Astral Ascent

The roguelike sub-genre is more saturated than ever these days. Ever since Hades debuted and took the world by storm, there have been such a massive number of new roguelikes making their presence known, and it can be challenging to know which ones are worth your time. Hibernian Workshop has been steadily improving its roguelike effort for some time in Early Access, but now the game has debuted as a full product, and with that in mind, I can confidently tell you that Astral Ascent is worth your time.

It's very similar to Hades in many ways. You play as a character who is trapped in an astral prison guarded by powerful bosses known as the Zodiacs (yes, they are themed after the 12 zodiac signs). The idea is that you have to explore the unique realms in this prison to be able to find and challenge the evil tyrant who has claimed and trapped these worlds in the first place. You do so by heading out on and battling enemies, acquiring upgrades, improving your skills, and then ultimately being defeated so that you can use the few amassed roguelite currencies and elements to fundamentally and permanently improve your character before beginning another, and hopefully more successful run.

The core premise of roguelikes isn't challenged here at all. If you've played any roguelike in the past, you will find Astral Ascent to be a truly familiar experience, but that isn't a knock on the game at all, as the idea of roguelikes is a tried and tested, well-received setup. What makes Astral Ascent such a blast to play is how the game is fundamentally designed to be progressive. Unlike Dead Cells or Hades, or Enter the Gungeon, or The Binding of Isaac, Astral Ascent is a game that feels like you are actually getting somewhere with each run, as you will notice your character becoming stronger and more effective with each attempt. It is fulfilling and fun to play, which is something roguelikes can often lack due to their generally punishing style.

And this is further bolstered by the fact that the buildcrafting and upgrading system is incredibly easy to understand and intuitive to follow. It once again reminds me of Hades, and how the upgrades in that game came across as well thought out and yet packed with depth and a multitude of options. In Astral Ascent, the upgrades are all about improving your core stats like health, damage, armour, critical hit chance, and then also acquiring new spell abilities that can be bettered with modifications, and auras that give your character additional benefits. There are a lot of buildcrafting elements, but after just a few minutes with the game, each makes sense and feels important, allowing you to focus your efforts on improving your own movement and combat mechanics, and to learn the unique attacks of the various enemy types and deadly bosses littered throughout the game.

The storyline for Astral Ascent unravels as you continue to fight and die. The narrative unfolds by speaking with characters in the hub areas and by finding echoes and additional places to learn more about the astral Garden setting. The story in this game at its most basic works, but if you're searching for a deeper narrative offering, Astral Ascent's patchwork style doesn't really ever make for that compelling of a storyline.

But fortunately, there is plenty of depth and replayability. With four worlds with randomly generated levels to explore, four characters to play as with their own attack styles, and 12 Zodiac bosses to face, there are a multitude of reasons to keep chugging through Astral Ascent. Considering the really striking pixel 2D art style and the fact that the game is incredibly fluid to play in a performance sense, you'll want to keep exploring and heading out on additional runs.

Astral Ascent isn't looking to redefine what you have to come to expect from a roguelike, but it is clear that what Hibernian Workshop has created is a very complete, coherent, and competent example of what roguelikes at their finest can be. It's rewarding, fulfilling, fast-paced, and accentuated with a deep buildcrafting suite, all while looking absolutely striking and being well optimised and refined in a performance sense. This is without a doubt one of the best roguelikes that has launched this year, and is absolutely worth checking out if you've been looking for something else to scratch that Hades itch.