The Ascent Review Summary

Stunning graphics and visuals: The game features high-quality graphics, amazing animations, and visually stunning environments. Players consistently praised the visual fidelity and artistic design.

Beautiful atmospheric environments: The game's atmosphere and environments are beautifully crafted, providing a visually appealing and immersive experience.

Unique cyberpunk setting: The game's cyberpunk theme and setting are highly appreciated, providing a visually and atmospherically rich world.

Smooth technical performance: The game runs smoothly on ultra-high settings without issues, indicating good optimization and technical performance.

Diverse and detailed world: The world design is praised for its diversity, detail, and the ability to discover new areas, making the game world feel alive and engaging.

Boring and uninteresting gameplay: The gameplay is described as boring, with uninteresting RPG elements and a lack of engagement.

Frequent game crashes: The game experiences constant crashing issues, including crashes to desktop and during multiplayer sessions.

Weak story and progression: The story is criticized as weak and paper-thin, with poor voice acting and unmemorable plotlines.

Co-op mode issues: Co-op mode is reported as broken, with frequent bugs and crashes, making it difficult to play.

Unplayable controls: Controls are reported as unplayable, especially with mouse and keyboard, making the game difficult to navigate and enjoy.

Cooperative gameplay focus: The game emphasizes cooperative gameplay with local multiplayer and co-op modes, though some bugs are reported.

Action RPG elements: The game includes action RPG elements such as role-playing mechanics and character progression.

Varied shooter perspectives: The game offers multiple shooter perspectives including top-down, twin-stick, and third-person views.

Combat mechanics criticisms: Combat mechanics are criticized for being awkward, clunky, and one-dimensional.

Open-world navigation: The game features an open world with extensive navigation, though some find it excessive.

Frequent game crashes: The game experiences constant and random crashes, including crashes to desktop and freezing issues. This problem is exacerbated during co-op play.

Poor optimization: The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to various performance issues such as lagging, frame rate drops, and stuttering. Some users report GPU stutters during intense scenes.

Loading problems: Players experience various loading issues, including infinite loading screens and long load times. Some users report the game not starting at all.

Steam Deck compatibility issues: The game is reported to have poor performance and frequent crashes on the Steam Deck, making it difficult or unplayable on this platform.

Mixed solo player experience: The game might be worth a look for solo players, but it is not highly recommended. Players should approach with caution.

Not recommended for online co-op: The game is definitely not recommended for online cooperative play. Players have reported negative experiences in this mode.

Controller recommended: The game is highly recommended if you are using a controller. This suggests that the game may have better controls or gameplay experience with a controller.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $8.00.

Game completion: 40.0h.

Story completion: 20.0h.

The Ascent has a high potential for fun, especially in co-op mode, but technical issues and initial difficulty spikes can be significant barriers. Once past these hurdles, the immersive world and co-op gameplay can provide an enjoyable experience.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Friction: Technical issues and bugs; Difficulty spikes; Repetitive missions.

Unlock drivers: Playing with friends; Immersive cyberpunk world.

Frustrated Cyberpunk Enthusiast: Prefers playing solo due to co-op issues, enjoys the story and visuals. Motivation: Enjoyment of the cyberpunk genre and atmosphere. Stance: sale.

Cyberpunk Co-op Adventurer: Enjoys playing in co-op mode, appreciates the story and cyberpunk setting. Motivation: Enjoyment of the cyberpunk genre and cooperative gameplay. Stance: buy.

Grind-Weary Explorer: Prefers efficient gameplay, dislikes excessive grind and backtracking. Motivation: Completion of the game despite the grind. Stance: deep sale.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with the Steam Deck experience for this game. Key problems include performance issues requiring tinkering with Proton settings, save file corruption due to Steam Cloud saves, visual and control issues, frequent crashes and freezing, and launch issues. These technical barriers severely impact the user experience, making the game less enjoyable and more frustrating to play on the Steam Deck.

Monetization: The analysis of user reviews reveals significant concerns regarding the monetization strategy of the game, particularly focusing on the DLC. Key issues include the perception of Day-1 DLC, where content feels cut from the base game to be sold separately, and the overpricing of the game and its additional content. These factors contribute to a negative user experience and suggest a strategy that may be seen as predatory or aggressive in terms of monetization.

External guides: The audit report highlights several key issues based on user feedback. Navigation issues are a significant concern, with users expressing frustration over the lack of teleportation options and poor map functionality. Additionally, there is a notable dependency on external data sources for finding crucial items and upgrades, which impacts the user experience. Lastly, the sudden appearance of encyclopedia entries disrupts gameplay, leading to user interface issues.

Platform Mentions: Players mentioned specific platforms they used to play the game, such as Steam Deck and PC with a 2060 graphics card.

DLC Reference: There was a mention of DLC, though without additional context or details.