Ascent: The Space Game
- April 10, 2016
- Fluffy Kitten Studios
- 43h median play time
Get on Steam"Ascent: The Space Game" is a sandbox-style space simulation game that allows players to explore, mine, trade, and fight in a vast universe. Construct and manage space stations, build and customize space ships, and form alliances with other players. Features a procedurally generated galaxy with thousands of star systems and planets to discover.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique blend of exploration, colonization, and resource management, allowing players to leave their mark on a vast universe.
- The community is friendly and helpful, with many players willing to assist newcomers and share resources.
- The developer is actively engaged with the community, providing regular updates and responding to player feedback.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, which can hinder gameplay and lead to frustration.
- The user interface is clunky and not user-friendly, making it difficult for new players to navigate and understand game mechanics.
- The game has a steep learning curve, requiring significant time investment to progress and fully enjoy its features.
- graphics62 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting that they appear outdated, often likening them to those from the 90s or early 2000s. While some users find the graphics acceptable and immersive enough to enjoy the gameplay, others criticize them for being glitchy and below modern standards. Overall, the consensus suggests that while the graphics may not be impressive, the game's potential and engaging gameplay can compensate for this shortcoming.
“The graphics and the music are fantastic.”
“Overall the graphic design is spectacular; the game engine uses Unity 5, which is an automatic 10/10 on optimization. The game is very well developed and honestly, I fancy it more than EVE Online.”
“This game has huge potential, beautiful graphics, and a lot of graphical bugs (still early access).”
“The game was way too glitchy and the graphics were way worse than on their advertising videos and it had nothing to do with my video card.”
“The graphics are rather weak compared to performance (I have a Radeon R9 380, 8 core AMD processor, and 16 GB RAM, and my FPS on the second worst setting ranges between 60 to 30 in normal play, but the game's actual material in peak settings is on par with something that's like, ten years old?), it crashes pretty much once per hour.”
“We are talking year 2000 graphics here.”
- gameplay43 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its depth and innovative mechanics, particularly in mining and colonization, offering a rich experience that encourages exploration and engagement. While some mechanics can be complex and the user interface may need improvement, the overall experience is immersive and enjoyable, with frequent updates enhancing functionality. Despite being in alpha, the game shows significant potential and has already captivated players with its extensive content and community support.
“The mechanics for mining and planet scooping are something I have never seen done quite as well in any other game.”
“It has a great physics engine, interesting asteroid mining mechanics, and a very detailed settlement/starbase system.”
“The gameplay itself is fun, with a decent range of activities to entertain the average player (mining, AI pirate battles, colonization, and exploration), but the true appeal is the future possibilities.”
“Some mechanics are more complex than they need to be.”
“In my earlier review, I sort of skated over all the negative aspects of the game (glitches, awkward gameplay, tedious monotony) because I was seriously hoping that they would be fixed before release, but they weren't.”
“The caveat here is that I can't do any of this neat gameplay yet.”
- story41 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 85 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story is primarily driven by a series of missions that guide players through various activities such as trading, mining, and exploration, with a tutorial that introduces the core mechanics. However, many players find the quest system lacking in tracking and clarity, leading to confusion about mission objectives and progression. While the narrative has potential, it often feels incomplete and can leave players feeling lost after completing initial missions.
“The story behind this game is as improbably awesome as the game itself.”
“There's also a story mission that starts during the tutorial and continues, leading you 'breadcrumb' style through the different aspects of the game... trading, navigating, accepting contracts, and so on, until eventually you're led to start exploring.”
“During the starter narrative and missions, you learn to trade, mine, and skim gas giants for resources – just to name a few.”
“It leaves players feeling a little lost once they complete the mission as to what to do next.”
“The quest system is incomplete and does not have proper tracking or logs, as we have grown to expect with games since the days of MUDs.”
“Pretty much every quest is a 'fetch' quest.”
- grinding32 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 3 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and time-consuming, often feeling overwhelmed by the extensive resource collection and manual transportation required to progress. While the game offers a variety of activities such as exploration, colonization, and trading, many reviewers express frustration with the repetitive nature of grinding, which can detract from the overall enjoyment and lead to burnout after extended play. Despite these challenges, some players remain hopeful that the game's potential will be realized as they work through the grind to unlock more engaging features.
