Roundup: Here's What The Critics Are Saying About The Ascent

Seems very mixed.
Sitting at a 64 on Metacritic at the moment on Series X and 75 on PC.

I'm ready for my shooty shooty game. I read enough so I never really truly care about a video games story. Give me enough substance and I'll formulate it in my imagination. If the gameplay is there then I'm in.

I like ARPGs and twin stick shooters, and I also love the look of The Ascent, so it’s hard to see me NOT liking it!

Thought It would be scoring slightly better tbh

OOF. Was expecting MUCH better

The reviews elsewhere have been a little disappointing stating that the game is bug-ridden. However, they also stated that there are some incoming patches that may address some of the issues. Regardless, I'm still interested in giving the game my time. It looks like something that I would enjoy, so I shall make up my own mind...

Looks very disappointing, bugs, apparently also has unfair difficulty spikes and lots of backtracking.

"If you've ever worked a job where your bosses are the worst people imaginable, and they ask you to fix a problem using broken tools and then blame you for the results like it's your fault..."

Sounds like my time in the military!

Or being any generation past Gen X, really.

Being on Game Pass= You can ignore the reviews.

I obviously haven't played the game yet, but if it's indeed as buggy as some of the reviews are saying then, in my honest opinion, that's very disappointing. I've said this before, when games come out on Game Pass I expect them to be high quality titles because they've gone through a process at Microsoft and been accepted as titles on the service. So to see this happen, it really isn't acceptable. It's one thing if it was a purchase-only game because you could then just decide to not buy it. But if a consumer wanted to play it on Game Pass along with other titles, then you risk ruining your trust with that customer and ultimately end up damaging the service's reputation. Imagine if Netflix suddenly added a movie where it included a bunch of deleted scenes that shouldn't be in the movie. People wouldn't accept that at all and it's the same thing with a game service. So I'm hoping that we won't see more of this because if Microsoft wants to attract more subscribers, they can't be adding faulty games to Game Pass.

Like at this point, they should've just invested in Death's Door instead of The Ascent, if they had the opportunity that is.

Looks like it’s one of those games that just depends if it fits your style. Some people think Borderlands is awful and has a horrible sense of humor. BL2 happens to be one of my favorite games ever, and I think it’s hilarious. Same thing with tLoU2 RDR2. Some people loved them, but those games were not for me (though the first LoU is one of my favorites).

"Shooting, looting and shooting.."
Many will say it's not enough to carry a game, but borderlands and destiny have been doing it for awhile, and the aesthetics here are more geared to my tastes. Someone once said diablo in a cyberpunk skin, I'm down with that.

I’ve watched a couple of YouTube reviews and they both recommend it. I really don’t read or trust any reviews from major publications anymore, too many are agenda driven nonsense. Not saying that’s happened here but I can’t be bothered with them.

Its on Gamepass and isn’t it like £24.99 on the store? Not the greatest sum of money for a game these days. Hopefully it does well.

Out of curiosity has anyone went back to Cyberpunk 2077? Is it fixed? I remember a lot of people saying it would’ve been a great game if it wasn’t bug filled.

@SplooshDmg It's true. I mean, there's a difference between adding a game on Game Pass that's already come out and that's launching day one on the service. The former Microsoft will already know if it's acceptable to add to the service, while the latter is a gamble. So while it's cool to see games launch day one on the service, if Microsoft has no way of receiving quality assurance from third-party developers that their games are launching in a good state then that's a serious issue.

But like I said, I haven't played The Ascent yet so I wouldn't know how bad it actually is. I'm just pointing this out in general, it doesn't have to be the case with this specific game.

@SplooshDmg Yeah I guess that's one approach to take. I mean, Microsoft is paying developers to have their games on Game Pass and if they deliver faulty products then they've obviously not lived up on their end of the deal. But the damage will still have been done to the service's reputation, you know?

I don't think there will be any issues with first-party games though. After the Halo Infinite fiasco last year, Microsoft isn't taking any chances with their studios. I'm fairly certain they've had to undergo a new standard procedure for quality assurance behind the scenes. Would also explain why these games are taking so long to be made, Microsoft can't have their own games release in a poor state if they want Game Pass to keep growing.

Unless it's a AAA studio, wait for a few patches. As a fan of twin stick shooters and anything sci fi or cyberpunk, I'm sure I'll be satisfied once some kinks are ironed out. I didn't come for a brilliant story and I'm sure this developer will go places. Housemarque had some fairly simple yet worthwhile twin stick shooters last gen.

I mean there’s been plenty of GOOD games that have launched on GamePass too. So don’t care about the argument of day one launches. Ocmo only has three reviews so far but it’s got a 9 and two 8s.

I personally thought Outriders was good and that was a big game and, of course, MLB The Show 21 is great and launched day one.

I say keep the Day One games coming!

