Developer: DPad Studios
Publisher: N/A
Rrp: £1.59
Released: 4th December 2013
Available on Steam, Humble Store (drm free)
Savant: Ascent is a glorified promotional tool masquerading as a game. Good thing I like his music then isn’t it? But despite that I will endeavor not to allow that to cloud my judgement of the game.
The general plot of Savant: Ascent is this; Savant has been cast from his tower by a magical orb and vows to take it back. He storms into the the tower and is assaulted by… A flying teapot? But it seems this teapot is not alone!
The controls are simple, left mouse button is to fire, just hold it down and it will send an endless barrage in the direction you mouse is pointed at. Left and right cause Savant to switch positions from the left to the right and up makes him jump from one side to the other.
Occasionally you’ll defeat a enemy and it drops a section of a cd. Click on it with the left mouse button and Savant will collect it. Four of these create a cd and cd’s unlock special abilities like a power meter. The collection of the complete cd’s also unlock new songs, which you can change mid game by pressing escape and clicking on the corresponding cd.
This game can only be played using a mouse and keyboard, control pads will not function for this game.
The game is pretty solid and quite a lot of fun, and once you’ve beaten the story mode it unlocks the time attack and endless modes.
If I do have a gripe it’s that when the game starts it puts itself into the top left of the screen and you have to carefully use the mouse to access the options menu and change the resolution. Wouldn’t be much of an issue if it weren’t for the fact it has to be done every time the game starts up!
This is one of those games that is actually quite easy to beat and is very short (it took me about twenty minutes to beat it). But it’s immensely fun and very challenging, especially if your trying to beat your own (or a friends) high score. It doesn’t hurt that the music is pretty good too.
Get this game, as I said it’s definitely a piece of promotional material but it’s a good one and pretty cheap if you consider that if you buy it from the Humble Store you also get the sound track.
Update: I wrote this review before the release or even announcement of the Savant: Ascent Void update (which is free) and may or may not have fixed a few bugs.
