![]() You also get ‘tactical’ weapons too which are your throwables. Initially, I got very attached to a machine gun but when a mini-gun came along for human crowd control and I paired it with an burst-fire energy rifle with homing bullets, that was my set up for quite a while. And the guns are actually interesting here. ![]() You’re always aware when a gun isn’t right for a particular battle. RPGs often have this sort of thing going on (for example, some enemies are more susceptible to fire damage or ice etc.) but The Ascent just seems to do it better. Weapons do have different damage types too so while a machine gun is great at tearing through the flesh of the local Yakuzas, you might want to switch to an energy weapon to take out any robots. What’s amazing is that no weapon is bad either, so it’s all just about finding the ones (you can hold two) that work best for you. There are several weapons of each type too so you’re really encouraged to try them all out. In terms of weapons, you start with a pistol but will eventually find rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers and so on. This is an other area where the game shines. The challenge is reasonably stiff right away but being a cyberpunk-based game, that means you’re certain to find new weapons and body modifications. It really gives the AI a feeling of being more than just cannon fodder. Try to run and gun your way to success and they’ll adapt by using cover themselves. But the thing is, the enemy AI is great here so if you stick to that tactic, they’ll rush you to get you out of cover. For example, you’re encouraged to duck behind cover and then aim high using L2 to blind fire at enemies who will always outnumber you. However, there’s more depth and nuance here than we’re used to from the genre. You move with the left stick, you aim with the right and you shoot with R2. ![]() The gameplay itself plays out as a fairly refined twin-stick shooter. Initially, you run missions for the local shady mob but when your real employers, The Ascent Group, abandon Veles, a new corporation step in and begin to use your particular set of skills for much more important, and deadly, missions. The Indents are essentially slaves and you start the game as one of them. It’s a towering structure where society’s lower-paid workers, known as Indents, keep the place running down below in the miserable depths of the city (well, actually its an arcology apparently) and the elites live up high where there’s still clean air. ![]() The Ascent is set in a futuristic dystopian world called Veles. Either way, this game takes the overhead perspective and marries it to a detailed, futuristic cyberpunk setting. With its top-down perspective and ‘dungeon-crawling’ mission structure, a lot of people seem to think of The Ascent as a sort of futuristic Diablo with guns but PSN is already home to several games of this type from the fantastic rogue-lites Neon Chrome and Jydge to the more action-based Ruiner. It’s their first game but members of Neon Giant were involved in Gears of War, Doom, Wolfenstein and PSC favourite Bulletstorm. The Ascent is a top-down, twin-stick action RPG from Swedish software house Neon Giant. Main PS5 / Reviews tagged cyberpunk / the ascent / top down / twin-stick shooter by Richie
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