With the search for new fun and, most importantly, challenging games having lead me from Jump King over to Mighty Fling and now this fun little title here, Ascent is a tricky physics-based game where momentum and skilled control of it is key to fully mastering what is seemingly a simple enough physics game where you control a snowball and guide it through the oddly-shaped 'mountain' of sorts in an upwards scaling manner, yet it is deceptively hard in just how MUCH emphasis there is on building enough force to jump over tight gaps and the likes!
Allow me to explain here.
Since I have already made a fitting comparison from above, with Jump King being notoriously strict in it's jump-based mechanics using split-second strength levels to determine the trajectory of the jump whilst Mighty Fling is a touch more casual by enabling one to 'multi-jump' by re-aiming the ball mid-flight (albeit with reduced strength) to not only save yourself from a bad fling but also necessary for shortcuts and even a couple of the hardest obstacles near the top, Ascent puts much of the focus on a heavy, more grounded, feeling of platforming whereby it is difficult to make swift movements on the fly as a mere snowball.
To achieve what one could call 'mastery' over the gameplay, the game requires that you experiment in the lowest 'starting' area by testing out the physics of the snowball through means of speeding up against the slopes of the mountain and leaning into other slopes as you fall down or roll back to gain higher speeds to get across areas that are impossible to navigate otherwise, as perfecting this 'art' of platforming will separate the amateur from the professional in this case alongside the usual familiarity with the numerous sections of the map over time as well as advanced knowledge of shortcuts where applicable and whatnot!
It's why, starting in the second area and beyond, Ascent throws in the more 'unusual' of obstacles that starts to stray from being a typical mountain of the sorts, albeit the infamous Getting Over It wasn't shy from being abstract in it's overall map design either so I suppose it's more so done for gameplay variety's sake than anything else seeing as the moving obstacles themselves do present platforming challenges in a new light that require practice, focus and patience to overcome and eventually conquer once you become skilled enough.
No doubt I do quite enjoy Ascent for what it is, seeing as it isn't exactly a very long game for those who are accustomed to hard challenges, seeing as there are only five sections of the game in total with a 'conclusion' sixth section for those who do reach the top, so it may prove a tad disappointing for those who will have wanted something more like myself but this may not be an issue for more casual gamers or for those looking for a shorter experience.
As far as complaints against the game itself go, asides from the one mentioned above, I would say that the achievements themselves are a little odd as there exists five achievements dedicated to how many times you have beaten Ascent, in which it goes from 1 win to 2 then to 10 but jumps to a ridiculous 50 and then onwards to an outrageous 100 as the final achievement, perhaps a more fair balance would have been to reduce the fourth 'Master' achievement down to 25 so as to scale it properly. (Similarly, the two achievements for falling down a most notorious gap right near the end should've had a third 'intermediary' achievement for falling 10 times to help balance things properly, also a fourth speedrun achievement aiming for under 10 minutes would encourage even more playthroughs and perhaps encourage the insane winning grind somewhat!)
Still, Ascent is a pretty good game for those seeking to find a fairly difficult platforming game with unique gameplay mechanics thrown in that sets itself apart from the usual platforming tropes and whatnot, so I would recommend it on the basis that it was enjoyable enough to play through several times and going from a not-the-best starting point of just under 3 hours to a pretty decent 9 minutes and 43 seconds at that! (No world record, by any stretch of the imagination, but I left the game feeling fairly satisfied with having overcome it, so it's a welcoming experience for those looking for a different kind of challenge)
TLDR Version:
• Great physics-based game that challenges you to scale up a mountain as a snowball with increasingly-difficult obstacles (+)
• Ascent knows exactly what it sets out to do for it's gameplay as the design encourages the mastery of the snowball's momentum is key to making progress (+)
• The sole character of the game, Snowbill, is a fairly welcome presence (if not perhaps lacking the witty 'edge' of Getting Over It's commentator) as it gives you both encouragement to push onwards and legitimately wise advice (+)
• Achievements coupled with the shorter side of the game's map encourages repeated playthroughs for mastery of the game for those interested in speedrunning (+)
• The simplicity of the graphics makes for a wonderful transition as you make progress into the higher parts of the 'mountain' (+)
• Ascent's map is not overall large which, whilst not a problem for everyone, could prove problematic for some as it makes way for repetition far sooner without optional harder sections for an extra challenge (-)
• The achievements for this game in relation to amounts won and how many times one has fallen down a most deep pit are not balanced fairly and could prove off-putting for long-term gameplay) (-)
• No 'secrets' to be found or any extras unlocked for beating the game in specific amounts/within a certain amount of time to encourage more skilled game sessions in future (-)
• Some may find the sheer focus on momentum-based physics to get around places to be too frustrating as the 'heavy' feeling of this game's platforming may very well not mix well for certain gamers (-)
