Our Ascent

Good

fun

Only played a few hours yet (and thus might edit later), but thoroughly enjoying myself. Very solid gameplay loop. Strategic planning and min-maxing is highly encouraged; in-game achievements such as defeating a boss within a certain amount of time or number of encounters essentially require this, and net you points that you can spend on very powerful abilities for your character. Said characters have very distinct strengths (and special abilities), so it never feels like you might as well be playing one character in different outfits. One feature I particularly like is that progress with one character helps out the rest: 10% of the overall XP multiplier of one character buffs the others, and they will get more Boss and Skill Points if other characters have also defeated the bosses they have. QoL features such as equipment and stat allocation load-outs already exist, as well as an entirely separate 'Ascended Mode'--which in no way was counted for the 15 hours of playtime currently mentioned, as it is far more difficult than the regular mode, though not to the point of becoming flat-out frustrating (not to me, at least). Runs never feel wasted; there's always progress made somewhere, giving you that steady, satisfying supply of dopamine hits. If you don't mind (or like) The Grind™, give this one a shot, I'm pleasantly surprised by how polished this already feels, especially compared to other EA titles at this price point. Looking forward to seeing where the dev takes this!