Play Games
1 month ago
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It’s hard being a Mr. Olympia candidate out in the fields of Harmony. Instead of tending to my multitude of muscle children or getting my bi-daily mullet perm, I’m instead engaging with the devil’s work – cardio – to keep us all alive. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: ‘how does he get that lower ab definition?’ As they say, abs are made in the kitchen, and only my patented blend of ground Gorlizard scales, loot snail slime, and atomized Tina Turner mixtapes can get you there – it’s simply the best. Of course, being an Ascendant isn’t just protein shakes and muscle-ups, and PlayFusion’s new 80s-fueled, team-based adaptation shooter is pushing to prove it has the juice to make serious player gains. After getting hands-on during a recent playtest, I can vouch for its potential.
Ascendant is set in an alternate biopunk future where only the fittest survived a humanity-ending cataclysmic event known as the Cascade. As we all know, the only way to insulate yourself from the end times is by wearing the right protective coverings – those being leg warmers, sweatbands, and short shorts so short you might actually just be naked down there. Living in a settlement or ‘shade’ powered by a life-giving Earthtree also helps in the multiplayer game’s post-apocalyptic world, I suppose.
As bulging biceps require appropriate nutrition, so too do Earthtrees. Though rather than eating clean and training hard, these towering Yggdrasilian monoliths are powered by Amber stored in biocores – the main objective you’re trying to extract from a derelict shade called Harmony in its headline capture the flag mode. While there are clear similarities between Ascendant and shooters like The Cycle Frontier (RIP) and Apex Legends, its gameplay loop couldn’t be more different.
Rather than trying to mow down players like you would in the best battle royale games, or dropping in, looting up, and getting out as you would in extraction shooters, Ascendant pits four three-player teams against one another. During each game, you have to grab as many of the three biocores as you can, before extracting them at your main base. The game only ends when all three biocores have been whisked away, crowning the most prolific hoarders the winners. You’ll know the game’s entering its final vestiges when Europe’s iconic hit, ‘Final Countdown,’ starts blaring – the track selection for Ascendant slaps.
As you can imagine, there are tons of tactical options for you to explore. For example, you could send a player to scout each biocore before settling on the one with the least heat from other teams. Alternatively, you could choose to set up shop at an enemy team’s base ready to pounce when they start extracting a biocore. However, there are a few factors that can dramatically shake up viable tactics from game to game.
Ascendant’s mantra is ‘adapt or die,’ and it’s baked into pretty much every layer of its gameplay – PlayFusion’s dubbed it an ‘adaptation shooter,’ after all. This is most clearly demonstrated by its vibrant, ever-changing map that will open up certain sections to you in one game, before closing them off in the next. It’s an inspired design choice, ensuring maximum replayability on a single map without having to wait for new seasons to drop to shake things up with fresh or revamped POIs. It also requires you to tweak your approach to map rotations on the fly.
Then there’s the litany of destructive toys PlayFusion has placed at your disposal. In some games you’ll encounter a colossal, nigh-on indestructible armored vehicle – aptly named ‘Deathbringer’ – that requires all three players to operate. In others, you’ll gain access to a control tower that lets you light up the map with a missile barrage. This is particularly rude when you’ve carefully parallel parked your buggy outside a shop building, only for you to find it a smoking wreck once you’ve finished your trolley dash.
The shop itself also affects the way you play. You accrue Power by killing the local loot snails (biopunk, baby) and other players, which you can then desposit into a shop kiosk, allowing you to buy shiny new weapons, armor, and certain consumables. The kicker here is it’s not just your power but our Power, comrade, as the whole team can use any Power banked in the shop. Now you can send two players to scout, while the third practices gastropod gastronomy to kit the rest of the gang out upon their return.
During your time in Harmony, you’ll have to compete with much more than other players and human-made tools of devastation – it’s a PvPvE game, after all. Though the giant, people-sized loot snails are mostly harmless, other local denizens are anything but. Take, for example, the noble Gorlizard – a hulking, resplendent reptile that you can possess, adding even more oomph to your squad. Then there’s the poison-spewing Burrower that drops Ascendant’s ultimate weapon – the Hyper Cannon – when dispatched. Though this PvE element isn’t particularly revolutionary, PlayFusion does well to reward you for momentarily diverting your attention from the biocores.
The studio also rewards you for taking your time to traverse the map. To help prevent games from lasting forever, each player has a limited number of lives before it’s curtains. You can occasionally find extra lives dotted around Harmony, making for a well-placed incentive to canvas your environment.
