The Ascent
An arcology is an imagined ideal: a structure designed to sustain human life while reducing environmental impact. The one on Veles, however, is no utopia. Most of the people who’ve made their way to the planet have secured their passage by signing on as indentured labourers for corporations. These ‘indents’ start off at the base of the city, in a place called Deepstink (a name even David Cage might reject for being a little on-the-nose). Yet from the grubby floors and cluttered gantries of the lower reaches to the Mirror’s Edge-like sheen of the Pinnacle above the clouds, this is one of the most evocative videogame settings of recent times. Given the size of the team that built it – just a dozen strong – it’s as accomplished a feat of worldbuilding in its own way as Night City.
Granted, this cyberpunk dystopia is of a kind familiar to most of us. This is a world of rain, grime, smoke and dazzling neon, where crime is rife, selfconsciously edgy dialogue reigns (“Fuck the first law!” shouts one robot as it points its rifle arm in our direction), and criminal factions vie for control. No matter: even from this distant isometric viewpoint, the place feels convincing. Crowds of humans and aliens mill about, sitting in bars, dancing in clubs, conversing on street corners, and hammering on vending machines. Drones buzz overhead and flying taxis swoop down as the glare from electronic hoardings on the side of hovering craft bathes the busy streets in sodium light. It’s huge, but you’ll hardly mind the odd lengthy walk between missions when there’s this much to take in.
Then again, getting distracted by the sights and sounds can be fatal. With the Ascent Group to which your indent belongs having disappeared, your mute indent effectively becomes a mercenary, taking on jobs for various lowlives as they make their way up the tiers of the arcology. En route to your present objective, then, you’re likely to be waylaid by members of other gangs, and though some neutral to your presence will only attack if you linger, it doesn’t take much for them to unholster their weapons and start shooting.
What follows is an uneasy mix of twin-stick and cover shooters. There’s plenty of scenery to crouch behind, a squeeze of the left trigger letting you lift your weapon (which, on open ground, is more likely to stagger your target), though enemies will find ways to flush you out. Their tactics are rarely particularly smart; rather, they’ll overwhelm you with numbers, or else rely on a few bullet-sponge tanks to charge or smash while the smaller, more mobile units buzz around.
There’s a scruffy spontaneity to these encounters that, for the most part, is rather appealing. Sometimes you might retreat to heal only to inadvertently aggro another group, while you will be about to finish off one group when a handful more vault nearby gantries to avenge their allies – though it often looks more like they’ve been attracted by the ruckus and simply fancy wading in. Yet with these environments designed primarily for form over function, they can be unfair, not helped by how difficult it is to run away when there’s no sprint button and your dodge-roll is strangely sluggish. Fortunately, checkpoints tend to be generous, though they’re also inconsistent: sometimes you’ll be arbitrarily dumped someplace closer to your destination.
The more heavily scripted set-pieces during story missions fare better, and present more opportunities to deploy your tactical weapon (which becomes available after dealing a certain amount of damage) and harness your various augmentations. These mods can be installed at Grafter outlets within the shopping districts, or out in the field for an energy cost. They range from stasis stomps to a cluster of spiderbots and a brilliant lock-on fire option that empties the rest of your current clip with perfect accuracy, causing longer health bars to dissolve in moments. Yet one of the best you get is one of the first: a hydraulic slam that looks like you’ve punched your target’s soul clean out of their body and cools down quicker than any other aug. Several of the weapons are equally satisfying: one SMG’s rapid fire is accompanied by a whooshing effect and can shred groups of low-level enemies in an instant, while the Disintegrator lives up to its name. The tactical options, by contrast, are underwhelming: most take an age to charge, while even a pocket mech’s firepower is nowhere near as devastating as you’d hope. And in the heat of a firefight it’s all too easy to activate them prematurely.
Even as The Ascent hits its stride in the midsection, there are odd design wrinkles that rankle. A hacking mechanic feels underused (though there’s a moment of joy when we discover a glitzy casino and find we can get machines to pay out to frustrated punters). Some environments are simply too busy, while there’s no clear sign that your augs have cooled down or your tactical weapon is available. Vending machines offering health packs and energy top-ups will run out, too, making difficult missions more challenging since your health doesn’t fully replenish between attempts.
That becomes a bigger problem in the late game, where it resorts to the cheapest method of raising the difficulty by simply throwing high-level enemies at you in increasing numbers. In one battle, you’re tasked with holding a position for a given amount of time, before being told that isn’t enough; you must now finish off all the remaining enemies. At which point it has become clear that no matter how effective the synergy of our augs, mods and weapons may be, our survival hinges upon us grinding side-quests to raise our level. What a shame The Ascent should make the final steps of its climb so arduous – even if there is evidence here that its maker could yet go all the way to the top.
Enemy tactics are rarely particularly smart; rather, they’ll overwhelm you with numbers