control over the camera, so enemies can shoot you when you can't even see them.

how do you make a dlc this bad? I genuinely think that to make something this bad you had to put effort into not putting effort into it. I wasted $10 on a 30 min dlc. Ive seen super nintendo games with better boss fights, cock and ball torture wouldve been more enjoyable, Id rather have a dog bite off my fucking dick than play this trash again. I truly pray for neon giants downfall everyday.

Game runs horribly on Steam Deck, and the generic style of just metal corridors and more metal corridors don't help the bland visuals. It is also so... so boring. Just play something like Zombieville 3D for your twin stick fix.

horribly buggy really, how is it even possible they are allowed to sell this mess on a well-known platform as steam? it's an insult

Fun twin stick shooter RPG with cyberpunk themes and a killer soundtrack.

Great game, so much life in the world! I wish it was first person though.

Garbage game made by garbage people. It is truly sad that with all the layoffs and studio closures in the industry that this company still seems to be around.

beautiful game, I wish there was more DLCs for it though. i would've like to have more content

fun. cool graphics and vibe

It’s like finding a diamond in a pile of #### :) There’s some bugs like floating NPC in middle air, but nothing game breaking. Biggest downside is quick respawn of boxes(with loot) and enemy NPC :( I played on steam deck, had to switch to Proton 8.1 for better FPS, as in city with main district where you take missions FPS can critically drop to 10-12 fps. https://youtu.be/hJERVi9qhXY?si=AdZZ7nWx4YOJtwHE

I usually don't play top down shooters, but I make an exception for the Ascent. Amazing attention to graphical detail, very dystopian, cyber punk, awesome soundtrack, big boss fights, sick weapons, tons of loot, long campaign, what more could anyone ever ask for? Oh, and its very very fun with friends! ....and its always on sale and dirt cheap. I'd pay more for this game honestly.

Game is very average, probably not worth the store price, but if you get it on sale it's alright. Gameplay's decent enough, not terribly difficult except for some of the bosses. A lot of running and backtracking, a lot of fast travel. Map feels simultaneously too big and empty to be fun exploring, but too small to fit the lore presented. Fights are fairly fun, and the augment system gives you a lot of options for cool combos. Story is decent if completely linear, the only real choices you get are if you want to do sidequests or ask questions of the mainline quest giver. Feels a bit like they're trying too hard to ape the cyberpunk style, every opportunity to swear or make a dirty joke is taken, and crude humor is injected into a lot of places it doesn't really make sense to put it. World is even more grimdark than cyberpunk, to an almost comical degree. it legitimately feels like a satire of cyberpunk in places, but not a lot of it is funny.

Genuinley a chore from start to finish, one of the worst games ive played.

Got it for cheap. Was worth the cost. Would recommend.

Multiplayer crashes every 30 mins or so.

One of the best twinstick shooters ever made

It's a good cyberpunk game

Diablo with guns.