(Also, enjoying this so far despite the critics)

BTW, the Xbox Metacritic score is being dragged down by one 30 review. Probably would be in the 70s too if not got that score. It has a 74 on Open Critic which includes all platforms and personally is a better source.

Game is pretty fun so far. Really hope the update it to make the text bigger though, my old eyes are stuggling lol!

Not on topic for The Ascent, but since we were talking about Day One GamePass releases…

Annapurna announced that The Artful Escape will launch day one on GP on 9/9.

Played it online last night with my brother, good gameplay but ran into more than a few bugs and had to put it down - one or both of us getting stuck in dialogue loops, some side-quests not being be added to one of us, problems inviting him back in when we had to crash out, not being able to exit the game through the menu (literally nothing happened, had to quit to Xbox home). It's a shame because the gameplay was really solid but it we had to crash out several times in a 4 hour session, hope it gets sorted with a few patches.

@SplooshDmg different strokes for different folks I guess. This is the 3rd hyped co-op title that's come to GP and has been buggy at launch - Outriders, Dark Alliance and now this. @LtSarge isn't wrong when he talks about damage to the brand. GP is meant to be this ultimate service for gamers but it's in danger of turning into something like a bargain bin - instead of it delivering the next big thing, people (myself increasingly so) will start to think "OK it's not great but it was "free" so can I compain?". I'm certainly going to be tempering expectations for 3rd party releases moving forward, along the lines of "you get what you pay for", and I'm not sure that's the direction that MS wants to take it in.

@MattWithoutFear to be fair Outriders and Dark Alliance were/are buggy on any system at launch, it’s just that they hit Gamepass day one. The games are released regardless of being on Gamepass or not for other systems in the same state, I don’t see it as diminishing Gamepass value but as the devs themselves releasing ***** bug ridden games.

I played a couple of hours of The Ascent last night and it’s pretty good, there was the odd bug, but it felt pretty solid. I’m sure they’ll patch any bugs they’re made aware of but this release is nowhere near as bad as something like outriders or dark alliance at launch.

@Fenbops But it's not like developers can choose whether to release their games or not on Game Pass. It's Microsoft that chooses the games that are being added to the service and it's they who approve each title before it's released on Game Pass. Which means that if a game turns out to have technical issues then both the developer and Microsoft will be held accountable because Microsoft accepted the game and is offering it as part of a paid service.

@SplooshDmg That's good to hear! It does seem that people are having different experiences, as @MattWithoutFear points out he's had numerous bugs on his playthrough of the game. I do wonder if the developer released a day one patch to fix a lot of the bugs and the reviewers simply had to experience a game that hadn't been patched yet.

@LtSarge I really don’t see it the same way. Any game going to Gamepass is a bonus to me, if something is released buggy on there it’s down to the devs not MS in my opinion. At least it’s on Gamepass and I can try it included in my sub.

I would have bought The Ascent regardless of Gamepass or not, in a way I’m glad I didn’t have to as they do need to sort out some issues it seems. So it’s good in that way too. It’s also out to buy on PC and the regular MS store don’t forget in the same state.

@Fenbops but GP's big USP over, say, Sony's offering, is the Day 1 release. If it's attracting buggy games though, that lessens the appeal. Just think, if Death's Door had come to GP instead of the Ascent, we'd all be talking about how GP had succeeded in its promise of delivering great games "for free" on launch, rather than this narrative of "another buggy Day 1 GP release".

@MattWithoutFear I do understand your point but you can also look at it in reverse. Would you have been happy paying £50 for say Dark Alliance on PS5 day one or playing it included with Gamepass and finding out it’s a pile of poo?

It’s sadly where we are at right now with game releases, too many are released buggy or outright unfinished. I don’t see it as a Gamepass specific problem, it’s industrywide and I’m glad there is something like Gamepass where you don’t have to shell out full price for some of these releases.

@SplooshDmg yeah I’ve only played solo so far and it’s been fine. Only bug I found was I couldn’t quit to the main menu, it took a few tries but whatever. I’ve seen others saying they’re having issues in multiplayer on Reddit etc so maybe there’s issues there.

Metacritic is irrelevant imo, I’ll never use it to judge a game and I find it insane that actual companies like EA and Sony base a games success on its metacritic score.

I've played the prologue and wandered around Cluster 13 for some time and I really like this game. Great graphics, good soundtrack, Blade Runner homage (like the noodle bar) and great gunplay really make for an engrossing experience. I even like the plot. A very pleasant surprise and I can see myself playing this for the next week or so

Game is well done. Graphics, animations and especially sounds of the weapons are nice. Loot and progression keeps its head over water. I dislike the setting however. Cyberpunk does not need other planets and aliens. It takes away from the thing that's so eerie about it - being a scenario that is so close to our time and way of life.

I too would give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. Definitely worth picking up from the Game Pass.