Game:

The Ascent (2021)

Duration: 50:41

488 views

16

This is the Ascent, a top-down twin-stick shooter with relatively light RPG elements, set in the cyberpunk world of Veles. It was developed by the swedish game dev studio Neon Giant and published by the London-based Curve Games. Now, Curve is relatively prolific when it comes to publishing indie games: For the King, Just Die Already. Human Fall Flat, Manual Samuel. Neon Giant is not the same. In fact, NG only has one title listed on Steam, and you’re looking at it right now. You might think that this, then, would be an impressive first outing, but you’d only be half-right. Yes, this is Neon Giant’s first game, but it isn’t the first game for those who worked on it. NG was founded by industry veterans. You can even see some of these founders working on the game in real time. Take the most immediately accessible example, Co-Founder Tor Frick. He’s got a YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@TorFrick - Where you can actually see these designs spawn into existence, but you don’t need them to know his skillset. The guy’s worked as an Art Director for New Order and Old Blood – Plus did some work on Far Cry 3, BulletStorm, and Gears of War 3. The same could be easily said about the remaining founders as well: Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley, and Erik Gloerson.
Still, it remains Neon Giant’s first game, technicality or not. Begs the question:
Is The Ascent Worth It?
Ultimately, I think I had fun with it. Recency bias makes me feel some amount of annoyed at it, but overall I enjoyed my time with it. I still don't know why so many people were claiming "This is what Cyberpunk 2077 should've been" when it released though.
- ST0RY

The Game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/979690/The_Ascent/

Other Statistics