Astral Ascent Review: Ascending the Roguelite Peaks in a Celestial Prison

Astral Ascent is a roguelite action platformer that aims to ascend to the top of the genre. Developed by Hibernian Workshop, Astral Ascent drops players into a vibrant fantasy world called The Garden. This celestial prison is guarded by 12 zodiac-themed bosses that you’ll need to defeat if you want any hope of escaping.

You play as a customizable prisoner, choosing from a selection of unique characters like the stealthy Ayla or brawling Kiran. Your goal is to fight through procedurally generated levels, gathering spells and power-ups as you go. At the end of each short stage, you’ll battle one of the cosmic jailers in an epic boss fight. Win or lose, you’ll return to the hub area where you can purchase permanent upgrades to strengthen yourself for the next run.

It’s a straightforward roguelite loop that should be familiar to veterans of the genre. Run after run, you’ll slash and cast spells at hordes of enemies, dodging attacks and chaining combos. Progress comes slowly, through incremental meta upgrades and your own mastery of twitch gameplay. It’s an addictive cycle of challenging combat, meaningful progression, and enticing rewards.

Over the course of this review, we’ll assess every aspect of Astral Ascent. Stunning visuals and responsive controls are admirable, but do they combine with deep gameplay systems for an experience that stands out? We’ll analyze what this cosmic romp gets right, where it falters, and deliver a final verdict on whether Astral Ascent is a transcendent roguelite — or merely mediocre.

A Visual and Auditory Delight

One area where Astral Ascent undoubtedly shines is its gorgeous presentation. Hibernian Workshop has crafted a pixel art world that feels dreamlike in its vibrant colors and lavish detail. The Garden comes to life through beautiful backdrops like crystalline caves and misty jungles. Characters have a cutesy, Saturday morning cartoon-like design, with fluid animations that make combat feel punchy and magical effects pop off the screen.

The artwork here is a noticeable step up from the studio’s previous effort, Dark Devotion. While not quite reaching the pinnacle of detail seen in games like CrossCode, Astral Ascent still impresses with its diorama-like environments and flashy ability effects. There’s real artistry in how spells like eruptions of flame or cascading lightning bolts are visualized. It’s a treat for the eyes.

Matching this dazzling presentation is a soundtrack that provides the perfect backing ambiance. Many roguelites go for pumping, energetic music to accentuate the action, but Astral Ascent takes a more atmospheric approach. The Garden has a dreamy, almost meditative vibe musically. Gentle pianos and twinkling chimes evoke a sense of exploring a fantasy world. Yet the music still builds at key moments to underscore climactic battles. This smartly composed score works synergistically with the tranquil art.

During hectic fights, it can get visually busy with tons of effects flying around, but clarity of information remains high. Health bars are clearly visible and enemy tells successfully telegraph every attack. Impressively, the game never seems to dip in performance even when the screen is full of enemies. It remains silky smooth whether you’re in handheld or docked mode.

Some minor criticisms hold back the presentation from perfection. The user interface looks clean but feels clunky to navigate. Interior spaces also begin repeating their designs more than would be ideal over long play sessions. But on the whole, Astral Ascent stuns with its gorgeous fantasy landscapes, dazzling combat animations, and stellar musical accompaniment. The developers have imagination and technical skill to spare, crafting a roguelite that is as much a treat for the senses as it is a challenge for the mind and reflexes.

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Tales from the Celestial Prison

Like many roguelites, Astral Ascent’s story takes a backseat to its action-packed gameplay. But there are glimmers of an intriguing sci-fi/fantasy universe hidden in the margins.

You play as one of several animalistic humanoid prisoners trapped in The Garden, an otherworldly prison dimension ruled by the 12 Zodiacs. Each Zodiac is a larger-than-life boss character with their own distinct personality and flair. Through cryptic conversations and lore logs found on runs, shades of a complex backstory emerge.

Long ago, your people lived in the stars until a cataclysmic event called The Folding fractured reality itself. Now survivors from various dimensions are clashing as they try to rebuild civilization. The Zodiacs seem to be cosmic gatekeepers maintaining order, though their authoritarian control chafes.

It’s a cool premise that blends fantasy and far future sci-fi elements in a way we don’t see often. Lore drips out slowly at just the right pace to stoke your curiosity. The characters also display more depth than expected. Behind their facetious exteriors, moments of empathy and weariness peek through. There appears to be no clear good or evil here, just flawed beings imposing their will to survive.

That said, as an action-heavy roguelite, the sparse storytelling can also feel disconnected from the core gameplay. You’ll spend most of your time in combat encounters removed from broader context. Astral Ascent could have benefited from more narrative elements integrated with the progression to better marry story and gameplay.

