Astral Ascent

Astral Ascent is a video game that provides a satisfying experience for anyone that enjoys a mixture of adventure and action with a solid story to bring everything together.

In this title, your objective is to escape from the Garden. The Garden is actually an astral prison that is guarded by 12 brutal bosses known as The Zodiacs. For a rogue-lite title, it brings some nice elements to make it feel somewhat fresh. It’s definitely an addictive title to play, but does it really stand distinctly on its own in a sea of rogue-lite games?

Gameplay

Astral Ascent is quite similar to Dead cells. Here you’ll find yourself needing hack, slash, jump and use spells in order to survive a run. If you’ve ever played a title like Dead Cells or Hades, you’ll be familiar with a lot of the things you’ll get from a gameplay point of view in Astral Ascent. Even with its similarities to Dead Cells, I’ve gotta say it’s an easier experience. This revelation is probably a relief to the majority of fans reading this, as Dead Cells might just be the most unforgiving rogue-lite adventure.

In Astral Ascent, you’ll need to beat four worlds in order to reach the end of the game. This can be done with one of the four different heroes you’ll need to choose from. In a unique spin on the genre, you’ll be able to enjoy Astral Ascent with a friend through the couch co-op feature. As you progress, you’ll need to defeat the 12 zodiac bosses across the adventure. At the start, there’s a tutorial, but that doesn’t completely help with the brutal experience of learning how to manage your builds, spells, attacks and everything in-between. Learning these other things will only ever really be done by playing and dying… a lot. Eventually, you’ll grasp the right way to play this game, and it will be all the more rewarding.

Graphics

Astral Ascent is no-doubt a beauty. The retro-style pixel graphics may be popular in the indie scene, but Astral Ascent takes advantage of the artistic medium in a pleasing way. Colors are vibrant with character animations complementing the environmental backdrops.

The audio is also quite peaceful with a nice level of ambience giving players a good mood in an otherwise brutal world. The music has JRPG feeling to it, making you feel like a young hero going out on an epic adventure.

Repeat Playthroughs?

In my time spent with Astral Ascent, it was satisfying to take on the world’s bosses and explore the 4 different worlds it has to offer. Everything felt fresh and new, and bosses were genuinely thought out, even though they were quite difficult to learn.

Pros

• Fun gameplay
• Awesome graphics
• Satisfying audio

Cons

• Story not that easy to understand