Astral Ascent

玩了死亡细胞之后才觉得这是个好游戏。比死亡细胞好玩。

[h1]Astral Ascent[/h1] 在我愿望单里放四年了一直没买，当然了现在也没买，这几天免费试玩终于玩上了，还真有点爽。相当不错的割草rogue，局内提升跟局外提升的反馈都很足，像素美术也说得过去更不要说还有各种演出动画，在家里待机的这首bgm我是真的很喜欢。 战斗没什么难度，在硬核跟割草的左右摇摆之间明确偏向割草，人物机动性够高闪避随便用，所有怪的攻击都有范围提示，需要注意的点就是每个房间无伤都有额外奖励，而且是连续累积奖励。为数不多比较恼火的点就是UI交互有点弱智没有做键鼠适配，这种纯纯消耗手柄寿命的游戏不是很想用手柄玩，而且也很累。游戏过程中琐碎连续的升级本来就鼠标点两下的事儿，现在需要一次次点开界面上下移动确认，而且键位也没有优化。还有比较迷惑的一点就是很多时候刷怪虽然很快但也不知道具体是哪个技能或者什么构筑在发力，到最后伤害结算界面一看升到满级的技能反而没打多少伤害。 难度6开始boss会有新的招式变化，水温稍微上来了一点。就先这样吧，后边没游戏可玩了我再回来买。

esse jogo é como esteróides para o seu pênis vale cada centavo, cada mínimo centavo obrigadfo Deus, gabe newell e aos desenvolvedores deste game por proporcionar uma experiência tão enriquecedora em minha vida Deus é bom o tempo todo

Astral Ascent is a roguelite that features smooth combat, varied builds, and customizable levels of difficulty. At first, I wasn't 100% sold on this game - I found all the different types of upgrades overwhelming and it wasn't super clear to me how different things interacted with each other. While I don't think everything fully clicked until (embarrasingly) my ~30th run, things settled down a fair bit after a handful of runs and some trial and error. But, all those upgrades are what lead to a lot of varied builds/gameplay, which is what keeps things from getting stale. You can choose to equip four spells, which can have four augments, an imprint, and an affinity. Each playable character has a signature spell, which can also be upgraded in various ways. That's not everything that's customizable, but it gives you a sense of the different types of upgrades available to you. My other primary critique of the game is it's not super clear how you actually beat it. At some point, I thought (end game boss spoilers) [spoiler]it might be like Hades and maybe I had to fight the end game boss a certain number of times. But, after doing that, nothing seemed to change and I was instakilled in a cutscene each time I reached the end even when I had plenty of health. Instead, to beat it, you have to reach the end game which unlocks something called destiny levels. You then increase the destiny level by one (which increases the difficulty of the overall run) and continue to the same end game state. Once you do that on the sixth destiny level, you finally unock the actual boss you need to kill to beat the game. That's all well and good, but if I hadn't looked it up, I'm 97% sure I would still be bashing my head against the wall not knowing I was expected to continue to increase the difficulty to beat the actual boss. It definitely came across as an optional challenge for the player.[/spoiler] On the co-op side of things, overall, it was pretty fun and worked well. The only real downsides are that you both can't look at the upgrades after you clear a room. Because of the way the text shows up, you have to take turns reading through the rewards, which kills momentum a bit. Also, if you both are going for a particular affinity and you only get one of that kind, it's begins a negotiation in terms of who gets it which again also slows down the game. But, those are relatively minor QOL issues in the grand scheme of things. With that out of the way, I enjoyed the characters, the voice acting, the whole astrological premise (even though that's not my thing IRL - it was still implemented in a fun way), the enemy/boss diversity, the music, etc. While comparisons to Hades seem almost inevitable, it seems clear to me this game takes inspiration from it (certain things like the end game summary screen reminded me of Hades, but that's also like...the tiniest detail), but it is fully its own unique game. I beat the game on my 34th run at about 24 hours in, which based on the achievements is on the lower end of runs to beat it (though I suspect not significantly so). I did some achievement clean-up afterwards, some of which was fun and some of which was too grindy for my tastes, but that's of course fully optional. Generally speaking, if you're looking for a solid roguelite to scratch that particular itch, I think this game has a really nice combination of smooth combat, enjoyable story, and satisfying gameplay loop. It's also a solid co-op pick, which is something I'm almost always looking for. Aside from a few confusing things (which you can always google if it really comes down to it), I fully enjoyed my time with Astral Ascent. AVOID | LACKING | MAYBE | WORTHWHILE | [b][u]COMPELLING[/u][/b] | UNMISSABLE

Definitely not a terrible game, but feels very empty. It's got a lot of stuff, lots of systems, choices, etc, but everything feels shallow. Horizontal depth maybe, but not a lot of vertical depth. The concept is strong the foundation is just flimsy, so I may be interested in a sequel or future iteration of this series, but as it stands today there's just not enough to the experience to justify time spent.

Why do I need to pay for updates to the game disguised as dlc? Why can't I buy a game and get the entire thing immidiately? The dlc combined cost more than the game itself and looking at the roadmap, you only have 1 free update planned for this year. I hate this live-service ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you're trying to pull!

It isn't flawless by any means, yet it does so much right that it would be hard for me not to recommend it. Starting with a negative, even without having played Hades it is very clear that this game is quite derivative of it and even though it never bothered me in the flow of the game, the writing can feel very stereotypical at times. That being said though, the game is fun as hell. The choices you make within a run feel interesting enough to keep someone playing for a good while and the increase in difficulty you can get through the Destiny System can end up making every win feel like a milestone. I am currently on Destiny lvl 47 and it's hard as balls, yet it doesn't feel like it's cheap by any means. Even when the writing feels stereotypical at times, the story did have me hooked enough to care about the characters and all their respective endings. I can say it's very clear that the devs care about this game, with the updates it's getting giving me an incentive to return to the game every time.