Ascendant

About

Ascendant is a single player arcade shooter game with fantasy and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Imagisphere and was released on January 31, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Defeat legendary abominations, build-craft unstoppable combinations of enchanted items, investigate an ancient evil, and ascend to freedom! Ascendant is a dungeon crawler with heavy Rogue-like elements. You will encounter 3 challenging biome specific enemies types as well as a new Mini-Boss on every floor! Open soul chests to acquire items with magical attributes. Many of these items synergize …

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73%

Audience ScoreBased on 45 reviews

graphics6 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The art style is beautiful and adds a unique flair to the game.
The spell upgrading system is interesting and offers some depth to gameplay.
The game has potential for fun and engaging gameplay, especially with the right updates.

Movement feels floaty and controls can be unresponsive, making combat frustrating.
The game suffers from a lack of depth in combat and repetitive enemy encounters.
There are numerous bugs and technical issues that detract from the overall experience.

story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game's story is initially intriguing, with a promising tutorial that sets the stage for an engaging narrative; however, players feel it lacks depth and frequency throughout the gameplay. While there are quests tied to the story, they often come across as trivial or unrewarding, leading to a desire for more variety and meaningful content. Overall, the narrative aspect shows potential but is hindered by gameplay issues and a lack of engaging quest design.
- “Overall, I think it's pretty sad that such an interesting game with rich build diversity has such issues gameplay-wise because the story from the tutorial seemed great (even though it seems to extend only rarely) and it's clearly not enough for me to recommend it.”
- “Great storytelling.”
- “Where you can take on quests that I hope end up more interesting than 'collect a bunch of money'.”
- “On its surface, this looks like a really fun game, but playing it was a much different story.”
- “Quests are either trivial or unrewarding (one I've found appears to be impossible due to a bug - don't take 'release 100 souls', it counts chests rather than souls).”
- “Overall, Ascendant would benefit from more variety in all aspects, more build synergies, a quest system that doesn't penalize you for not finding the floor's enchantress before doing anything, and communicates quest completion better.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
10%
30%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful and unique art style, showcasing the developers' effort and creativity. Players appreciate the cool visuals and relaxing atmosphere, although some note that the visuals could improve in conveying gameplay elements like enemy debuffs. Overall, the combination of stunning visuals and sound design enhances the gaming experience.
- “The art style is amazing and you can tell the dev really put a lot of effort into the game.”
- “Love everything about the visuals and sounds!”
- “This game has the potential to be good, and the art style and sound design are beautiful.”
- “The visuals don't communicate things like enemy debuffs very well.”
- “Cute little roguelike with a neat art style.”
- “I really liked the art style.”
gameplay
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it repetitive and slow, particularly due to the early encounters with a limited variety of enemies and forgiving mechanics. While the dodge and parry system adds an interesting layer, many feel that the overall experience lacks versatility and becomes monotonous, especially during boss fights. Despite its smooth execution and appealing art style, the gameplay struggles to maintain engagement over time.
- “Super smooth gameplay, great soundtrack, and super cool it integrates with Tangia!”
- “The game looks great (pixel art, of course), the gameplay is difficult but fun, and the soundtrack is great.”
- “The standout 'dodge' mechanic in this game is a parry that reflects the enemy’s damage back at itself.”
- “The fights, once you understand the enemies, are pretty boring. At least at the start of the game, I got annoyed fighting the same three enemies over and over again, killing over 200 of them before the first boss. The main mechanics are also way too forgiving, making the overall experience slow.”
- “The art is great, but the gameplay is pretty repetitive, and its lack of versatility is something to take into consideration.”
- “Each boss has 1-3 attacks that it loops, so the gameplay becomes very repetitive very quickly.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the great soundtrack and its integration with gameplay, others feel that it is minimal or lacking. Overall, the soundtrack is noted as a strong point, enhancing the gaming experience despite some criticism regarding its presence.
- “Super smooth gameplay, great soundtrack, and super cool it integrates with Tangia!”
- “The game looks great (pixel art, of course), the gameplay is difficult but fun, and the soundtrack is great.”
- “If this game had like 50 more unique wands, decent music, and better enemy design (instead of just hyper-scaling HP), I would recommend it.”
- “The music is basically non-existent.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, as dying leads to repetitive encounters with similar items, monsters, and layouts. While some view the room-to-room combat as a necessary means to prepare for boss fights, the overall sentiment leans towards frustration with the monotony of the grind.
- “When you die, you start over, but the items, monsters, and layout are very similar, making defeating them again tedious.”
- “Everything is tedious as hell.”
- “Some negative reviews mention the room-to-room combat being tedious, but I just see it as a means to gear up between boss fights.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with some users experiencing occasional performance issues, such as getting stuck in walls due to abilities. However, there is optimism that with ongoing updates, the developers can enhance performance and realize the game's full potential.
- “I've had one or two performance hiccups - a dash ability that I unlocked with a pendant left me stuck in a wall, and I had to reload.”
- “The main structure is mostly in place for what could be a potentially absolute gem of a game, assuming the developers keep up current performance with updates and enact their vision.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the game emotionally resonant, often evoking nostalgia and positive feelings, even among those who may not typically enjoy the genre.
- “It reminds me of the good old days, even though I'm not typically much into this genre — I just liked it and it made me feel good.”