review with price, trailer and game experience for Xbox Series, Steam and Xbox One

The shooters with isometric perspective had a last apogee in the last generation of consoles as a result of the apocalyptic Dead Nation by Housemarque. In a few years, proposals such as Alienation, Helldivers O Nex Machina, without neglecting the emphasis on action. But a more current representative was needed to take advantage of the power of today’s systems. And here it comes in The Ascent.

Visually groundbreaking and hypnotic, is a game that mixes that visceral part of that kind of shooters with typical RPG elements, embracing a bit the style of classics from the likes of Diablo. And although it does not reach the greatness of the best representatives of the genre, it can boast an aesthetic that removes the hiccups.

A game that will enter your eyes like few others …

I rarely emphasize the graphics within the analysis when considering that aspect the most secondary of any video game, but it is that the quality of the visuals on The Ascent is insane. It is impossible not to be amazed by the infinity of details that populate every place we visit, especially outdoors, when playing with countless shots. Everything we see is alive and the play of lights and colors fully exploits our senses.

It is the first game of its kind that shows the power of the new graphics cards, sticking out chest with ray tracing without compromising the performance of what we see on the screen. And the choice of their universe could not be more successful to demonstrate what this generation is capable of, probably facing the most striking and visually consistent cyberpunk style game on the market, with permission from Cyberpunk 2077 (that this one fails its consistency).

Although its perspective is isometric and slightly distant, this does not prevent that it does not play from time to time with the use of other shots or with camera movements to highlight some shocking moment. In addition, there are parts of the scenery that can be destroyed, such as vehicles or other elements, creating a feast of explosions with a succession of truly captivating effects.

It’s a brilliant extension of icons like Blade Runner, although the places we will visit from Veles, the world that The Ascent revolves around, don’t be idyllic, precisely. And it is that the metropolis of Grupo Ascensión is in decline because of a mechacorporation that has many people enslaved. So there we have the excuse to shoot and discover what the hell happens in this area.

As an RPG (basically) that it is, we will have a main mission that will unfold little by little until the final fireworks, seasoned with secondary missions that will not contribute anything original to what we are used to (of the messenger type, of eliminating certain objectives, etc), but that will serve to extend the duration of the game, with about 20 hours if we are not in a hurry.

Mixing shooter with RPG works, something that he already showed us Borderlands under a first-person view for more than a decade. It could be said, in fact (saving the distance), that The Ascent is almost a third-person Borderlands, except for the absence of a sense of humor or characters with less personality. Neon Giant, made up of industry veterans who have worked on titles such as DOOM, Gears of War o Wolfenstein, have opted for a more sober appearance even though there certain pieces of Star Wars.

The latter is said, basically, by the variety of creatures that populate your planet, with visitors from other galaxies. And it is that even its “bar” will remind us of the well-known Cantina Espaciopuerto de Chalmun from Star Wars.

Getting carried away by the appeal of The Ascent

A lot happens on screen in The Ascent. It does not matter where we are, something always happens, even if it does not require any type of intervention on our part. The different urban centers of your metropolis are plagued with many species, seeing how some beings react hostilely as soon as we invade your personal space or go crazy.

By means of a radar in the upper part we will know at all times who is looking for a row and who is not, having another help that is very useful: a guide with a cursor on the ground very similar to Dead Space. And it will be very necessary to collect these two tools together with the map, otherwise it will be very easy to get lost when having different plants in some places. Not to mention how well hidden some are usually chests with the best loot.

Because although deep down it is a shooter With an isometric view, its RPG component is very marked and it is especially noticeable when we want to “get off” the pre-established route. How? Placing extremely superior rank enemies to make it practically suicide to freely explore their world.

Give some margin, in any case. Enough to want to make certain detours and thus look for better equipment, money or find more healing objects. That although the start of the game is affordable and little varied, after a few hours the use of prostheses with different abilities or using the covers in a more practical way begins to be more important. And the latter is very striking, because has a button to stretch the arm up and thereby shoot over cover when we crouch. Between this and the dodge it is handled well.

It is, on the other hand, the typical twin-stick shooter where we will move with a stick and we will shoot with the other. Hence, it requires a certain skill both when massacring enemies by fine-tuning aim and when dodging bullets.

Here history is the least of it. Action matters

As a general rule, games that emphasize action tend to neglect essential aspects such as history, and in my case it has produced me quite indifference what is told in The Ascent. As he spoke with its inhabitants (there are many wanting to chat, as expected), the less he wanted to hear their stories. The reason? I had a better time killing enemies.

Although it does not revolutionize the guidelines of the genre in terms of shooters it means, yes it starts to be fun when it forces us to use the skills of the character that we have previously customized from the beginning. The first prostheses are very basic, such as giving a supersonic blow, while others throw more for other types of tactics, such as causing an explosion when killing an enemy to cause a chain of authentic chaos or create a bubble to slow projectiles of the rival. Each skill, of course, with its corresponding cooldown and load time, together with others of a tactical type.

This RPG component is reinforced when it comes to improving the character based on four basic attributes: cybernetics, motor skills, biometrics and complexion. Each one is in charge of controlling two different parameters, respectively: tactical sense, rate of critical hits, handling of weapons, aim, balance, evasion, vital signs and body battery. Therefore, as we use the points to perfect our avatar, the more its class will be defined.

As for firearms, they will not be lacking Futuristic versions of typical assault rifles, pistols and others, some with status effects, such as causing burns on the enemy. And this causes, in turn, that we have to worry about the three parts of our armor, when controlling both physical damage and other elements. If we are unconcerned we will bite the dust.

The game takes time to start, but when it does it offers interesting moments and has bosses who will try to make it difficult for us the further we go. Fun alone, it is more recommended sharing the experience with three people.

iGamesNews’s opinion

Definitely, The Ascent is a mix between shooter and RPG that complies with the canons of the genre that draws more attention for its overwhelming technical quality than for what it offers as an action game, where it really does not offer anything that we have not experienced with other games of the style. Yes, if you count with Xbox Game Pass it would be a sin not to enter its universe little by little that you like everything related to cyberpunk or the desire to take a few shots.