The Ascent (Cyberpunk ARPG)

I don't think I'm going going to buy this looks like a eyestrain fest. Might look good on a 50 inch but all I have us my 24 and 27 inchers. Just too cramped looking.
 
I went ahead and bought the game tonight. I've been watching the game development and like supporting smaller devs.

I have Kickstarted Grim Dawn and Darkest Dungeon, both turned out great. We will see if this one works out like those two. <fingers crossed>

Game was just shy of 18GB and I was able to download it; looking forward to the 29th to see what Neon Giant have created.
 
Mostly Positive reviews on Steam all the negative reviews are either complaing about Ultrawide problems or they can't play the game on gamepass with Steam co-op. Think I'll skip it I rather pick up New World and just picked up Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. There are alot of games comming out in the next 2-3 months I haven't even touched Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 since I picked it up two months ago. I haven't even touched Watch Dog Legions which I picked up almost a year ago.
 
I just played the intro mission and have gotten to the Warrens in the Arcology. I love it!!!!

The environmental details are crazy. The way it looks, the sounds, crowds; it's awesome. I am just running around looking at things. They nailed the cyberpunk/futuristic aspects.

I'm playing with keyboard and mouse and it takes a bit of getting used to; mostly the WASD movement, aiming is good. I feel like it would be easier for those that use controllers.

Update - I just played some more and was following some side quests.

I tried to go back to where the intro mission was and the enemies are all level 7-8 while I am level 3. Getting smoked bad. I do have a power fist augment that helps when I get ganged up on at close range and vaporize enemies:D

I looked on Steam and Reddit communities and it looks like you need to follow the story line initially to level up more and open up some other sections of the map before tackling side missions.

Still fun and the world is gorgeous but had to step away from it for tonight.
 

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Have been having fun with this on Game pass! Just wondering what the two red bars are on the lower right of the screen. I am assuming one is health, but what is the second bar?
 
EJR357 said:
I looked on Steam and Reddit communities and it looks like you need to follow the story line initially to level up more and open up some other sections of the map before tackling side missions.
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I wonder if you can get locked out of some sidequests if you progress too far (like in some RPGs), or whether they're always available.
 
Saw Mack's review here:


Seems quite solid. I can't be spending money on games anymore due to how little I play them, but I'll definitely be looking forward to picking it up on sale in the future. Environments alone look really stunning and detailed.
 


I tend to be lukewarm about overhead style games like this but so far... damn all this kind of feedback that you all posted including this and so on is getting my attention fast. I may just have to roll the dice on this.

Only $30 or so for this? Wow. Why the hell not.
 
Q-BZ said:


I tend to be lukewarm about overhead style games like this but so far... damn all this kind of feedback that you all posted including this and so on is getting my attention fast. I may just have to roll the dice on this.

Only $30 or so for this? Wow. Why the hell not.
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That's what I am thinking. It is half the price of major releases.
 
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Jumpem said:
That's what I am thinking. It is half the price of major releases.
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Vote with the wallet. We could easily be looking at dark horse/overachiever of the year right here. I've already lost count of how many times I've seen and heard "pleasant surprise... been a long time since I've been this pleasantly surprised" type sentiments.
 
Gameplay isn't for me, but it is a good looking game and appears to check a lot of boxes for a lot of people.
 
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I tried it last night and was impressed by the Ray Tracing options. At 4K Ultra and RTX it looks great and reminds me of an old game called "Expendable" from 1999. However, the controls are a little wonky so I'm trying to get the hang of that. I guess I need to decide if I want to play this with KB+M or gamepad. I prefer the gamepad for movement, but using the thumbstick for aiming has me all jacked up!
 
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piratepress said:
I tried it last night and was impressed by the Ray Tracing options. At 4K Ultra and RTX it looks great and reminds me of an old game called "Expendable" from 1999. However, the controls are a little wonky so I'm trying to get the hang of that. I guess I need to decide if I want to play this with KB+M or gamepad. I prefer the gamepad for movement, but using the thumbstick for aiming has me all jacked up!
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Seems to be a lot of that "can't decide if I want to use pad or KBM" out there for this.
 
Okatis said:
I wonder if you can get locked out of some sidequests if you progress too far (like in some RPGs), or whether they're always available.
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I think they are always available. I tried another side mission where you need to pick up some chemical enhancements for a gym owner in the Node. This is listed as a level 2 quest. This is an error reported on one of the communities (should be level 10).
When I was moving toward the entrance to the node I was encountering Level 10-19 gang bangers and getting really beat up. I read up about this quest also being bugged, in that, the Node section will not unlock, so probably something that needs to be tidied up by the devs.
 
Not sure if anyone has tried multiplayer with steam yet but I ran into issues last night. I played a game with my friend and the lag was so bad that shooting enemies did nothing to their health and we just kept dying. My friend ended up quitting since he couldnt take it anymore. Anyone have a similar experience?
 
relapse808 said:
Not sure if anyone has tried multiplayer with steam yet but I ran into issues last night. I played a game with my friend and the lag was so bad that shooting enemies did nothing to their health and we just kept dying. My friend ended up quitting since he couldnt take it anymore. Anyone have a similar experience?
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I haven't tried. I usually play solo. I do remember reading there were issues with MP, and most of what I skimmed through seemed to be GamePass related issues.
 
Jon855 said:
GamePass does not have dlss not raytracing but Steam version does.
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Ya I saw that, hopefully they patch it in. Those features aren't worth buying the game when I can play it as part of GamePass though.
 
I grabbed it. It’s fun so far. It reminds me a little bit of the more recent (2000s) Alien Breed games. It runs silky smooth with RTX and everything maxed on my ultrawide, and looks very nice. I don’t have time to keep going right now, but so far it’s fun. Definitely worth the $26 or whatever I paid for it. Might get it for my kids so they can play with me.
 
Playing this on Game Pass on my Xbox Series X and this is seriously one of the prettiest games I've ever seen if not the best graphics I've ever seen. Like every where you can just stop and observe and look at the incredible amount of detail in the background and literally anywhere. That being said I think the game is quite fun. It feels like a Cyberpunk Diablo.
 
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peppergomez said:
Visuals look great but gameplay looks like just mindless shooting which would get old fast
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looks less mindless than most ARPGs like grim and diablo, there is at least a bullet hell element to it from videos.
 
I think I'll be able to play it for quite a while. It's just fun. (at least as much as I've played) Sometimes it's fun to play games that don't require complex systems, and too much thought. They're games. Sometimes simple is just what's needed. Other times, maybe not.
 
EJR357 said:


Good review I came across, for those on the fence.
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^^ This is more or less my take on the game and I'm someone that typically doesn't go for isometric games.

I like it. $24 out of pocket thanks to GMG made it even more of a "why the hell not" decision. I have an RTX 3080 and I'm here to tell you this thing is a demanding son of a gun. I dropped from 4k down to 1440P and it was a night and day difference in terms of how hard the GPU was working and how much heat it was putting out so be warned there are some "optimization refinements" that likely need to happen here. Update your drivers first and foremost if you haven't already.

DX12 has too many stability issues at present. Don't bother. DLSS at balanced helps. Drop shadows to high. Medium is worthless. Low is for serious hardware challenges. Vsync...it's blasphemy but you might have to use it. Use your best judgment.

I agree with this reviewer and others that it probably needed just a little more work to really put some things over the top. As it stands I can see 1-2 nice patches having that effect.

At this price point, there is a lot that's easily forgivable and there is a lot this game does that frankly shows up games that cost twice as much. There is plenty of shooting but it isn't just a mindless shooter. Not at all.
 
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