ASCENDANT.COM is a unique first-person team-based shooter developed and published by PlayFusion that will test your survival and adaptability in its chaotic battles. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of the demo, and more.
Everything We Know About ASCENDANT
ASCENDANT Plot
After being put into cryostasis for a millennium, you wake up to a world transformed into a dystopian biopunk world by a calamity called the Cascade. Thankfully, the 80’s never died, as hairspray, sunglasses, and heavy metal still dominate fashion trends. The research that was thought to save the planet simply made it even deadlier, as everything, from monsters to drones to other people, is out to kill you. It’s adapt or die in the new world, and you’re sure as hell not dying today.
ASCENDANT Gameplay
ASCENDANT.COM is a first-person squad-based tactical shooter where the focus is to adapt to the goal of extracting biocores and using the environment in your favor. There’s tons of different weapons to choose and use and even more superpowers to help you win against the opposition. With the massive customization options for both your character and your weaponry, you can personalize everything to show off your signature look.
Not-Your-Typical Squad Shooter
The objective of the game is to extract as many biocores as you can, three of which are up for grabs. Four teams with three players (3v3v3v3) each will spawn in the map from their respective bases to locate, collect, and finally extract the biocores around the map to win the match. Each player will have three limited lives, which means you can’t just go in there with the mindset of throwing your life away. It’s like a multi-team capture-the-flag with four teams duking it out to profit from three different shiny orbs.
Ever-Changing Environment and "Super Weapons"
The map is littered with equipment for you to collect and monsters to kill to grant you currency to access more of the map's secrets. Similar to battle royale games like Apex, you can find different weapons, armor, and gadgets to give you an edge against the other teams. Also, with the big map come personal vehicles for your team to ride in style and get you to where you want to go faster.
What really makes the gameplay stand out from other team-based shooters is the existence of different "super weapons" or special interactables that help you win the game. One of which is a special armored vehicle that the whole team can board into called the "Deathbringer" where it has multiple arrays of deadly weaponry that you can use to rain fire upon your enemies while encased in a bulletproof shell.
Vibe in the Shade
When you’re out of the deathmatch, you can relax, unwind, and prepare in the Shade, the game’s player hub filled with NPCs that you can buy weapon parts and cosmetics from, as well as random activities you can do to just take your mind off the shooting. Moreover, you can spend your time customizing your loadout of perks and guns to stand a better chance against your fellow killers.
The NPCs also have missions for you to accomplish to earn XP to unlock more guns and credits to spend on parts and cosmetics, which means before and after you head out to pop some heads, be sure to take a mission to maximize your profits.
Signature Drip-Check
In ASCENDANT.COM, if you’re gonna go out and get frags, you may as well frag in style. With multiple different customization options, like changing your clothes from style, color, and even patterns and patches, this game has the aesthetic of the futuristic 80’s down to a tee.
You can go out looking like a rock star or even something that came out of a movie; it’s your choice. What’s important is that you get to choose what you look like and how you want your enemies to see you when you shoot them.
Your Personal Arsenal
With the five base starting guns, you can personalize your weapons even more by creating your own variant of each weapon. With interchangeable parts and types like changing the ammo the gun uses, the bullets to deal more damage up close, the scope for longer range, and more. You can create your own personal fragging machine, down to the colorway. Additionally, you also have multiple perks to be included in your loadout to make sure you play the way you want to.
ASCENDANT Review (Closed Beta): Adapt or Die Tryin’
This game took me by surprise, as I thought it wasn’t really that special from the trailers and features that the devs have put out for the game. Turns out this game is actually pretty good and takes some of the good parts of other team-based shooters and battle royales and made their own chaotic shooter. Don’t get me wrong, the game is far from perfect. It’s still pretty rough around the edges with cookie-cutter shooting mechanics and performance issues that still need some tune-ups, but it’s been growing on me after some time.
Weirdly enough, the dialogue and voices remind me a lot of Saints Row’s characters, and the game itself is like a mix of old and new shooters with a modified version of Capture the Flag. Admittedly, I found myself lost in-game, as there’s a lot of doors, hallways, and even little pathways for you to go around the different facilities. The devs could probably work on the map UI for that part, but that could easily just be a skill issue on my part.
As with all shooters, the guns are the determining factor of the gunplay, and it’s decent albeit with little transparency on the information about the guns you’re picking up. I found myself sticking to the starter "Battle Rifle" and other shotguns as these were the easiest to control in my experience. With this, I hope that they will add the statistics of the guns to be listed so that the players will know what they’re holding on to in exchange for the perfectly working weapon that they already have.
With the time I was able to play the game, I was able to rack up a couple of victories, and some of them were even "Dominations," where our team picked up all three biocores in the match. One memorable victory that I had in my playthrough was taking control of a giant overpowered mutant called a "Gorlizard" which helped me rack up 19 kills in total. Granted, this was primarily due to the unfamiliarity of the enemies of what the Gorlizard was capable of, but it still felt great to win and slap some heads while I was at it.
There are several good things about the game that struck me during my time in the closed beta. One of which is the number of customization options for your character and weaponry. While this may be a potential meta-nightmare in the future, I have no doubt that people would still be creating fun gun concepts and creative customizations to really make the game's aesthetic and personality shine. I have some hope for this game; in a world full of team shooters and battle royales, it’s done its job of making an identity for itself. It may be seen as a corny clone of an already existing game (cough, The Finals, cough), but I’d want to see this game flourish in the genre as it’s introducing more chaos than the rest. And who knows? Maybe we all need a little chaos from time to time.
ASCENDANT Release Date
As of writing, the game is in closed beta from April 5-6, 2024 and have not announced an official release date for the full release. Currently, the game is available for wishlist only on both Steam and Epic Games. However, you can go to the ASCENDANT.COM official website to sign up for the closed beta and download the game as well.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
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| Wishlist Only | |||||
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Ascendant.com Product Information
| |
| Title | ASCENDANT.COM |
|---|---|
| Release Date | TBA |
| Developer | PlayFusion |
| Publisher | PlayFusion |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | Action, Shooter, Massively Multiplayer |
| Number of Players | 12 |
| Rating | Rating Pending |
| Official Website | Ascendant.com Website |