“The process of laying out your colonies/stations is very tedious and frustrating.”
“This quickly turns into a tedious and boring 'have-to'.”
“After almost 200 hours of play, I can honestly say this is a snore of a game; to call it boring and tedious is just being kind.”
- stability12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with players reporting frequent crashes, freezing issues, and various bugs that hinder gameplay, such as problems with auto-docking and terrain glitches. While some users note that the game is playable despite these issues, many express frustration over the lack of fixes for longstanding problems, suggesting that the game feels abandoned. Overall, the stability is described as inconsistent, with a mix of minor and major glitches affecting the experience.
“So after 4 years of being out, logging in auto docks you and freezes your ship (attempting to move the ship before auto-docking happens causes infinite speeds, which still freeze you at dock), repeat infinitely. Grab a mission to drop off passengers, only to freeze above dock (at least I got the piddly 400 credits). Mining asteroids that are going all over the place requires nonstop use of anchor... wouldn't your ship move with the asteroids in the belt?”
“Abandoned game, dev left a buggy mess out of a game with real promise and a great community of players.”
“The game is in a full release state, but it is very buggy and glitchy.”
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in the game is intricately designed, requiring players to manage and calibrate environmental settings based on the specific conditions of each planet, including gravity and air pressure. The presence of a captivating soundtrack and an amusing AI character enhances the immersive experience, while the need for engineering solutions to create breathable environments adds depth to gameplay. Overall, the atmosphere is both engaging and challenging, reflecting realistic physics and environmental management.
“The soundtrack and atmosphere are fantastic, and the in-game AI, SAM 5000, is based on HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey; he's very amusing.”
“The game features advanced gravity and atmosphere based on real Newtonian physics, which adds a layer of realism to the experience.”
“Once you colonize, you actually have to do some engineering, such as creating a breathable atmosphere and managing gravity and air pressure.”
“After a few hundred trips, you then need to manually calibrate your colony's settings to fit the atmosphere of the planet you're colonizing.”
“Once you colonize, you actually have to do some engineering (making breathable atmosphere, dealing with gravity and air pressure, etc).”
“Ok, you may colonize planets with or without domes depending on the atmosphere.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it utilizes Unity 5 effectively and offers a well-developed experience, players report significant performance issues, including low frame rates on decent hardware and frequent crashes. Some users note graphic stuttering and suggest that further optimization could enhance the experience, though they acknowledge that improvements may come with future updates.
“Overall, the graphic design is spectacular. The game engine, of course, uses Unity 5, which is an automatic 10/10 on optimization. The game is very well developed, and honestly, I fancy it more than EVE Online. It's much better and more competitive than EVE, only set in a PvE universe, so that way each and every player can have fun and play the way they want to enjoy themselves and their gaming experience.”
“The graphics are rather weak compared to performance. I have a Radeon R9 380, an 8-core AMD processor, and 16 GB of RAM, and my FPS on the second worst setting ranges between 60 to 30 in normal play. The game's actual material in peak settings is on par with something that's like ten years old. It crashes pretty much once per hour.”
“My first night consisted of me learning the ropes while getting help from a veteran player regarding some graphic stuttering that I was experiencing on my laptop.”
“The game could be a bit better optimized, but I wouldn't expect that at this stage.”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the fantastic soundtrack and its ability to create an immersive atmosphere. Additionally, the in-game AI character, Sam 5000, adds a humorous touch that complements the overall audio experience.
“The graphics and the music are fantastic.”
“The soundtrack is awesome.”
“Good soundtrack and atmosphere; the in-game AI Sam 5000 is based on HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and he's very amusing.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express dissatisfaction with the game's monetization, citing that the quality of the game does not match the promotional materials, leading to frustration over the perceived value for money.
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users find the humor in the game to be delightfully engaging, particularly noting the amusing interactions and scenarios presented in the local market option, which adds a layer of comedic charm to the overall experience.