As you can probably tell at this point, PlayFusion’s thought a lot about how it can take a simple mode like capture the flag and elevate it into a multi-layered tactical experience that requires exploration, teamwork, and creativity to thrive. I went into the session thinking ‘adaptation shooter’ would just be another marketing gimmick, but the studio’s already proving that it has the muscle to back up its claims.
While Ascendant’s gunplay isn’t my cup of coffee – it’s redolent of Apex’s, which I typically avoid like the Cascade – it’s nothing to sniff at. The multitude of traditional weapons available across multiple categories all felt sufficiently responsive, and I particularly fell in love with the more unique QS-F Powerglove – a support weapon that lets you heal and slowly regenerate your team’s shields. While consumables are a thing, the Powerglove is incredible because it allows your homies to continue skirmishing without having to pull back, bunker down, and heal up. Ascendant’s gameplay isn’t as frenetic as Respawn’s BR, but with the Powerglove it’s certainly less stop-start.
PlayFusion also offers up the means for you to flex your creative muscles with weapon customization. Attachments not only give different stats, but they can fundamentally change the function of your gun. If, say, you want a sniper that fires cluster bombs to offset your suboptimal aim, you can do that. Similarly to Call of Duty MW3 your dream loadout won’t be available to you off the rip when you get in-game, but, as with Harmony’s beasties and extra life pickups, it serves as yet another way to pull you away from the simple A-B-C of load in, get biocore, extract biocore.
As with your arsenal, you can also customize your character. Though Ascendant’s creator is not nearly as sophisticated as your average open-world RPG game, there are plenty of elements to tweak, from the width of your jaw to the shade of your bucket hat. It’s also relatively free-form, which ensured my Billy-from-Stranger-Things-looking dude was suitably girlypop by the time I was finished with the makeup. The largest concentration of creative flash is in the clothing section, though. Here you can deck out your already very shiny garms in a variety of patterns and finishes – the more ostentatious, the better.
Speaking of ostentation, I’d be remiss to not mention Ascendant’s sprawling social hub. This not only acts as the pre-game area where you can hang out before heading out into Harmony, but the space is also filled to the brim with NPCs to interact with and fun activities to take part in. It wasn’t until we played hide and seek as a post-session cooldown that I realized how big it was – easily the size of Destiny 2’s Tower, maybe even bigger. Even here, PlayFusion is excelling at finding ways to get you exploring every nook and cranny it has to offer, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
During a group Q&A that followed the session, game designer Benny Peczek tells me that Ascendant will have around 60 NPCs in the area, with many offering quests – some seasonal – you can undertake out in the field. PlayFusion’s also got plenty of minigames to come, including a Destruction Derby game down in the hub’s basement, and a Micro Machine-like RC track that runs through its sewer system, up through the tunnels, and behind the lobby’s walls. The devs aren’t leaving much on the cutting room floor, and fellow designer Chris Long affirms that “most of the crazy stuff ends up making it in, for good or bad.” For good or bad indeed…
Before I tie off this preview, I do still need to address the genetically modified elephant in the room – pricing. At launch, Ascendant will retail for $30 which, judging from the heaps of potential it has, isn’t a bad investment by any means. However, many will balk at the prospect of having to shell out for a live-service game – indie studio or not – in a market where free-to-play is the dominant force – an issue I highlighted in my Concord preview (though, for the record, I believe Ascendant is a far more interesting prospect for the money despite its relative lack of polish at this point).
As it stands, only Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 has managed to generate enough interest to buck the trend, and PlayFusion is going to need to ride a similar wave of hype to get players to buy in. In this space, it’s not just about making sure the devs are holding up their end of the bargain, but there needs to be some level of agreement among players to ensure they’re not going to be loading into an empty server at launch. The positive response to Ascendant’s ’80s sitcom-style announcement trailer was a great opening gambit, but it needs to keep up the tempo as it heads into open beta from August 3-4.
So far then, it’s safe to say that Ascendant is a spirited, free-flowing FPS that will push your creativity and reward your curiosity. PlayFusion’s full-send mentality is arguably its greatest strength, and as long as it can continue adding that latex sheen to the game as it continues its development, it could very well materialize as one of the most exciting new PC games in the FPS space. Buying into a live-service shooter upfront is a risky business nowadays, but if PlayFusion can enthuse players and offer up something truly irresistible at launch, then it could stand to have a bright long-term future.
You can find out more on Ascendant’s Steam page ahead of the open beta on August 3.
