if i were a kid this would have been right up my alley,
solid ARPG with a beautiful world and smooth action.

as a busy adult though, i can't justify the time investment, as the story didn't really grip me in the beginning

the movement outside of combat also felt astoundingly slow, making the traversal and backtracking boring. the map layouts were also confusing to me, with very sparse navigation help, but that might just be my bad

This game lacks in a lot of areas. The story is really bland, too dependent on cyberpunk tropes, and the progress is unsatisfactory (money/level ups), with a fair share of unbalanced weapons (which could be a turnoff in a looter-shooter). And, of course, there are also the long sections of just walking around, which i would skip with a taxi had i realized money wouldn’t be a problem whatsoever

I, however, enjoyed playing through it. Its setting and music create a well crafted atmosphere, and the gameplay was fluid, with satisfactory enough combat, and since i didn’t care that much for the story, it was kind of a blast just blazing through it with a podcast in the background

The Ascent is so promising, but the game play is so boring. I loved the look of the game, especially the varying look of the arcology's levels. The alien races have fun designs as enemies and allies, even if they fall into stereotypical roles of little dudes and big bruisers. My main issue is the RPG and combat mechanics. My build was based around using a giant laser, exploding mechanical spiders, and an auto-aiming gun. In the guides I looked at, it was described as the "easy" build. To me, the game was not easy and often bordered on tedious and frustrating. The boss battles in particular didn't offer much in the way of strategy, rather relying on running away while waiting for powers to recharge. The basic enemies were either just cannon fodder or incredibly difficult. I liked the game, but I can only imagine the frustration of someone not playing with a guide who is trying to create their own build. Just play it on easy, I wish I had done the same.

I loved Fallout New Vegas and Kotor 2, so when I heard these guys were making a new open world rpg in the same vein as New Vegas I was stoked! I watched every trailer and coni tied to whet my appetite. I got the game on the switch to se show it would run. Don’t do that, ever. That game was not made to run on the switch and it shows. That frame rate chugged. Dem graphics, not great. But I’m not reviewing it based on that. Because I knew what I was getting myself into. I didn’t find the story interesting. The characters were bland to me, the worlds seemed open and bland. The monsters seemed bland. The combat was bland. It all just felt bland. It didn’t carry any of that new Vegas charm. I played the game a bit. Put it down. Restarted, tried again, and did that about three or four times within the year I got it. I finally beat it last year and the ending also just left me feeling empty. It was just a boring game. I was very disappointed. The charm just wasn’t there. Check it out on sale if your interested.