Would you believe that we have a brand new roguelike adventure to tell you all about today? Of course you would, it’s me doing it. I have to say that I’ve played a lot of games from this genre this year which is also pretty much a given as it’s my favorite but sadly there haven’t been that many stellar hits in 2023 that have really wowed me. This might just be because I’m a tad jaded but it isn’t going to stop me from raving about this awesome gaming style and today’s game might just be the one I’ve been waiting for. The game we’re discovering is Astral Ascent and it looks very promising.
Coming from the clever souls over at Hibernian Workshop, Astral Ascent can now be obtained for your favorite device for £20.99 for those of us on this side of the pond or $24.99/€24.50 for our American and European friends respectively. Astral Ascent can be found over on Steam for you PC-owning folk, or at the Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store for the Switch and PS4/PS5-owning gamers amongst you.
Astral Ascent is, as I’ve mentioned, a lightning-fast rogue-lite that will see players leading a team of four unique heroes who must fight twelve powerful bosses known as The Zodiacs as they battle across a modern fantasy pixel art world.
One of the big things that make the Rogue genre so appealing to players is the level of character-building allowed and the pure random nature of each run. This allows for near-endless possibilities and makes gameplay feel fresh every time you go back in for more. This is going to be absolutely no different here with the ability to unlock hundreds of heavily customizable spells. These can be tailored to your play style and used to defeat challenging enemies in this beautifully hand-crafted world.
Speaking of customization, Astral Ascent doesn’t just stop at spell-slinging. Between runs, players will also be able to modify their perks, summons, and unique auras to give themselves the best possible chance at succeeding on their next attempt.
Those of you who like to play along with friends will have your needs met here, with Astral Ascent featuring both single-play and cooperative modes. Multiplayer will allow you to be joined by a pal either locally or online using Steam’s Remote Play. You’ll be working towards one of 17 possible different fully animated and narrated endings, so there’s plenty to go at whether it be alone or with others. A fifth playable character will be entering the fray in 2024 so there’s also more to look forward to in the future.
If you’re looking for a new rogue-lite battler to get your teeth into, Astral Ascent looks like a very tempting choice. If you want more information on this interesting-sounding game you can find everything you need here. I’ll even drop you a link to the Discord chat for those of you who want to get involved. There’s also a very good chance you’ll see me in a lobby somewhere because, as I mentioned earlier, that should really be a given.
