The Ascent PlayStation 4 Review

The Ascent is a loot shooter action RPG in the vein of Diablo and Torchlight. It is developed by Neon Giant and published by Curve Digital. Players live in the futuristic city of Veles at the lowest of social standings as an indentured servant. As the controlling Ascent Group corporation suddenly collapses, one finds themselves in a brutal faction war for what little remains.

The Ascent offers fast-paced action that favors more chaotic action than precision accuracy. Players move with a combination of both analog sticks - left runs while right pivots in place. The equipped weapon is fired with R2 and reloaded with square, though there is infinite ammo similar to hero shooters like Overwatch. L2 can also be held to target headshots, though this further slows movement specifically. The cross button allows for quick evasion rolls, while the circle is a manual duck (though one will automatically duck if moving under terrain). Triangle will hack anything in a radius around the character, though it is primarily a fancy way of opening doors. 

There are no dedicated classes, with players able to fully customize their hero at each level up. Potential skills include Tactical Sense which allows one to generate grenades in combat, Critical Hit Rate, Reload Speed, Aiming for more stable weaponry, Balance which increases affliction immunity, Evasion speed, Health, and Energy. That final one is used for various augmentation attacks assigned to the L1 button, like super punches or confusing packs of enemies.

Different combinations of these skills can make player characters a tough tank, a fast sharpshooter, or even a brawler who is less reliant on just guns. If one becomes unhappy with their current build, they can also respec all spend points at the town hub of Cluster 13. Players may want to take this option as skills can be a bit obtuse to understand at low levels, leading to corrections later in the game. 

Characters are further enhanced by their equipment. Armor will help protect against physical, fire, and digital damage or even increase evasion speed. Some items offer no bonuses at all and are purely cosmetic. There are also a massive variety of guns ranging from pistols, rifles, and rocket launchers. Each provides different values to damage, firing speed, clip size, and how much they push back enemies.

The storyline of The Ascent focuses on taking on major crime syndicates and helping out the mysterious yCorp. These main missions will take around 10 hours to beat and get players to about level 25. However, The Ascent also offers tons of side missions in the form of "bounties". These will take players all around Veles, hunting down specific foes for cash and extra rewards. More detailed side quests also introduce new characters and help flesh out the chaotic world. All side content persists after beating the final area, allowing unlimited time to clean up.

The world of Veles looks terrific. The architecture is hauntingly grimy at the lowest levels and gradually becomes cleanly sterile as one moves up the corporate ladder. Particle effects, lighting, and shading further make The Ascent pop and become vibrant. Character models are highly detailed and look excellent during story cutscenes. However, the camera is typically too zoomed out during normal gameplay to notice the care dedicated to the characters and environments.  

The Ascent has two multiplayer options: couch and online co-op. Either allow up to four players to adventure together. Characters are not linked to a single campaign and can drop in and out of the current session. This even allows one to use their strongest protagonist to power level someone new. Each player will be highlighted with a different color and has equal space on the lower HUD at all times. However, there is no split-screen, so players will need to stick close by. The in-game menus are also per player, so juggling through three or four customization screens can take some time.

Much of the combat balance seems to come from adding in more foes, not necessarily placing in enemies of the correct strength or with challenging move sets. This can lead to many levels just being a slog-filled meat grinder rather than carefully structured encounters. Additionally, each difficulty seems to be based on having a full party of four players. This means players may want to constantly adjust between easy, normal, and hard solely based on their team's size.

Navigation can be a bit hard. The Ascent makes use of radar instead of an on screen-mini map. This can allow a general direction but is unclear on which path to take. One might follow their radar only to hit a locked gate or winding corridors that loop back. This often means popping into the full map screen to get a better sense and then return to actual gameplay.

This can be further exasperated by there being no camera controls at all. The camera will automatically swing for cinematic effect but may make passages and enemies harder to see. Thankfully, some enemies behind walls will be outlined in red, though only if they are close enough threats. Further away and it is easily possible to get heavily ambushed.

Sound balancing in The Ascent is very off. Even with the max in-game volume, all action, dialogue, music, and ambiance are overly quiet. Players may need to manually adjust their television or headset to make the game even remotely audible. Of course, they need to compensate when playing any other PlayStation 4 title. However, The Ascent does make good use of the PlayStation 4's controller speaker by producing clear pings when items are acquired or abilities used.

The Ascent can be great fun with three other like-minded players. There are lots to explore in Veles and many challenges. On the flip side, much of the game falls apart or is otherwise tedious solo. This leads to the catch-22 that one should mostly consider The Ascent if other people they know are also interested or are already playing. The existing community on PC is still strong, allowing a second option for those also debating about the older version. Taking chances with just PlayStation Network's match-making and player base may be unreliable.
 

Kurtis Seid, NoobFeed
Twitter