From Zero to Hero
Time is one of the most important non-renewable resources we have in life. And while some games attempt to mimic this by limiting the time you have in a day to do things, it doesn’t quite carry the same life-or-death gravity. In Ascend to ZERO, your real-life time is not the only thing ticking away, as it is also the most important resource. But the question is, is Ascend to ZERO a game you should make the time for or save your seconds for something else?
At its heart, Ascend to ZERO is a Survivor-like Roguelite with a heavy dosage of RPG influence. However, its main hook is that each run is not limited by your life or the amount of enemies you kill, but by time. Each run is limited by the clock at the top and when it hits 0 it’s over. Luckily, you can stop time. But this is no free pass since while time is stopped, you can still move around but cannot attack until starting the time again, jumping back into the fray with a character specific ability.
A Slow Start…
While the beginning is a bit slow, it establishes the story, setting and characters, which, while not groundbreaking, are all fun and cohesive enough that it served the gameplay well. Without spoiling anything, the general gist is that the world was destroyed by invading monsters and your friends sacrifice themselves for you to make it to a time machine where you then go back and forth to save them and figure out what happened.
After this introduction, the story is mostly told through the characters you talk to. This happens in an underground bunker which acts as your headquarters and where you upgrade and change your avatars, essentially character archetypes which come with different playstyle benefits. However, sometimes when talking to characters, the dialogue will double for seemingly no reason as you cannot talk to them if there is not something new for them to say. I found this usually to be the case after particularly good runs where multiple new bosses are cleared. While this is minor, it was disappointing to expect a new insight or mission only to have them repeat what they just said or for them to give me the daunting task of beating a boss I just ran through at least once already.
Aesthetically, Ascend to ZERO makes the most of its mixed presentation between voxel environments and and characters in gameplay and character portraits during conversations or avatar selections. The avatar portraits in particular are all varied and high quality. What unfortunately isn’t is the music. While out on runs the music tends to fade into the background, while in the bunker it is far more noticeable. There is just one song and while for the most part it’s okay, there are a couple of uncomfortably high-pitched notes which repeat and ended up hurting my ears after some time.
The gameplay loop however is incredible. Rather than mowing through hordes of enemies like a typical Survivor-like game, you must think tactically because of the time limit. This means every run you must decide when best to start the time again, weighing the pros and cons of experience and loot versus the time it’ll take. This is compounded by the upgrades you’ll find on runs, giving you a choice of three to decide what build you want to make based on your avatar choice and weapons. This makes each run unique and gives a ton of replayability without ever getting stale.
Just As You Get Comfortable…
Furthermore, just as you get comfortable with one strategy, a new mechanic is introduced, forcing you to change how you approach exploration or combat on the go. The best example of this shows up pretty early. The ability to stop time, reposition, and then use your ability when time starts again, is crucial. However, an enemy is introduced that does not stop when the time does. This completely changes how you play from the first area and continues to iterate from there making sure there’s always something novel awaiting.
Another aspect that Ascend to ZERO does is to provide a great sense of progress and power through number inflation rarely seen in games. Routinely reaching a level in the tens of thousands while dealing damage in the millions just adds to the fun. And these stats aren’t the only numbers that are surprisingly large as Ascend to ZERO is a deceptively large game. While running through the main story itself should satiate most, that is truly only the start. If you are just enjoying the game there are plenty of levels, characters, and builds to explore and try out. But for completionists, this game provides a buffet of weapons, upgrades and enemies of varying levels and rarities to fill up on.
One issue with the Survivor-like genre in general is that while your character automatically attacks, there isn’t a way to focus on a particular enemy, like a boss. Ascend to ZERO attempts to fix this by giving the option to manually aim. While having the option is appreciated, it’s not very effective. This is because rather than being able to just set a location while moving, you have to hold the right stick in the direction which, when trying to balance dodging and time stops and which enemies are where, often led to forgetting or not pushing the stick far enough to register to attack. This led to me sticking with the auto-attack function for the remainder of my playthrough after the tutorial for manual aiming. Luckily this worked well enough for the most part as most of the more challenging bosses are closer to one-on-one battles
As mentioned before, in the underground bunker is where you can upgrade stats. These RPG elements work hand-in-hand with the Roguelite elements. Here you can improve stats like attack or the all-important limited time you have on each run. Even experiment with different avatars which can radically change how you play and what weapons you use. Ascend to ZERO provides a variety of ways to always make you feel like you are improving even if you are stuck on a boss. These upgrades are not just for the characters but the equipment too. With a loot pool that can make a looter shooter blush, from swords to drones which have a quality and extra stats that affect your character, each run is exciting if you’ll find a new or better item which may just be the key to a faster run or beating the next boss.
One minor issue with the equipment came from storage where I found I could not move equipment pieces across tabs and had to constantly put the piece in my inventory and then put it in the tab I wanted where I could move it within.
Time of your Life
Ascend to ZERO starts a bit slow and trips over some minor aspects like dialogue and storage. While those elements are important, gameplay is ultimately key. Luckily, this is where Ascend to ZERO overshadows not only its imperfections but most other games in the genre. Combining a great gameplay loop, the unique time mechanic, and a variety of systems that reward the player, ensures you feel like you are always making progress.
All these elements make Ascend to ZERO one of the best games in the burgeoning survivor-like genre. Ascend to ZERO will take your time, but you’ll be more than happy to spend every second.
Important Links
Ascend to ZERO Warps onto Xbox and Game Pass – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ascend-to-zero-warps-onto-xbox-and-game-pass/
Download via the Xbox Store, through Game Pass if you like – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/ascend-to-zero/9nhct85mkhcv
There’s a Deluxe Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ascend-to-zero-deluxe-edition/9ND4L10K8K26/0010/B0XLZN6F9FPD
