Astral Ascent – S.1 – User Article

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Astral Ascent is an enchanting roguelite 2D platformer with good gameplay and great readability. In this article I will tell you why you should play it.

The small French indie developer Hibernian Workshop has with Astral Ascent sent its new roguelite 2D platformer into Early Access. They had previously participated Dark Devotion drew attention to itself, which received very good Steam ratings and had unfortunately escaped my attention so far. Astral Ascent is much more colorful in comparison. The fairytale graphics and the smooth gameplay in the trailer made me curious. I played the Steam version. The Astral Ascent, financed via Kickstarter, should also appear on PS4 and Switch for the final release in 2023.

Story-wise you will find yourself in a pretty garden, which also serves as a base and where you can level up the protagonists between runs. Nice characters train you in the integrated tutorial. But your situation is not so nice. Because the garden is an astral prison and you are – just like all other characters – held captive by the Zodiacs. It is initially unclear why. In order to escape the paradisiacal prison, you have to fight your way through the different worlds, at the end of which a Zodiac awaits and gives you a difficult boss fight.

In the article, I first go into the core element, the controller. Then I explain the progression system, through which you will always get stronger and increase your chances on the next run. After telling you exactly how a run works, I’ll close with the conclusion. If you are also, or only, interested in videos about the game, you can see my first steps in my Watch the English-language “Let’s Try” video. In a German language In the video that accompanies this article, I use a run to show the game mechanics and the progression system.

In space I fight against one of the possible intermediate bosses.

Handy controls, very good legibility and exciting runs

After the tutorial and a first run with the assassin Ayla you can switch to the fist swinging Kiran. More playable characters will be added during Early Access with the sorceress Calie and the fighter Octave, who relies on summoned weapons. A fifth will follow via DLC, which is free for backers.

My input device of choice is the Xbox 360 controller. Basically, each character has a standard attack (“X”). You have four spells equipped for this. You can swap these out in the course of a run, level them up and strengthen them with up to four “gambits” that do electrical damage, for example. You need mana to use the spells, which you recharge with normal attacks. Sometimes you will find small, blue mana lights that fill up your bar a bit. You can arrange the four spells in any order (1-4) and switch through them with LB. However, you can only use a spell once it has been used once you have cast each of the four spells once. Switching through is worthwhile because, for example, some spells/gambits work better against opponents who are still uninjured. Or you might want to cast an area spell first.

Each world consists of twelve rooms. As you progress, you have at least two to choose from. Except in the last room of each world, there is a Zodiac waiting for you and there is an exciting boss fight. There are many different room types along the way, such as those that give you keys that you can then use to unlock bonuses. Or you get a gambit as a reward in a room or you can level up a spell. In addition, for completing these combat and exploration rooms you will receive stars, which you can exchange for upgrades to life, attack and attack speed in one of the peaceful rooms, Andromeda’s Bar. This allows you to further specialize your character according to your playstyle. The many peaceful rooms, which I don’t want to spoil all of, also include a “healing room” and a trader where you can exchange looted crystals, another currency, for helpful tools such as spells or gambits.

If you prefer to fight, there is also space with an intermediate boss like Pegasus. Already defeated Zodiacs respect you and in challenge rooms they give you a task. If you fulfill these, you can summon the Zodiac to assist. However, in order to fill up the “summoning bar”, you have to pound on opponents quite often. The use of the Zodiac helper therefore needs to be carefully considered.

Of course, not only you attack, but all kinds of animals, snakes, mushrooms, ethereal beings and of course the Zodiacs are also targeting you. And here I would like to emphasize a great strength of Astral Ascent: the readability of enemy attacks is extremely high. You are always given a visual indication of where danger is imminent and you can react accordingly, even if there is a lot going on on the screen later in the game. This high legibility leads to great fairness. Nevertheless, it is important to get to know opponents, some of whom also exist in stronger versions. In the normal levels, it is important to get through as unscathed as possible and to compete against the Zodiacs with full energy. And they then have very different attacks and movesets that should demand everything from you. You can also dash with “B” to avoid being hit. You take no damage while dashing. This is a must, especially with more difficult opponents. The bosses are assigned to the different worlds. Which of the possible bosses awaits you at the end of a world is then based on chance. I also get along well with the bosses in different ways. Some I find easier to defeat others more difficult. Once you’ve defeated the Zodiac, it continues in the next world.

Skills can also help you with game progress. You can equip one of these. This is a special ability that you can use with LT. After a cooldown, it becomes available again. Auras, on the other hand, for which you initially only have one slot, give you passive bonuses. For example, a little Yalee, a kind of little goblin from the Yalee kingdom, which you also free as you progress through the game, comes and fires at your opponents when you get hit. Or you get 100 additional life points. Or you can do a triple jump instead of a double jump, i.e. twice “A”. By the way, once you hit an opponent or a specific object, you can jump again.

The mechanical focus of the game is on building your character and fighting, not the Jump & Run. In addition, the room selection is a tactical element. Would you rather try to earn stars for the bar and a feather to improve spells, or would you rather go to a healing room first, if it is offered to you so that the run doesn’t end suddenly? Since the game becomes more and more difficult during the run, you have to play as cleanly as possible and every room choice presents you with a small, exciting decision. By the way, Astral Ascent is not a Metroidvania. The fairly small levels are built linearly, but there are always small hiding places.

For a demanding 2D platformer, it’s also important that the controls are precise. And here I had no problems at all. My character always did exactly what I wanted. Whereby you move on the gamepad with the “LS”. I haven’t tried the keyboard controls. Your first runs will probably fail quite quickly, but don’t despair: There is a roguelite-typical progression system.

In the shop you can go on a shopping spree during a run.