![]() Garish neon lights, streets and structures of glass and metal shining and slick with rain, alleys littered with dirt and grime, holograms bursting out of terminals and screens around every corner, bodies of humans and aliens alike decked out with chrome and silver- The Ascent absolutely nails that aesthetic. The game’s world is large and dense and varied, and pops gloriously no matter where you go. It is so vibrant, so unique, so thematically rich, and The Ascent is keenly aware of all of that potential. It feels lived in, with a history, culture, and social order of its own."Ī cyberpunk setting, when pulled off properly, can be a wonderful thing. "The world of The Ascent is one of the richest, most immersive I have seen in a game in some time, thanks not only to abundant, engaging lore, but also expert worldbuilding that crafts a unique yet believable world that is brimming with personality and a distinct sense of place. As the arcology scrambles to restore order and rival corporations swoop in to try and take control, it falls to you to unravel the mysteries of the Ascent Group’s collapse, and perhaps even earn the kind of freedom for yourself that most people can only ever dream of. ![]() The status quo radically shifts, though, when the Ascent Group crumbles inexplicably and abruptly, simply perishing in the snap of a finger under mysterious circumstances- which, of course, means that the hundreds of thousands living in the arcology who rely on the infrastructure and resources provided by the corporation to live and survive are thrown for a complete loop. While the rich live in the lap of luxury in the higher tiers of the arcology, thousands and thousands of others, you included, languish in the day-to-day grind in the gritty, lower tiers, simply trying to get by. The Ascent is set within the arcology owned by a corporation known as the Ascent Group, and you’re one of its many indents. Behemoth, towering structures known as arcologies are the only places on this planet where any life is possible, and each arcology is owned by a megacorporation- and that ownership extends to vast scores of the hundreds of thousands who reside within these arcologies. The Ascent is set on the planet Veles, where corporations rule the roost. Hell, even in name- you and scores of others in this world are referred to as indents, or indentured labourers. You play as a nameless corporate worker- pretty much a slave, in all but name. It’s not often that you play a game that exhibits such a thorough understanding of its guiding principles, and mastery over the mechanics that are needed to bolster them, but The Ascent is, without the shadow of a doubt, one such game. The cyberpunk aesthetic, tense shooting, and role playing- those are the three pillars that The Ascent is built on, and it goes out of its way to strengthen those pillars in everything that it does from top to bottom. ![]() As fundamental as those things might seem for any game, there’s a bevy of examples of even some of the biggest releases that widely miss the mark in at least one of those two areas, if not both. The Ascent understands exactly what it wants to be, and it understand exactly what it needs to emphasize to succeed in what it sets out to do.
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