The Ascent: Cyber Heist Review • Codec Moments

Cyberpunk themed games have been a real hit and miss affair for the past few years, but one game that managed to standout was The Ascent – developed by Swedish studio, Neon Giant. It was a gritty, dark and neon soaked dive into a futuristic dystopian world known as Veles. Controlled by a powerful megacorporation called “The Ascent Group”, you played as a worker enslaved by the company. After the mysterious collapse of The Ascent Group, the world descends into a chaotic free-for-all pitting districts, syndicates and rival corporations against each other for control, and it was up to you to stop other factions from seizing it.

It was a brilliant action role-playing title set in an intriguing world, but once you hit the credits other than a bit of mopping up of side quests and a few bits and bobs, there wasn’t much left to do sadly. What DLC followed after the launch was all a bit “light”, as it was mainly focused on new kit like armour and weapons. This is great if you’re still battling through the slums, but not so if you have finished the fight. So fans were crying out for something more substantial and Neon Giant haven’t disappointed with Cyber Heist – the largest update to the game since launch and marks a year since the games release.

The first thing that hits you is that to play Cyber Heist you have to have completed the core game, which is a bit of a brave move in a way, but do so and you can take on new missions, explore brand new environments, fight your way against new and very tough enemies, and get your hands on the new melee weapons. Its tale sees you being contacted by Kira, your former employer – who has a new top-secret job for you – which will see you venture outside of your familiar surroundings to head into a brand new district. That’s run by the new bad guys the Malhorst-Gelb Group and has you “acquire” an item from them. Though beware this is a step up in challenge, as even the standard street thugs take a bit of a beating to put down and there are some HUGE difficulty spikes along the way (the room before the final fight for example).

You do have a new trick in your kit bag, as for the first time in The Ascent you can wield melee weapons. Now you can get up close and personal with the new Rock Crusher and Guillotine, which do level the playing field a bit, once you click with the smash and dash combat. Graphically everything sits perfectly in the art style and tone… i.e., dark and very moody with lots of neon and rain soaked streets and TONNES of detail. The Ascent: Cyber Heist will set you back £7.99 and if you are hungry for more time in the world, it is well worth picking up – as it adds just the right amount of new stuff to hit that sweet spot.

An Xbox review copy of The Ascent: Cyber Heist was proved by Neon Giant’s PR team and is out now on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

The Verdict

9Amazing

The Good: More Ascent | New areas | Melee combat

The Bad: Need to have a post-game save | Overall difficulty and spikes

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Stuart Cullen

Scotland’s very own thorn in the side of the London gaming scene bringing all the hottest action straight from The Sun… well… The Scottish Sun at least, every week!