Still, Hibernian Workshop has conceived an imaginative celestial setting. Even if the sparse lore exists mainly as flavor, it succeeds in giving this magical prison a sense of history. You get the feeling there are countless untold stories brimming in every corner of this realm. While not essential, the richness worldbuilding and characterization add appreciated dimension to what could have been a generic cosmic battlefield. For lore hounds, Astral Ascent’s cryptic narrative provides an intriguing carrot to chase between bouts of explosive spell-slinging action.

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Smoothing Out the Roguelite Formula

Like many of its peers, Astral Ascent employs a straightforward roguelite framework. The gameplay loop is simple: enter procedurally generated levels, battle enemies, gain loot/xp, and defeat bosses to progress. Death sends you back to the beginning.

Most levels play out as arena-style combat challenges. You’ll enter a room locked in until you defeat the swarm of enemies inside. Combat has a satisfying hack-and-slash feel, with combos chaining light and heavy attacks. Your main resource is mana, refilled by striking foes, which fuels signature spells with cooldowns and four rotating castable spells.

It’s a tried-and-true template we’ve seen executed well before in Dead Cells, Hades, and Children of Morta. Yet Astral Ascent carves its own niche through smart quality-of-life tweaks and build variety that outshines its peers.

The biggest mechanical innovation is Astral Ascent’s spell system. Instead of hoarding spells, you can only equip four at once. But you must cast them in order, unable to re-use any until all four are spent. This creates interesting strategic considerations around spell synergy and order. Do you lead with crowd control then single target damage? Or maybe buff spells before a heavy finisher?

Further depth comes from upgrading each spell with up to four Gambits that add bonus effects. Suddenly your firebolt spell triggers healing bursts, or lightning can stun. The customization possibilities are immense, letting you tailor builds to suit your playstyle.

Core combat feels responsive and polished, with controls that translate every input flawlessly. Animations have real punch behind them while still allowing for twitch movement. There are no cheap shots here – every attack from enemies has clear telegraphs so you feel fully in control of each hairy situation. It’s a marked step up from Hibernian Workshop’s last effort, Dark Devotion.

The user interface also stands out for its convenience. Spell previews let you test out options before committing. Easy save & quit means you can take a break mid-run instead of losing progress. It’s clear the developers sweated the small stuff to remove friction from the typical roguelite cycle of repeated runs.

That said, some areas do feel underbaked. Platforming challenges are too simple, with limited ability to influence them through upgrades. The character roster, while varied, remains small. After dozens of runs, the procedurally generated levels also start to feel repetitive.

Still, Hibernian Workshop knows how to craft a rock-solid roguelite core loop. There’s always a new spell combo to experiment with or a riskier Challenge Route to try for bigger rewards. Streamlined UI and astandout spell system help Astral Ascent ascend the mountain of roguelite competition. It executes the genre recipe with precision and care, smoothing out many of the repetitive rough edges.

Step by Step to Cosmic Ascension

Like any great roguelite, Astral Ascent offers plenty of meaningful metroidvania-style progression systems that carry over between runs. As you play, your characters grow permanently stronger, unlocking new abilities and options.

Primary progression comes in the form of Constellations. These clusters of stars represent nodes on a sprawling skill tree specific to each character. Spending blue star essence earned on runs lets you unlock new Combat Skills, passive Stat Boosts, and expanded Spell access.

The Constellation maps are densely packed with upgrades that notably change your playstyle. For example, Ayla’s infiltrator class gains options for shadow clone decoys and teleporting backstabs. Meaningful decisions have to be made about which upgrades to prioritize.

An interesting strategic wrinkle is that selecting certain nodes locks off access to others, forcing tough choices. Do you want raw damage now or invest in future sustainability? There are no clearly superior paths, which encourages experimentation.

These powers are supplemented by permanent stat boosts purchased in the central hub area, the Sanctuary. Here you can also unlock new starting equipment and additional content like Challenge Quests. Numerous facilities around the Sanctuary offer temporary buffs to take into future runs as well.

New spells, consumables, and Gambits also join the random loot pools based on your progression. The more you play, the more dynamic tools you have access to for crafting character builds.

Unlocking abilities feels rewarding, while the permanence provides a safety net that eases frustration. You’re always moving forward, even after heartbreaking defeats. The drip feed of progression elements maintains excitement over the long term.

A criticism is that the early game represents a steep uphill battle until you unlock enough upgrades to stand a chance against later challenges. The learning curve starts off punishingly high for newcomers.

However, Astral Ascent overall does a commendable job making progression feel meaningful at every step. The randomized loot and sprawling Constellations trees provide long-term goals to strive for. No matter how many times youdie, you’ll be propelled ever closer to cosmic ascension.

