Astral Ascent (PC) Review

Astral Ascent has an absolutely beautiful art direction, moderately fun gameplay, and some inconsistencies that drag it down a little. The story starts off with a serious sci-fi bend of a galactic overlord killing off planets, and the best warriors being sent to a prison, told in absorbing anime cutscenes. However, fairly quickly it falls into a typical fantasy-like experience, so don't expect starships or anything like that.

The protagonist takes the role of a woman named Ayla who is trying to defeat the bosses guarding the overlord. The general flow of Astral Ascent involves going into randomly created levels, fighting through enemies, dying, and trying again with some slight upgrades. It is, of course, a formula that works very well and keeps players engaged. There are four different characters that play slightly differently, and a range of objectives to gain upgrades, like increased health or new moves.

The heart of the game is in the platforming and combat. It is fairly smooth, with the one caveat that the character movement is floaty; it is easy to stay in the air for a very long time, which is important for the next point of how spells work. Basic attacks come out fast, and are the only way to recharge mana, which is used for the more powerful spells. As a result, combat is a dance between dodging attacks, using spells that deplete mana, and hitting enemies to get the mana back.

There are four spell slots, which initially start with only having a single same spell in all four spots. When a new spell, let's say lighting, is obtained, it will take one slot, so the four slots that were all a dagger throw are now three dagger throws and one lightning. The way the spell system works is that all spells must be cast once before they can be cast again, and while the order of the spells can be selected, it ends up feeling awkward having one or two low strength spells that are just used to reset the spell process. On top of this is the very limited mana. Typically, about two or three spells can be cast before players have to bash enemies in order to get the mana back. The basic attack system is weak and feels a little off.

One of the main issues with Astral Ascent is the inconsistency, especially in the art direction. The anime scenes, such as for each boss, are stunning and sets the stage for their personality. The talking portraits are very well drawn. Even the backgrounds with birds and flowers are worth just stopping and looking at. One area where the quality declines is the main characters themselves; they look like blurry cardboard cut-outs, or about one or two steps above pixelated stick figures. For such a beautiful game everywhere else, it is incredible how bad they look, which is unfortunate given that they are the main illustration that is seen the most.

Astral Ascent has all the ingredients of an outstanding experience, but it just never reaches that huge "one more time" feeling some of the heavy hitters in the genre have. For example, every 'fight' room is simply a pit with one or two platforms on it, and the upgrades are not that fun or powerful. A new spell might be kind of interesting, but it isn't going to be room-clearing, and given the way the magic system works, it is at best regulated to every fourth cast.

Combat is a little too calculated and grindy to be able to sit back and have some overpowered fun, but there is too much randomness to truly be puzzling in nature. It is a solid title, but it lacks the magic where any single run is so fun and tempting that made something like Hades so good. Every run feels very samey, which is not a good experience.