Developer: Hapa Games
Publisher: Hapa Games
Rrp: £6.99
Released: 13th May 2014
Available on Steam, gog.com and their own site
Ascendant is a roguelite (to use a phrase coined by Totalbiscuit) 2D brawler where you take part in struggle among demigods play as one of those god in training. Being a roguelite it has permadeath, which for those who aren’t in the know means that when you die in game all bonuses and progress are lost) and procedurally generated environments.
The areas you play through are ‘seasons’, you start in Early Spring. In each season you fight through various stages called ‘rooms’. Once all enemies are defeated a chest appears, these chest may have money (known as influence), items, health or keys.
Not all the rooms you enter will be filled with enemies, you’ll occasionally find a shop, a challenge (as in by not backing out of the you will have to do some task, usually beating up tons of enemies) or a sacrifice. These sacrifice rooms usually allow you to trade your health for something else but sometimes it means carefully throwing enemies into the maw of some creature, which is much harder than is sounds.
As you kill enemies and explore the rooms you’ll accrue influence which is the in-game currency that you will use in shops… usually. I say usually because sometimes the shops demand life instead.
Something else you may notice as you progress is that the enemies attacks will begin to vary and I don’t mean that its just a case of new types appearing, that does happen but its something more than that. No, I mean things like a basic enemy type from the beginning suddenly developing a shield against front attacks, or that projectiles that once shot in a straight line begin to go in waves.
Once you defeat a boss at the end of a season they will leave a blessing. Each blessing has a different powers all of which change depending on where you apply it. For example the ‘Blessing of Agni’ when equipped with a weapon one will allow you to occasionally set fire to enemies, whereas when its attached to the body it causes a small explosion hurting any enemies nearby.
Colourful is definitely a word I would use to describe this game, everything from the colouring of the enemies to the background is vivid. The music is very appealing too, never getting in the way of the music and always seems to suit the mood. The great thing is as you progress through the seasons the backgrounds and music changes to suit. In many ways it reminds me of Guacamelee although sadly it lacks the humor and robust combat.
On the subject of the combat, its something I found a bit lacking. You only have two types of attack, a basic attack where by you swing whatever you have equipped or a magic attack. Weapons and magic spells can only have one active at any one time and you can’t store them to use later.
Ascendant isn’t really my kind of game to tell the truth. I prefer ones that give me a stronger narrative. I can forgive it if the game really has great mechanics or something truly interesting going for it, but in the case of Ascendant its just… Meh. I try to be eloquent or descriptive when explaining my feelings but in this case that really does sum it up. Its pretty but its just a bit vapid for me. As for a recommendation, if you like brawlers and roguelite’s than you’ll probably get a kick out of it, but if your after a plot or great combat then I advise looking further afield. I think if you can nab this game while is on a sale then it could be worth it.
If this interests you perhaps look at;
- Rogue Legacy
- Hand of Fate
- The Binding of Issac