Cosmic Adversaries Worthy of the Stars

Roguelites live and die by engaging enemy design that provides escalating challenge run after run. Astral Ascent’s bestiary doesn’t disappoint, populating its celestial prison with appropriately cosmic foes.

You’ll face a motley crew of guards, knights, beasts, constructs, and sorcerers. While their designs blend together somewhat, their attack patterns force you to approach each encounter uniquely. Charging knights require timed dodges while ranged sorcerers demand quick reflexes. Some foes even buff each other, demanding smart target prioritization.

Elite variants of standard enemies also keep you on your toes. While their upgraded attacks hit harder, they reward you with bigger xp payoffs for besting the advanced challenge. Enemy layouts gradually become more complex and trap-laden as you progress deeper into runs too.

The difficulty curve feels precisely balanced. Challenges escalate steadily at a fair pace that matches your growing power level. You’ll die aplenty, but almost always due to your own mistakes rather than cheap enemy behavior. It’s a hallmark of great roguelite enemy design.

But the true stars here are the signature boss encounters against each ornately designed Zodiac. These are screen-filling titans with multi-phase battles demanding pattern recognition and twitch mastery. Their ultimate attacks are downright bullet hell-esque. While fiercely difficult, their spectacle and complex movesets make victories tremendously gratifying.

Some Zodiacs like Gemini with his doppelganger abilities or Sagittarius’ seeking arrow barrages have entered my personal roguelite boss pantheon. Each encounter retains some unpredictability too – bosses may ambush you sometime during levels for a surprise bout.

There may be room for more non-boss enemy variety, but top-to-bottom Astral Ascent’s adversaries shine. Each pixelated foe fits into a challenging, ever-escalating struggle. And the twelve Zodiac encounters prove memorable milestones that test your skill in spectacular fashion.

Endless Hours in the Cosmic Grind

The best roguelites achieve replayability through smart procedural generation and enticing meta-progression to always give you something to strive for. Astral Ascent executes this recipe well, encouraging countless repeated runs with its randomness and unlocks.

No two runs ever play the same. Level layouts, enemy placement, loot drops, shop inventory and more is different every time. You can’t just memorize patterns. There are also branching level choices and Challenge Routes to add variety to each run’s path.

The meta-progression provides a background sense of advancement even during failed escapes. New characters, spells, upgrades and loot continuously unlock to build and experiment with. It’s satisfying tailoring your playstyle through the constellations as your power grows.

With four playable characters, dozens of abilities, and increasing challenge levels, there’s easily 30+ hours of content for most players to chew through. Completionists obsessed with filling out all upgrades and achievements could easily sink 100+ hours.

As a $25 indie, Astral Ascent delivers outstanding bang for your buck. Unless you absolutely hate roguelites, it’s hard to imagine not finding dozens of hours of enjoyment from the replayable procedural runs.

That said, the repetitive core loop may eventually grow stale after enough repeated plays. Some added mechanics or level events could have helped, but the well-crafted fundamentals maintain engagement for a long time regardless.

Overall, Astral Ascent’s longevity stems from that elusive “one more run” factor so key to the roguelite genre. There’s always a new build to try, route to conquer, or ability to unlock. Endless hours in the cosmic grind can whittle away without notice. The addictive core gameplay provides tremendous replay value to justify the price.

Final Thoughts

After dozens of hours in the celestial landscapes of Astral Ascent, I’m ready to render my verdict. This cosmic roguelite adventure may not reinvent the genre, but it demonstrates a mastery of the craft that allowed me to ascend to gaming nirvana.

At its core, Astral Ascent delivers satisfying hack-and-slash combat polished to a mirror sheen. Responsive controls, varied abilities, and intense boss battles form an addictive gameplay loop improved by smart quality-of-life tweaks. The procedural level generation and meta-progression also offer tremendous replayability.

Stunning pixel art visuals and imaginative worldbuilding provide the icing on the cake. Presentation elements like fluid animations, atmospheric music, and clean UI create an experience that’s as much a joy for the senses as it is engaging as a game.

The bar for excellence in the roguelite space is high, but Astral Ascent stands tall. In terms of satisfying combat, it surpasses Hades and Dead Cells. Only Returnal and Rogue Legacy 2 edge it out for overall quality in my book. And its stellar presentation rivals the best in indie pixel art.

This is a game clearly crafted with care and vision. There are minor nitpicks around repetition and difficulty spikes for newcomers. But nothing that excessively detracted from the transcendent highs I experienced while ascending to cosmic liberation.

Fans of fast-paced action combat owe it to themselves to descend into Astral Ascent’s celestial depths and confront the Zodiac overlords. An imaginative setting and rock-solid gameplay systems should appeal to all roguelite devotees. For $25, there are few better values currently available. Astral Ascent is mandatory playing for the transdimensional travelers out there searching for their next satisfying gaming escape.

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