In The Ascent, you play as an "indent," a commoner who works for the megacorporation, The Ascent. In this role, you complete menial contract tasks as do the majority of the citizens in the futuristic city of Veles. First and foremost, The Ascent is an action-shooter RPG taking place from an isometric perspective. This game offers a massive amount of content from a plethora of bounties (quests) to a diverse array of upgrades to a branching storyline.
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Starting a new game of The Ascent can often feel overwhelming due to the staggering number of systems at play here. While the game does do a fantastic job of teaching you the ropes, there are still a number of things that you should know to help you start off on the right foot.
Customize Your Character To Your Liking
The Ascent features quite the robust character creator after the opening story beats. There are a plethora of options to choose from when creating your own avatar to use during your extensive playthrough of The Ascent. You can choose from multiple hairstyles, colors, shirt types, tattoos and body markings, and plenty of other options. Unfortunately, though, you can't choose a custom name.
If you are overwhelmed by the creator or simply want to jump right into the game, just know you can choose the randomize option to select from a random variety of characters to pick from.
Understanding The Mini Map
This might very well be a minor point, but nonetheless, it's one that you should be aware of from the start so that you can navigate through the world of Veles more easily. In the top right-hand corner of the screen, there is a radar-like mini-map. It doesn't show the finer details of the world which can seem odd at first, but it does show you the way to your major story quest or bounty mission.
If at any point you are unclear about where you are at exactly, just know you can open up the menu to pull up a full-screen map that gives a broader overview of Veles.
There Is A Fantastic Waypoint System
In addition to the radar mini-map and the large full-screen map, The Ascent smartly features a waypoint system. This waypoint system is very reminiscent of Dead Space whereby you press or hold a button to have a tracer or tracker display on the ground showing the way to your next highlighted objective.
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The inclusion of this waypoint system is wonderful because it means you get to freely explore Veles without worrying that you are deviating from the main quest. You can absolutely disregard this waypoint system if you don't like it but for those that like to know where they should head next, it's a fantastic addition.
The Weapons And Ammo
One of the best gameplay aspects of The Ascent is the frenetic and fluid combat and gunplay. The combat here is brutal and raw but also easy to handle. Your starting weapon, as well as the SMG for example, have infinite ammo so you only need to worry about aiming, shooting, and reloading. Having infinite ammo for these starting-type weapons may seem unrealistic but it works in terms of gameplay to keep you moving forward.
Also, weapons can be upgraded to better tiers in order to make them stronger and more effective overall. You can find glowing components that can be picked up and used at crafting-type stations.
Story Missions And Bounties
Like any good RPG, The Ascent features a wide variety of missions, including bounties. Your story missions are quite linear but do branch off from time to time depending on some of the choices you have made in the game. From the menu, you can see which missions you are tracking and tackling so you aren't lost in a sea of tasks.
Interestingly, The Ascent also features a bounty system. Bounties are essentially side quests of sorts, whereby you track down specific people for a bounty. It sounds simple but these extra quests help flesh out the world of Veles and its inhabitants from across the galaxy.
The Ever-Important Dodge Roll
The dodge roll is your friend. While that statement can certainly apply to most games in general, it comes in particularly handy in this game. With the quick press of a button, your character can dodge roll out of harm's way. Since gunfights and battles in this game can become quite hectic, it's vital to remember to use this dodge roll.
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The dodge roll doesn't dodge through enemies like some other games, but it does give you nice freedom of movement and evasion when most needed. Since enemies drop health pickups a lot, learning to dodge and shoot while dodging can greatly aid in your survivability.
Invest In Skills
The Ascent features a ton of skills for you to unlock and upgrade. Most of these skills aren't going to outright add a tangible benefit, however, they add buffs to your character behind the scenes, which in turn, upgrade your attributes. Essentially, each time you level up, you get three skill points that can be used.
It's not quite clear that you have three skills points, hence why this is being mentioned here, but just know those skill points can be allocated in any way you see fit to flesh out your character. From more health to being able to take more damage to a higher critical hit rate, there is a skill for every playstyle.
Augmentations Are Your Friends
As you start to get to grips with The Ascent's overarching gameplay mechanics and systems, you then unlock augmentations. Augmentations are added abilities that can be used during combat. For example, the first augmentation you stumble across gives you a super punch that can knock back enemies.
Augmentations are set to a cooldown, so they can't be used at any time. Also, the augmentations are dictated by your energy which can be upgraded through the skills system.
Multiple Dialogue Choices
Most great RPGs have some sort of branching storylines or dialogue options and The Ascent is no different. At certain story beats you can choose from a number of different responses. Often these additional questions or responses are simply there to flesh out the lore surrounding Veles and The Ascent Arcology, however, some of them lead to great opportunities.
It's a good idea to explore all dialogue options from the start since they can lead to bounties, side quests, and other surprises along the way.
Always Be Scavenging For Pickups
There are a ton of items and pickups to gather when playing The Ascent. Veles is littered with trash, debris, and even breakable boxes. By stomping through these sections, you'll often uncover health pickups, currency, and even the coveted weapon upgrades components.
The best items, however, are more often than not, inside of different chests or lockers. While this isn't a loot-driven game, there is a vast array of pickups should you venture off the beaten path.
Next: The Ascent's Most Fun And Addicting Feature Is Its Combat
