Ascent - The Space Game
Ascent is a PVE sandbox space MMO with 270 BILLION star systems and an emphasis on strong Sci Fi. It encourages Exploration, Colonization, Research, Asteroid mining, Farming, Trading, and Combat. Outside the tutorial sector, everything in-game has been built by players.
Ascent - The Space Game is a space, massively multiplayer and simulation game
developed and published by Fluffy Kitten Studios.
Released on April 11th 2016 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 340 reviews of which 231 were positive and 109 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.5 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Ascent - The Space Game into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Ascent - The Space Game through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows 8, 10
- Processor: Dual Core, 2Ghz
- Memory: 16000 MB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD 5000, AMD A8
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Heavily multithreaded - will use up to four cores at once
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Let me preface this by saying that yes, this game does run on a premium system, however the pricing is quite reasonable, and the game comes with a generous 3 months of full Premium time already paid up. (The best part about this is that the Premium time from buying on Steam isn't immediately applied to your account, you can activate it whenever you feel you're ready to start using Premium features). After that, Premium is priced on what features you want to use - managing colonies on planets in the Inner Systems, managing large-scale Industry, and taking part in combat are all counted separately, so if, like me, you plan on mostly running a manufacturing operation, you can pay just $1 a month and still enjoy what the game's got to offer for you. Personally speaking, I'm planning on going the full $3 a month anyways, this developer can definitely use the support! As far as space games go, I've been looking for one that allows me to participate in trade and industry in a non-combative manner, and I've gotta say Ascent so far has pushed all of the right buttons! Think of a large galaxy and a player-run economy like in EVE Online, except entirely PVE, so there's no need to worry about more experienced players rolling by and ruining your fun. Quite the opposite, the community has been super helpful for me so far, and I've gotta say I appreciate that kind of spirit! The controls for flight are simple but not overly so - You can navigate between gates and stations using just the mouse, and flying your ship in combat uses the WASD keys to pretty solid effect. The mining in the game also feels just right - No sitting around like in EVE, and no chasing asteroid chunks like in Elite Dangerous, but you have to match the speed of the asteroid to get a good bead on it, and then use your mining laser to heat it up to just the right temperature to get the best yield out of it. I'm still just getting started with regards to building colonies and space stations in the game, but I really like what's been done so far! There are still some minor issues regarding framerate and loading screens, but the developers have been super active and engage the playerbase on a frequent basis, so I'd say even if you decide not to buy the game today, definitely keep a close eye on it!
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I've been playing this game for about 2 weeks now. First I want to address the most common complaints: a) It's pay to win? The DLC Bowhead certainly gives you a lot of cargo space with which to make money, since the game doesn't lock ship size to any player stat other than affordability. But the game has access to bigger ships than the Bowhead, all without the DLC. Making credits is ridiculously easy. I have the next ship in size to the DLC one, the Archon, and could have an even bigger one if that's what I chose to focus on. That's after 2 weeks play. b) hidden subscription? The game does tell you that the $20 current purchase price includes 3 weeks of premium. Not having premium does restrict what class weapon you can mount (meaning you mount more, smaller weapons) and other restrictions. But the sub price is 1, 2, or 3 dollars a month depending on what you want to do in game. Really, I spend that much daily on coffee. Ever since I've been playing MMO's I've been used to $15 a month subscrptions, and that seems fair. About the positives- love the depth of the game. The longer you play the more you realize there is a lot out there to do, and to learn, and to build! I even tried combat route, which isn't my forte, and found it interesting. There are updates coming to the UI and the combat system. Me, I love the building starbases and colonies aspect of the game. It's crazy interactive. Take mining for example. Find the right asteroid, match speed and direction of travel, open up your mining beam and heat it up to the precise temperature- less and you reduce the yield, more and you might explode it. All while moving! Swap out ship modules to optimize the ship to your playstyle, balancing space vs utility. It's.. huge. At my stage of the game I look at the systems far away waiting for me to investigate... and procedurally generated space means there will be more when I get there, generated as I arrive- named after the discoverer! That is still a month away game wise for me. The dev is extremely involved, and very positive. Check the game forums, won't cost you anything, and see the bug reports and the actions taken. The community is extremely helpful, in advice as well as hands-up, and will steer you right. They are eager to make the game as good as it can me. Hey, this is where I spend my free time. IF you like social interaction, building, mining, combat, this is it. If you prefer to play with cooperative players and away from player harrasment, this is definitely the place.
