Adam's Ascending Reviews

I’ve been waiting to play Adam’s Ascending since I heard about it during the Kinda Funny Games Showcase. It was definitely worth the wait.  Yes, the game is in Early Access for now, so you will come across a few bugs and issues that you wouldn’t experience in a full-fledged game. I can confidently say that the game's overall experience is very satisfying and pretty much what I thought it would be at this stage.  There are some loading time issues here and there, but nothing crazy. Not having a save option is not always enjoyable by keeping you on edge with a bit frustration sprinkled in at times. Just for that though, it does give me nostalgia for an earlier era in games.  I truly enjoyed the story and the deliberate simplicity of the entire experience that I played. I can easily recommend this version of the game...for what I think is one developer behind it all. Plus, the simple fact of wanting more unique experiences of this kind is worth the price of entry.

I cannot recommend this game in it's current state. (this does not mean that the game could be in a better position later on) When you open the game, you are met with very confusing controls. I had to manually bind my Xbox controller for some reason, however, was very unsure with what controls were genuine, as you have multiple version of "horizontal" or "vertical", and begin to doubt what either of those words mean. Once you are in game, you cannot edit any controls, nor can you adjust graphics, lighting, or sound levels. So the setting you get at the beginning, being manually edit controls and dimensions are all the available customisation. Although steam states this is a controller only game, you are met with your first challenge, aiming your white cursor at an object, to pick it up, in a room with snow particles (which look very similar to the white cursor). Your first puzzle is then putting crystals into colour coded slots...however, when you put the first crystal in, you can then pull it back out, and put it into the next slot, completing the challenge. You then become the main character, Adam. Who is learning to walk for the first time, who can successfully do a commando roll on demand. There are many small things like this which take you away from the immersion, which i'm sure will be fixed, however, this game is very laggy, with most assets directly purchased off of websites, as nothing seems to have the same consistency. Let's now talk about price. In the UK, this is £15.49. This game would more suit around a third of this price. To not be a heartless human being, this is clearly the developers first game, and for their own learning experience, you can see fantastic growth and learning as you go through the game. The game also has a fantastic song, which is played twice within the first chapter. As a side project, and to see the developers own journey, this is fun. As a game, this needs a huge amount of work. I will look at re-purchasing this game when it is fully complete, or further down the development process.