Astral Ascent Reviews

really smooth gameplay. managed to beat it on my 2nd run and theres still so much content

From the Artstyle, to the voice acting, the character designs, the tight fights, the satisfying meta progression, the build possibilities, the replayability, this is a VERY well made game! If you don't want progression/unlock spoilers just know that I heavily recommend this game. Now read on if you don't mind having certain (early, but still) parts of the game spoiled (not story, just unlock progression and gameplay). In this game I believe it might be better to go in blind and be surprised. So, sure, the visuals take a little getting used to as you might have seen from the steam store's videos/trailers, what with all the skill/spell effects, the enemies and then you moving in all that choas it can be a little hard on the eyes/brain (though there is an option to outline you and enemies)... But you can get used to it and when you do, when the gameplay clicks and you are familiar with the enemy types, the controls and the movements it is absolutely exhilarating, and then when you start getting those "perfect" room clears (no-hit room clears) you get a sense of accomplishement few games really manage to bring forth, especially when coupled with a good run. Also, like I said initially, the meta progression is quite nice. As you "level up" and do more runs, more characters and upgrades become available. You also have an incentive to try different things (or just keep pushing through as some are unavoidable) in the form of achievements that ACTUALLY also reward you with currency for meta upgrades. Talking about upgrades, at a certain point each Playable Character also gets "objectives" to unlock passives (up to 1 of your choice)... but that's not it, you also unlock new "weapons" (I have yet to get my hands on the second one. It seems to be linear progression on that part), each of which have their own passives to unlock. There is much more I could talk about but I feel like most of the fun comes from experiencing it yourself, not from knowing about it before hand. Don't go looking for META builds online. Explore and Experiment. Stop relying on guides and reddit to tell you how to play every single game ever and, you know, just play it. It's not like this is some competitive PVP game and always wanting to "optimize" ruins games. Do you feel like games don't excite you as they used to? If you are one of those people who feels like, yes, games don't feel like they used to... then ask yourself, is it maybe because you have guides/tips looked up before even truly playing the game? It's a game, have fun, play the game to play it not to "win as efficiently as possible". This game has so so much to offer and I very much recommend it. This is an EASY recommend.

Roguelike is my favorite genre by far, and this is easily a top three for me. Checks every box that I could want it to. Fluid combat, spell choices that very much remind me of Wizard of Legend (my favorite aspect of that game). Phenomenal pixel art with the endgame animation being enough on its own to warrant reaching that point. Character designs are fantastic. And the VOICE ACTING is phenomenal. Coming into this with 100+ hours on Dead Cells, combined with experience on other roguelikes, the early game felt quite easy. Thankfully, they have implemented a system that ramps the difficulty up while still feeling fair. Haven't had a moment yet where failure felt like I was being cheated. Astral Ascent truly feels like a mashup of the best of the best.

great for alot of people, didnt enjoy the locked spell rotation and generator spending mechanic of mana

think of the best action roguelites you've played... Astral Ascent simply, obviously stands among them seamless steam deck experience

Great game nice roguelite straight forward and probably a great game for just starting. I've played Hades 1 and 2 along with Risk of rain and even dead cells and feel like this game is not too difficult but very straight forward. This game does not have as much content as the other games mentioned but I really like the game play and would recommend to anyone. Straight forward not too challenging but still really fun so great game for beginners and even veterans of the genre.

Really fun as a single player or coop game the weapons and bonus effects you can unlock really change the way characters play adding a lot of variety and personal style

They have created a world and cast of characters that are so interesting and fun to watch while making a 10/10 gameplay. Please give this game a chance, it's incredible

This is a masterpiece, every second I dedicated to the game, tryharding or not, was worth it.

Crisp animations, nice combat flow, lots of scaling options and unlockables. A really solid roguelike!