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Ascent made mining fun!!. Imagine that. I can't tell you how many hours I played EVE PVE and Mining. God, such a simple task and just plain boring after awhile. What no Ganking?? Freaking awesome!!. So I can have fun without someone always trying to kick over my apple cart... I don't care much for in-game corporations or groups. I just want to play w/o chatting or having to attended meetings. lol Their are a tone of pvp games out there. No need to make this one as well. Just sick of the pvp debates. open vs solo play in Elite Dangerous, EVE etc. Ascent is truly a breath of quiet fresh air...! Runs really well, no crashes, and the wife says I'm playing too much, so there ya go. Its a hit!! Keep up the good work Mr developer. See u out there...
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My updated video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ZaF8WzqDo ------------------------------------ My older text review: Wow...where do I start? Absolutely amazing game. The game is very immersive. Asteroids orbit around planets, you can land on planets to build things there, the crafting system is very complex and interesting, and you can even build your own space station which you can expand with many different kind of modules. Pros: - Very immersive environments. The space art is very nice and the planets look cool. Asteroid fields feel 'alive' with a lot of movement. - Great mining system. Mining is terribly boring in EVE, X, Elite Dangerous and Starpoint Gemini. However, here the mining is spiced up due to two facts: 1) the asteroids have their own speed and your mining beam only has a 1km range, so you need to keep up with it (or fly very close to it) 2) The amount you mine is dependent on the temperature of your mining beam. Beam too little and your yield is bad. Beam too much and you get nothing at all! - 250 billion systems to explore, that get named after you if you find them first! These systems can contain planets, which you can do geological research on to find out what it offers in terms of minerals etc. Other people (and you) can then colonize these planets, building factories etc. on them to profit from this planet. - Player-made economy! Everything except for the most basic resources are farmed/mined/made by the players to sell on the market! - You have to work for your things, and feel accomplished after you get a new ship or some other nice thing. Some people might mistake this for grindyness, which I wouldn't agree with (this comes from a person that absolutely despises 'daily quests' etc.). Cons: - some people dislike the graphics. I must say, when you're playing it, I think it looks gorgeous. Yes, the shipmodels are undetailed, but somehow they still look nice when you play it. But then again, I never cared for graphics that much (love Dwarf Fortress for example), so I might not be the right person to ask - complicated at times. If you want to play this game, you'll have to be ok with reading up on the wiki. While features are being added, things like ejecting cargo is done at the moment through a command console. I expect buttons for this will be made at some point, but they're not implemented yet (you can program in keybinds to eject cargo etc. though, but for this you need to read up). All in all, I'm in love. I would summarize it as a PvE version of EVE online. It's very much focussed on industry etc. instead of PVP/ganking.
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For such a small development team with limited funds and an Early Access state, the game is amazingly stable. Granted I've played for about 4 hours as of writing this, but I have the graphics maxed out and have not experienced a single crash. The game could be a bit better optimized, but I wouldn't expect that at this stage. There's a few little strange graphical glitches but nothing game breaking. For example, if you buy a new ship your UI doesn't reflect the new stats unless you go back to the Main Menu and then load the map again. On that note, this reminds me of Eve. It's a massive grind to get good progress and the game is insanely overwhelming; however UNLIKE Eve, you can get a solid grasp on the game within a couple of hours and it's all easy from then on. If you have questions, the community is very nice and mature and is always willing to help you. So far I haven't had the opportunity to build anything yet, the few hours seem to be all about delivering goods and giving people rides to other space stations so you can earn anough credits to buy bigger ships. I haven't even touched the surface of the game and so far it's pretty impressive. It's about as intuitive as you can get for such a massive scale space MMO. Until my view of this game changes, this post will reflect my current opinion. An excellent game with a very active developer.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 19 November 2024 19:21 |
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| SteamSpy data | 21 January 2025 18:11 |
| Steam price | 23 January 2025 20:47 |
| Steam reviews | 23 January 2025 13:57 |
Online players
0
Developer
Fluffy Kitten Studios
Publisher
Fluffy Kitten Studios
Release
11 Apr 2016
Platforms