There are a lot of different systems and mechanics players need quickly pick up and learn in Neon Giant’s debut cyberpunk-style game, The Ascent. This twin-stick ARPG isn’t exactly a gigantic game when viewed next to AAA open-world titles, but The Ascent is pretty huge compared to most other games in the same genre.
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And, because there's so much to this game, there's also a lot that new players either forget about after the introduction mission or miss entirely. So, here are some mistakes a lot of players in The Ascent are making, and how to avoid them.
10 Trusting The Waypoint Guide A Bit Too Much
So, The Ascent has a very nifty feature that players will see within their first hour of playing – it’s that red line that guides the way to the currently pinned objective, similar to the one from the Dead Space games. Though, sadly, it seems like the one in The Ascent is a bit less reliable.
Some players have been reporting that this guide auto-adjusts too often and has them running back and forth, while others complain about it bringing them to a location that has nothing to do with their pinned objective. These issues will almost assuredly get fixed, as Neon Giant seems to be hard at work on fixing whatever bugs pop up. So, while players can use this guide reliably, for the most part, it’s recommended to use it in conjunction with the actual map as well.
9 Forgetting About The Taxi & Train Systems Entirely
For some reason, it's only after slogging through a district fighting a bunch of low-level enemies that a lot of players suddenly remember the Taxi system. That’s right, The Ascent has two different fast travel systems, yet they're both getting unintentionally ignored quite often.
Maybe it’s because the Taxi system is only unlocked after a few of the main missions, or perhaps it’s due to the tutorial prompt for it only showing up once, either way, please don’t sleep on the Taxi or even the Metro systems.
8 Buying Weapons Early On
This next one is specifically for players in the first couple hours of their run, and it’s by far the most important recommendation.
Do not waste Credits on Weapons (or Armor) within the first few hours, buy Augmentations or Tactical Equipment instead.
Enemies drop weapons and armor all the time, and early-game guns like the Riot Gun or the Dread can easily hold a player over until they find some of the more unique weapons. That isn't to say that players should always avoid buying guns from the merchants, just not in the first few hours of playtime.
7 Forgetting That The Game Has A Cover System
Normally in a twin-stick shooter, the most important habit that a player needs to learn is how to kite enemies. This is basically the act of moving forward while aiming backward at enemies, which serves the purpose of both dealing damage and keeping the player safe.
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And, in The Ascent, this habit is important as well, but the cover system is also vital and should not be ignored. More often than not, the most important thing in a crowded gunfight is finding cover to duck behind.
6 Going A Bit Too Hard On Upgrading Weapons Too Quickly
Just like players probably shouldn't spend all their credits on weapons/armor early on, it’s also recommended that they don’t pump all their early-game Components into these starter weapons either. There are a ton of different guns in The Ascent, from rocket launchers to beam-firing energy rifles, but a lot of the more interesting ones aren’t found until the player gets about seven or so hours into the game.
That said, there are a lot of Components in the game, enough to fully upgrade quite a few guns. Therefore, this is more of a warning to spend these things a bit sparingly at the start, rather than hold off on using them entirely.
5 Selling Duplicate Items Individually
If there’s one thing players are going to get way too much of throughout the course of their time with The Ascent, it’s duplicate items. Going out and completing one main mission and maybe even a side mission usually ends up with the player lugging 8+ duplicates of at least two different weapons back with them.
Thankfully there’s a way to get rid of all duplicates at once. When in the “Sell” menu of any shop, simply press the input to switch weapons and a dialog box should come up asking to sell all duplicates. Obviously, this is a very small mistake to make with little impact overall, but it does save a lot of needless item management time over the course of a run.
4 Not Using Vending Machines
While it might seem like the Vending Machines spread around the dystopian city of Veles are sort of useless, they really aren’t. Sure, enemies drop Health, Tactical Charge, and Energy Capsules relatively frequently, but what about when a player is struggling right at the start of a fight or even against an elite, smaller group of enemies?
This is where the Vending Machines come in handy. They’re cheap to use, are everywhere, and even have their own icons on the minimap, making it pretty easy to just run by run and grab a Health Pack while dodging gunfire. And, as the Cyberdeck gets more and more upgrades, players are eventually even able to hack them too, saving a bunch of Credits and getting some free heals for very little effort.
3 That Damage Types Exist & Matter
Honestly, it’s easy to forget that The Ascent even has different types of Elemental Damage, especially early on. It starts to become more and more important throughout the course of the game, but this aspect of the combat is easily ignorable until probably about level 15 or so.
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After that, it really starts to matter, and players should at least try and make sure their primary and secondary weapons are using different types of Elemental Damage or that they have the I/O Converter Augmentation equipped. On average, having a weapon that’s good against humans and one that’s good against machines is common practice, but luckily the I/O Converter serves that same purpose with only one weapon needed.
2 Not Keeping Track Of Where Currently Inaccessible Treasures Are Located
There are a ton of different chests to unlock, doors to hack open, Components to find, and more spread throughout Veles. Luckily, all of them are marked on both the mini-map and the expanded map with a chest icon, but these icons don’t tell players why they couldn’t reach the treasure and left it behind.
Perhaps the player’s Cyberdeck was too low level or the Component was out of reach at the moment – there are a wide variety of reasons for why something might have been left untouched.
The game doesn't differentiate the icons by treasure locked behind a door, treasure currently unhackable, and so on. Therefore, players should try and keep track of this on their own so that it's easy to backtrack (this game has a ton of backtracking) and grab them once they're able to.
1 Missing Two Of The Most Important Early Side Missions
And lastly, there are quite a few side missions in The Ascent. Now, just blitzing through the main campaign shouldn’t take a standard player all too long, but that playtime is basically doubled for those who try and complete all the side content. That said, some side missions are better than others, and two that a player needs to grab and complete as soon as they’re available are the “Balls Deep” and “Gear Up!” side missions.
Both are found in the Serenity Plus after meeting Poone for the first time, but a lot of players end up missing them entirely. To be more specific as to why they’re so necessary:
- Gear Up! is a side mission where an NPC literally hands the player 12k Credits to go buy some new armor/weapons for the upcoming job, so its benefits should be obvious.
- While Balls Deep is a side mission with an Augmentation reward called the Vitasigns Booster which buffs the players max health by a flat 25%.
NEXT: The Ascent: Every Tactical Item, Ranked
