The Ascent launched on Xbox Game Pass last week, and while players seem to be embracing it, many have noted that it's plagued with a few difficulty spikes. To combat that, a recent patch has quietly added difficulty options to ensure a more balanced experience.
Yesterday saw the launch of a new patch, and while no notes have been released confirming what's inside, many have reported the game now has difficulty options on Xbox. From our own experience we've seen three difficulty options have been added: Easy, Medium, and Hard. This should hopefully make the game more accessible for players who ran into some difficult moments.
There's no word on whether the issues surrounding co-op have been sorted, but judging by the lack of communication surrounding the patch, we're assuming not. DLSS and ray tracing support still doesn't appear to be available on the Xbox Game Pass for PC version either.
The Ascent opened last week with an impressive weekend. Along with its Game Pass launch, the game also managed to hit $5 million total sales, showing that there's still a buyers market for titles included 'free' with the service.
Happy to see difficulty options added to The Ascent? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 14
It seemed like there was scaling difficulty depending on how good/bad you were doing. For instance, the first boss creature killer me because there were two of them. And after respawning, there was only one. But I really have no idea. Anyway, I like the game a heck of a lot.
So I’m assuming Medium was the default difficulty before adding these options?
Now I might go back.
I'll still wait a few weeks to make sure they patch up a few more things. Heard of some people loosing their save data and as a casual with limited play time this would kill a game for me. I've been looking forward to this game so I'll hold off a bit more to ensure i get the best experience possible. I can't wait to blow stuff up!!
I'm downloading it as we speak
@SplooshDmg a touch too late for us mate haha
I have to admit, I'd certainly have dropped it down a couple of times if the choice was there.
@SplooshDmg Same, I'm very glad I stuck it out. Like you I tried a bunch of different options to see what worked. I ended up with a Lvl9 Pulse rifle, turret, spiders and the skill that covers loads of enemies which you then get health back from shooting. I've forgotten what it's called clearly 🤔😂
I've taken a break for now but will certainly go back to clear the last few side quests I have 😊
@SplooshDmg I was always on the move and used my abilities the second they became available. I'd pop the spiders as a shield while I activated the switches. Loads of viable options. I've seen a few comments saying it was far too light in that regard but I feel like there's a ton of build flexibility.
So glad they’ve added difficulty options. I was enjoying this game, but it has some really nasty difficulty spikes to the point I’d rage-quit! Good to see the devs reacting so quickly to feedback 👍
What? How dare they! I won't play on noob mode. Look at Returnal! That's how you do it/s.
On a serious note, you gotta appreciate them being in touch with gamers' feedback 👍
This game needs a review here!
Finished this yesterday prior to the patch dropping. Definitely hit a few spikes but the stasis dragon, spiders and the jump combo made it very manageable. Cool they added difficulty options though, hopefully they fix the bugged achievements next.
Did it add offline support?
I'm glad they added this. I have no issues with the difficulty but my roommate has never played a twin stick shooter and already has difficulty playing first person, third person, and pretty much every game type. She is fairly new to gaming and sometimes the skill gap can cause problems for us so I hope this is an individual difficulty setting.
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