The Ascent | PS4 Review

In what could possibly be one of the most awe inspiring blends of sci-fi, and cyberpunk I have ever witnessed "The Ascent" boldly does what a lot of games in the genre don't. It is a large scale isometric cyberpunk looter shooter RPG that takes place in what could best be described as a living and breathing industrialized world. The story itself unfolds in an intergalactic hub for corporations called Veles where travel weary indentured servants come to earn a living at the expense of freedom. In a way it's a blend of the story of corporate America done up with a Star Wars-like lore. Every square inch of it's metallic & rusty infrastructure is adorned with a bustling busy body of workers of various species, and alignments. All of which are individually a part of the chain of command. From the top all the way down to the grunts. Much like America the species in this action adventure act as races, and the hierarchy within reflective of the upper, middle, and lower classes. Ultimately adding a realism to the applied layers of fiction. 

Story-wise, as a hired hand for an unsavory alien taskmaster known as Poone it is your job to clean up the mess caused by a corporations downfall. What's at stake is the very lives of those on Veles who depend upon their paychecks to get by. That, and the vital supplies provided by the corporate bigwigs. Something that the citizens of Veles are as much a slave to as the corporations themselves ...

With four ways to play including single player, online co-op, and couch co-op as well as a new game+ mode the player is thrown in alone or with a partner. Abruptly into a world of financial turmoil, and underhanded corporate politics. To begin with you get to fully customize your cyberpunk merc with everything from gender to cosmetics, and even cybernetic skin enhancements. No naming feature though. Once in you are blessed with a tutorial mission that sees you clearing mobs, and defeating the first boss in the game. All while being introduced to the mainstay mechanics. It is a prelude to what amounts to a loot and shoot grind for better stats and gear. Involving main missions, and side missions directed by Poone, and a whole host of fully realized NPC characters that will reward you for your time, and efforts.

Gameplay in "The Ascent" is basically broken down into two narratively driven directives, and those directives are the previously mentioned main and side missions. You'll take on these missions on a level ready basis meaning that in order to advance you will need to level up skills/stats as well as level up through experience points gained. This is done through weapon based combat. As the merc for hire you have on hand three weapons of choice, and a special active/passive set of abilities to compliment your preferred play style. You can carry two guns of varying types including pistols, machine guns, and shotguns. That and a tactical grenade. The guns through the gun vendor can be upgraded using special bullet points that are earned through combat. Increasing their stats across the board. 

Beyond the weapon basics you also have augmentations. There are slots in your inventory for up to two augments, and these will provide energy exhausting special attacks that deal different kinds of elemental damage in an AOE and projectile sense. Alongside these augments are modules which act as the passive abilities. Usually boosts to base stats or weapon functions. You can also equip up to two of these. In addition to the augments, modules, and weapons of choice comes your armor. Armor in the game includes head, torso, and leg gear. Each unique piece of armor that you find from enemies, in chests, or from the armor vendor will contain base defensive boosts, as well as boosts to additional character stats. Mixing, matching, and pairing these pieces of armor can benefit you in different ways, and often times are useful for particular situations. Say, for example, some pieces of armor will boost speed while others will increase accuracy or health/battery. Speaking of the latter, your character's existence is governed by a health and battery meter. You will be allotting skill points earned along the way to improve both things, but the battery in particular ties-in with weapon use, and augment ability use. During mob fights, and boss fights you will find dropped health, energy, and bullet vials for refreshing those respective things. Thus making paying attention to what it is you equip deeply important to progress.

In the way of vendors the game has several main ones that will be your in between stops to spend collected uCreds, and various other currencies on. There's the armor, gun, gunsmith, augment, tactical, and cosmetic vendors. There's even an NPC that rewards for bounties completed. Bounties being the killing and looting of high valued targets that are marked as such. The bounties themselves act as a third in-game activity that you'll be doing as you travel through the various ins and outs of the Veles complex. The other two activities being the plot forwarding main missions, and the optional side missions.

Missions are ultimately the main focus of the game, and completing them will help you better build and equip the perfect character. In the main missions you'll be walking or teleporting to locations of interest with gated off sections that require hacking to get to the intended targets. Those targets being mobs, and bosses. While entertaining Poone's requests you will benefit from scouring every nook and cranny in the environment for tons of secret loot opportunities. Some loot is laying out in the open glistening like a colored diamond, and other times you'll need to open chests. Chests in the game come in a different variety, and some will require specific ICE levels to open. Something that comes with leveling, and character improvement. Along with those looting opportunities comes uCred farming. uCreds will drop from killed enemies, and can be found in metal containers that break apart upon contact. Needless to say it's best to leave no area unturned or unexplored as there is no wasted space in this massive world.

For those of you looking forward to the lore aspect of the game the lore in "The Ascent" comes at you through character dialogue, data pads text, and a menu that houses everything from a bestiary to location history, and backstory plot info. That, and the breakdown of all mechanics contained within the game. It's very involved, and almost, but not quite like the lore found in a Soulsborne game. 

The Verdict ...

To say I was impressed by the "The Ascent" would be an understatement. This game blew my mind like that meme of that geek pretending his mind was exploding. Mind blown. The scale, scope, and details realized did the cyberpunk and science fiction genres proud, and in such a way that would give George Lucas a run for his money. The world within the game is truly a living, and breathing experience, and puts what CD Projekt Red attempted to do with Cyberpunk 2077 to shame. I know the two games are different by RPG focus, but Neon Giant and Curve Games did indeed do cyberpunk justice. The way they incorporated, and reflected real world corporations, and corporate America was also worthy of a nod. Don't even get me started about the characters. Characters in this game had legit personality, and not some stiff by the book persona. Some were even likeable. I cannot recall any duplicates either.

Now for the downsides/upsides ... While there were some frame rate drops, and image glitching at times the game never truly lost it's metaphorical neon glow. That special something that made it visually superior. It definitely held together better, and actually looked better than a certain Warhammer game that bares a similar level of infrastructure detail. For the PS4 version it holds up much better than expected, especially considering how new-gen it appears. Truth be told I don't know how it even pulls off what it does on the PS4. Heck, the loading times are pretty fast past that initial login screen as well. Overall It's a solid cyberpunk looter shooter RPG with good replay value. If you fancy a game that really goes all out to impress "The Ascent" is definitely that. It gets my highest recommendation and is a must buy, in my personal opinion. Don't miss out!!!