In the world of first-person shooters, some developers have quirky ideas that don’t follow trends and aim to turn the genre on its head. One such developer is PlayFusion. After playing their title currently in development, Ascendant, I find myself hooked despite not being big on first-person shooters anymore because of how different the game is.
It was just a few weeks ago that I was invited to participate in a playtest for Ascendant, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s rewind.
What is Ascendant?
Ascendant is called an “Adaptation Shooter,” but I don’t feel that tells you exactly what it is. Instead, I’ll just call it a fantastic take on the capture-the-flag game mode we’ve seen in so many first-person shooter titles, with aesthetics that are stuck in the 1980s. The theme of the game is that the world has gone to heck and you’ve been awoken from cryostasis to fight in a war over the only remaining resource that the world gives a damn about, Biocores. And guess whose job it is to get those lovely items? Congrats? It’s time to get up and get busy!
The main goal of Ascendant is to capture these Biocores, which are the flags of this game, located within three different locations on a map. Players need to grab these to win the game. While that sounds simple, it’s anything but, as these locations are centralized and can become chokepoints while four teams of three players are also trying to snag the Biocores for themselves. There’s also a bit of strategy here, such as deciding which Biocore you should go after, or whether you should try to build up some money so you can get better gear first, and then charge after your opponents, or adapt your strategy on the fly.
Once a Biocore is grabbed, getting it back to base is another challenge. As soon as the item is snagged, everyone knows it’s being moved, and it suddenly turns into a free-for-all as the other teams are notified of what’s happening. That’s not the only downside, as there’s a short time period before you can take the Biocore, and should a firefight take place during the extraction period, it stops until you dispatch the approaching opponents, or they take you out and claim the Biocore for themselves. Of course, that also means you have to watch your back as attacks could come from anywhere. Thanks to the ability to purchase gear, you never know who has farmed and geared up and who hasn’t. Lastly, to keep things fair, you have to hoof it back to your base, as carrying the item and using a vehicle would be unfair.
How PlayFusion is Keeping the Game Fresh
Let’s talk about what PlayFusion has done to spice things up. For starters, there is a character customization tool that lets you attempt to create your own funky character. At the start, it is a bit limited, but as you play, you’ll unlock more customization stuff that you’ll be able to use to upgrade your character’s style. Still, I would have liked to have more options from the start, but it’s nice to see that the option to create a character exists. This isn’t something you normally see in a first-person shooter and is normally reserved for RPGs. Weapons can also be customized but I didn’t play with this option during my time with the game.
A Virtual Game Director ensures that no two games are the same by adding content such as vehicles, changing the map flow, and even adding in-game events such as rockets that spam the playing field. While the fundamental design remains the same, everything else varies, and it’s a unique way to add some variety to games. PlayFusion hopes that this keeps the game fresh and fun. Some maps are pretty basic with a few shops and enemies around, while others are larger and feature vehicles that can be used to speed around the map or provide extra firepower. Some maps have underground portions that are as large as the top side, filled with powerful items and gear for those that go searching for them.
Speaking of shops, everyone has access to a location full of vending machines that dish out gear such as weapons, armor, and items that can be used to give you health and repair shields, among other things. But what’s nice about this is that while you’re playing the game, you can earn in-game currency that can be pooled into your team’s bank and everyone then gets access to all this money. For example, if my team deposited 100 units of currency, everyone on the team gets 100 for themselves.
Another nice touch is once you purchase a weapon, you keep it even through death. The only way you can lose your weapons is if you purchase something else, which helps to keep the flow of the game going and also ensures that players can’t get an easy drop on you while they’re powered up and you’re fending for yourself with just a handgun.
During the playtest, it was never easy for my team to get an item back to our base. While we managed to do this a few times, it was always guaranteed that the other teams weren’t far behind us. While I’m happy to report that we decimated everyone in our first game, the second time around we weren’t as successful. But through it all, I had a lot of fun, which is something I haven’t felt playing any number of FPS games over the recent years. It was easy to pick up and play, it wasn’t overly serious, but it was also competitive. I do feel that PlayFusion has something special here and I’m looking forward to getting some more hands-on time with the game.
Stuff to do Outside of Combat
There’s also a lot of stuff planned for players to do outside of combat. During my short time with the game, I was able to head to the gun range to test out the currently available weapons, play a game of hide-and-seek, attempt to beat someone’s record racing around a specific location, and even compete in a duel. There’s more planned for players to do, which reminds me of a lobby you’d find in some fighting games. Fingers crossed that we might be able to take the vehicles out for a spin as well in the full release of the game.
The idea of having players do more than just wait for the game to start is a nice take. Assuming players behave, this could foster a strong in-game community, but we’ll have to see how it all fleshes out when the game drops later this year.
Overall Thoughts About Ascendant
Although I only had about an hour of hands-on time with Ascendant, I believe PlayFusion has a potential winner on their hands. The concept of multiple teams battling it out might seem confusing at first, but it ensures that something is always happening and adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. I’m not entirely sold on the 1980s vibe, but I’m not opposed to it either. I hope the character customization becomes more robust, but even though I played an early build of the game, I’m confident it will improve. Most importantly, the gunplay was spot-on and, above all, fun.
During my playtime, I never felt overwhelmed or frustrated, even when I was getting shot in the face. The overall presentation and constant action kept me entertained and smiling throughout my brief session. I haven’t enjoyed a shooter this much in quite some time, and in a landscape filled with overly serious shooters or hero shooters, Ascendant has a good chance to carve out its own niche.
Soon You’ll be able to Play Ascendant for Yourself
At the time of this Ascendant write-up, PlayFusion has announced that it will be holding an open beta for the PC (Steam) from August 3-4, 2024.
- August 3: Open Beta begins at 7:00am PDT / 10:00am EDT / 3:00PM BST
- August 4: Open Beta ends at 8:59pm PDT / 11:59pm EDT / 4:59am BST
Players can sign up for the upcoming Open Beta by heading over to Ascendant.com or playing via the game’s Steam page.
If anything I mentioned in this Ascendant preview sounds exciting, I’d recommend you check out the open beta. Give it a try even if it doesn’t because I’ll be honest and tell you that I wasn’t even sure what to expect going into the game, but I liked what I had played.
There’s currently no release date for when Ascendant will be released.
