ASCENDANT.COM, from developer PlayFusion, is a squad-based, PVPVE first-person shooter. Promising an ever-changing landscape, player-triggered events and dynamic gameplay, ASCENDANT.COM aims to create the world’s first adaptation shooter. This past weekend, we were given access to a closed beta test to see the progress PlayFusion has made on their tactical PVPVE shooter.
While many of the promised features are still in development, the core systems and mechanics of ASCENDANT.COM are in place, allowing us to get a taste of what the upcoming shooter has to offer. Set in what PlayFusion calls a dynamic Biopunk world thousands of years in the future, players from rival factions fight over limited resources to keep their faction going in a war-torn world where everything is hellbent on killing you.
Jumping into ASCENDANT.COM, players are introduced to the game’s character creator. While offering some decent body and clothing customization options, many of the ASCENDANT.COM creator features are still being developed. Despite the early stage of the character creator, what was available allowed for a diverse set of options to customize your character with more options unlockable in game.
After creating your character and choosing some base clothing, the game opens up to a quick narrative overview of ASCENDANT.COM’s premise. After this brief overview, players are dropped into an interactive lobby with a host of interesting areas to explore and activities to do (think Deep Rock Galactic’s Base Station). From here, players can try weapons, customize their character and interact with a host of interesting aspects of the lobby area.
“Promising an ever-changing landscape, player-triggered events and dynamic gameplay, ASCENDANT.COM aims to create the world’s first adaptation shooter.”
Visually, ASCENDANT.COM offers an interesting combination of cyberpunk mixed with an 80’s aesthetic. It works surprisingly well and allows for some great character clothing options. Even the colour pallet looks like it was taken straight from 1986, with neon and pastels plastered on every wall and surface. It’s a wacky, fun choice that works well.
After queuing up for a game that sees four squads dropped into the world of Harmony to battle over three power cores, players can continue to explore the lobby until a match is found. Upon entering the map, players must work their way to their own base area, which becomes the central respawn as well as the power core scanner. Power cores are revealed over time with certain milestones needing to be completed before the next core can be scanned for.
The world of Harmony looks absolutely beautiful and offers a unique level layout that leverages verticality with multiple levels and sub-levels to explore. The battlefield is actually quite expansive, with vehicles available to help close the distance when needed (more on this later). As for navigating the world, indicators appear on minimaps and on key points in the world itself to help focus gameplay.
As for the mission-based nature of ASCENDANT.COM, it’s best to think of it as Capture the Flag with three flags and four teams. Players must work together to carry each core back to a dropship waiting for them somewhere on the map. Cores can be dropped and picked up, making for some interesting interactions with enemy teams. Conceptually, it’s a fun idea that does work practically, though not always as well as it could.
In the game’s current state (recognizing that not all features have been implemented), there are often times when you simply spend all your time running with no real combat or even enemy engagement. While there are some PVE mobs at play during a match, at the moment, they feel sparse and non-threatening. In many cases, PVE was reduced to leveraging the map’s verticality to easily pick off mobs in a place where they couldn’t engage with you.
Additionally, the ratio of time spent looking for enemies to actually fighting enemy players leans heavily toward the former. Much of your time is spent running around the map trying to find enemies, only to be killed instantly when you finally find an enemy player. While many battle royale titles employ similar systems of exploring and engagement, ASCENDANT.COM currently doesn’t feel engaging when not in combat. Map traversal and more of the planned dynamic events should help tighten up the game loop in future updates.
“In its current state, ASCENDANT.COM has many solid core mechanics in place and a fun, unique concept to work with.”
Speaking of combat, though, gunplay feels solid in its current state. Each weapon feels unique and offers its own advantages and disadvantages during combat. While there wasn’t time to fully explore ASCENDANT.COM’s promised robust weapon customization systems, the system does look to offer some unique and fun customization options. Likewise characters will also offer further customization to help refine the experience to better suit your playstyle.
The aforementioned vehicles are in a bit of a rough state at the moment. The controls are clunky, with a mix of WASD and mouse, with the former being sluggish and the latter being hyper-sensitive. It makes the vehicles a struggle to use and, when in combat, near impossible to use with any real proficiency. Hopefully, with time and refinement, they can become a critical part of the gameplay experience.
In its current state, ASCENDANT.COM has many solid core mechanics in place and a fun, unique concept to work with. The visuals and world-building offer a unique and fun experience of exploration and discovery. While combat feels good, the balance of combat and exploration needs some fine-tuning to create the dynamic gameplay experience PlayFusion is aiming for. However, despite the critiques mentioned, the core concept and mechanics currently present are promising. While ASCENDANT.COM is still deep in development it is a title worth keeping an eye on.
