Astral Ascent [Review]
You may not ascribe much weight to astrology, but after getting your butt whooped by a massive sword-wielding jailer named Taurus for the 4th time, you might begin to understand where they get their reputation.
Welcome to the world of Astral Ascent: a roguelite action-platformer title in which a malevolent general known as “The Master” has conquered much of the known galaxy. In his wake, he has placed countless defeated warriors in The Garden - a massive prison that is guarded closely by his 12 strongest warriors, known as The Zodiacs.
You begin the game as Ayla, a knife-wielding assassin, and set out on a quest to defeat the Zodiacs, free the prisoners, and topple The Master once and for all.
Image Credit: Self Capture
As the introductory narrative played, at first I found it a bit flat, and admittedly I winced when the General’s moniker was revealed. However, the nature of The Garden and structure of his elite corps piqued my interest. Sure - the core narrative may initially feel a bit hollow, but as I quickly discovered, Astral Ascent isn’t particularly invested in building out a rich world of lore. Instead, it invites you to get lost in its vibrant aesthetic and rich combat mechanics.
The graphics of Astral Ascent are an interesting blend of pixelated character portraits, an extremely minimalist approach to the player’s sprite, and environments that are rich with color and detailed pixel art. You can see the leaves on bushes swaying, the gentle flowing of water, the swirling of arcane energies…all brilliantly conveyed using beautiful, pixelated art.
Image Credit: Self Capture
I found myself admiring the juxtaposition often as I explored the various levels on my journey to escape from this surprisingly lush prison. Each world feels like a distinct love-letter to pixel art, drafted in its own unique font. I was reminded of some of the elements that fostered my love for Hyper Light Drifter, as well as noticing some familiarity in how Dead Cells approached some of its own character models. It’s a style that is bursting with charm and beauty in its own right, and properly drew me in to explore more of what the world had to offer.
The structure of each “escape” should sound fairly familiar for roguelite fans (particularly those who invested an ungodly amount of hours in one Greek-mythology inspired title in particular): you set off to escape from this prison, and following the introductory level you’re given a handful of choices. You may want to go to a new “exploration” level, getting the chance to find power-ups or discover other goodies within The Garden, or jump straight into a “fight room”, where you dispatch baddies to collect the indicated reward. Ultimately, you’ll arrive at the Boss room, which closes the book on that particular section and graduates you to the next segment of the game.
Each escape will give you different choices as the rooms are completed, meaning no two runs will ever be exactly the same.
Of course, you’re not going to topple a Galactic Warlord on your first attempt, so as you meet your inevitable end, you will have a chance to invest in persistent upgrades for your character.
Returning to the base, you can spend various acquired currency to invest in spells to bring into the field, or bolster your personal health, armor, critical hit chance/damage, and more.
Fight. Die. Repeat. It’s the Roguelite Way!
Which means that you need to have a good relationship with the combat - and this is definitely the gem of this game.
There are a total of four playable characters you can ultimately unlock, and to my delight it also offers couch co-op. That’s right - you and a friend can battle through The Garden together! I’ve discussed this before, but I will always have a soft spot for titles that offer co-op experiences like this, as the always-online approach has taken something pretty important away from that social element of gaming. So, that’s a big plus.
Each character has a unique Signature spell: Ayla, for example, teleports behind an enemy and slashes them. In addition, you have a pool of mana that you can use to cast 4 unique spells. To inspire a level of strategy and engagement that I haven’t quite seen before, the spells grow in cost as you “cycle” through them, topping out at a cost of 4 mana (your whole mana bar when the game starts). You recover mana by attacking enemies, so this encourages a healthy balance between regular attacks and utilizing your spells. Furthermore, by giving you the option to re-arrange the order of these spells, you can choose which spell is the cheapest, as well as reflect on the synergy of your spells in regards to how they would work when executed back-to-back.
Image Credit: Self Capture
Maybe you throw a spectral knife and then fire a ki blast, or leave behind an explosive clone and then dash-slice your way through your foes. As your mana bar expands, you can build out some devastating magical combos, and tweaking the spell-order can quickly become an obsession.
Further enhancing the Spell system are the Gambits. These are essentially enhancements to spells that have a certain % of triggering, or providing certain effects. This can be linked to spells or your standard attack. Gambits have elemental affiliations as well, and can connect with related spells more strongly, offering enhanced benefits.
You also have the opportunity to acquire Auras as you make your escape. These are benefits that apply to your character directly, and while you only have one at first, one of the persistent upgrades you can make is being able to carry 2-3 at a time.
The result of all this? An amazingly addictive combat system that will have you jumping back in for gameplay loop after gameplay loop.
It’s been a long year, full of so many amazing games…and Astral Ascent is another one. Unexpected, to be sure, but its tight gameplay, addictive escape loop and vibrant pixel art help it to stand out. It’s a game that fully deserves your attention: just don’t be surprised when it ends up making you its prisoner.
