Ascent: The Space Game

About

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+17

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 513 reviews

graphics26 positive mentions

grinding62 negative mentions

The game offers a vast universe with 270 billion star systems to explore, allowing players to leave their mark by naming discovered systems.
The community is friendly and helpful, providing support and guidance to new players, enhancing the overall experience.
The mining mechanics are engaging and unique, requiring players to manage temperature and speed to maximize yield, making resource gathering more interactive.

The user interface is clunky and outdated, making navigation and interaction cumbersome, which can detract from the overall gameplay experience.
The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, leading to frustration and interruptions during play sessions.
Progression can feel grindy, with long wait times for research and upgrades, which may discourage casual players from continuing.

graphics
126 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
70%
10%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting that they appear outdated, often likening them to 90s-era visuals. While some appreciate the game's immersive gameplay and find the graphics acceptable, others criticize them for being glitchy and below modern standards. Overall, the consensus suggests that while the graphics may not be impressive, they do not significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, especially for those who prioritize gameplay over visual fidelity.
- “The graphics and the music are fantastic.”
- “Overall the graphic design is spectacular, the game engine of course uses Unity 5 that's an automatic 10/10 on optimization. The game is very well developed and honestly I do fancy it more than Eve Online; it's much better and more competitive to 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.”
- “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 in 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.”
gameplay
86 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
62%
3%
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 overly complex and the game is still in alpha with occasional glitches, the overall experience is immersive and rewarding, with frequent updates and a supportive community. Players note a steep learning curve, but those who invest the time find the gameplay to be extensive and enjoyable, with significant potential for future development.
- “The gameplay is brilliant; it's immersive regardless of the poor graphics. You are not just sent out to right-click an asteroid until your cargo hold is full.”
- “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.”
- “The gameplay... it is so extensive that I probably have not experienced 20% of what you can achieve.”
- “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.”
- “Exhausting game mechanics.”
story
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
93%
4%
The game's story is primarily driven by a series of tutorial and starter missions that guide players through various gameplay mechanics, such as trading, mining, and building settlements. However, many players find the quest system lacking in tracking and clarity, often leaving them feeling lost after completing missions. While the overarching narrative is considered engaging, the execution suffers from poor UI and incomplete mission logs, which detracts from the overall experience.
- “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.”
grinding
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessive and tedious, often leading to frustration as they navigate a steep learning curve to access more enjoyable features like exploration and colonization. While the game offers a variety of activities such as mining, farming, and trading, many reviewers note that the repetitive nature of resource collection and manual transport can make the experience feel monotonous and overly time-consuming. Despite these criticisms, some players remain engaged, hoping that the grind will eventually lead to more rewarding gameplay.
- “This quickly turns into a tedious and boring 'have-to'.”
- “Comes with a few months by default, which is nice, but there's a huge wall of grinding between you and getting to a lot of the features the game is advertised for.”
- “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.”
stability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with players reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and crashes that hinder gameplay, such as auto-docking issues and terrain clipping. While some users note that these problems are not game-breaking, the overall sentiment suggests that the game feels unfinished and abandoned, with ongoing feature additions overshadowing necessary bug fixes. Despite these issues, a few players still find enjoyment in the game, indicating that it has potential if stability improvements are made.
- “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, which also freezes 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.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
43%
21%
The atmosphere in the game is intricately designed, requiring players to engage in detailed engineering to create breathable environments and manage atmospheric conditions for colonization. Players must assess planetary atmospheres for suitability, often involving the construction of domes and the collection of atmospheric gases. The immersive experience is enhanced by a fitting soundtrack and a humorous AI character, contributing to a compelling and realistic atmosphere.
- “Good soundtrack and atmosphere; the in-game AI, Sam 5000, is based on HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and he's very amusing.”
- “It seems you have to build and manage environmental domes (unless the atmosphere is perfect) and supply them with the atmospheric gases you need to maintain a habitable environment for your colonists.”
- “Finding a planet to colonize involves sampling its land and atmosphere and deciding whether it's worthy or not of human colonization in relation to the future aim of this colony.”
- “Once you colonize, you actually have to do some engineering (making breathable atmosphere, dealing with gravity and air pressure, etc).”
- “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.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
38%
38%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews; while the Unity 5 engine is praised for its development quality, players report significant performance issues, including low frame rates and frequent crashes. Graphics are considered outdated compared to current standards, leading to a disconnect between visual quality and performance. Overall, while some players find the game enjoyable, they acknowledge that optimization could be improved, especially given the technical issues experienced.
- “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 I honestly fancy it more than Eve Online. It's much better and more competitive, set in a PvE universe, allowing each player to have fun and enjoy their gaming experience.”
- “Overall, the graphic design is spectacular, and the game engine uses Unity 5, which is an automatic 10/10 on optimization.”
- “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.”
- “My first night consisted of me learning the ropes whilst 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.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The music in the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the fantastic soundtrack and immersive atmosphere it creates. Additionally, the amusing in-game AI, Sam 5000, adds to the overall enjoyment of the 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.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that players are dissatisfied with the game's monetization, feeling misled by promotional materials that showcased superior graphics and performance, which do not match the actual experience. This discrepancy has contributed to a negative perception of the game's value.
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted for its hilarity, particularly in the local market option, which adds a comedic twist to the gameplay experience. Overall, players find the humor to be a standout feature that enhances their enjoyment.