Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEAstral Ascent
Choose one of four heroes and explore the Garden, an astral prison guarded by 12 powerful mystical bosses: the Zodiacs. Challenge them with dozens of unique spells and faithful friends by your side to unfold the story of this platform roguelite with lightning fast combat.
Why this score?
Original text · Simplified Chinese
连续施法与黄道首领是突出优势，完整法术循环有构筑价值；普通遭遇变化及信息清晰度仍有差距。
Core gameplay
Weight 25%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
普攻回蓝与连续施法形成流畅循环，黄道首领反馈突出；普通房间重复且部分攻击缺少冲击感。
Builds & strategy
Weight 25%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
四法术顺序、强化与角色技能要求考虑完整循环；低费高频打法偏强使部分法术的选择价值降低。
Replayability
Weight 20%8.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
首领组合、角色和 Destiny 难度改变应对，普通房间的新问题较少，重复价值主要集中在首领。
Randomness & fairness
Weight 20%7.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
首领动作值得学习，成长和配置支持纠错；追踪攻击、视觉混乱与奖励失去的反馈削弱可预判性。
Polish & usability
Weight 10%7.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
快照肯定掌机表现和动画，同时指出强化解释、商人位置、提示与按键图标不清，入门阻力偏高。
- Reviewer
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Rogue by Rogue · AI 资料评测- Version reviewed
Original text · Simplified Chinese
具体构建未知；以所引资料描述的版本为准
Scope and limitations
Original text · Simplified Chinese
基于收录资料与官方页面的主观归纳，未进行试玩。2023 年原评论属于 EA，评分主要参考后来社区反馈与现行产品机制；未覆盖全部 DLC，也未实测高刷新率故障。
Review sources 02
- 01Archived materialView archived external material ↓
Original text · Simplified Chinese
收录评论与社区资料（2026-10-01 快照）
使用 作者观点摘要 的 Tier list Part 1 (2023) 及 玩家好评与批评 中的机制、交互、重复与易用性反馈；未将外部分数或旧等级用于计算。
- 02Web sourceView original ↗
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Astral Ascent 官方产品说明
2026-10-08 访问。确认基础四角色、独立武器与法术、十二黄道首领及四个世界，不按首领数量直接加分。 官方页面不单独证明平衡或稳定性。
Video reviews
Reviews and deep dives from YouTube and Bilibili, in every language. Open the original video to watch.
Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A fast 2D action-platformer roguelite by Hibernian Workshop where you pick one of four heroes (solo or local co-op) and fight through the Garden, an astral prison, to defeat twelve Zodiac bosses using a cycling set of four spells.
Astral Ascent is very well regarded: Steam shows roughly 94.6% positive across about 8,600 reviews (Very Positive), Metacritic critic score is 86 and OpenCritic is 84 with 100% of critics recommending. Critics and players call the combat fast, responsive and satisfying, the pixel art and boss fights outstanding, and the build variety deep, often comparing it to Dead Cells (and Hades for meta-progression and cast). Complaints cluster around an overwhelming, poorly explained upgrade/meta system, a confusing hub, a derivative or cliched story with cringey dialogue, and samey non-boss rooms. Metacritic user score is lower (7.4 on few ratings), reflecting a minority who find the combat shallow. It spent about 18 months in Steam Early Access and launched 1.0 on 14 Nov 2023 (also PS4/PS5/Switch); it has kept receiving updates (2.0 Outer Reaches, Celestial Haven DLC, Dead Cells crossover).
What players praise
- Fast, fluid, responsive combat with no spell cooldowns; mana from basic attacks powers very strong spells that can melt enemies, which players find refreshing
- Zodiac boss fights are consistently called memorable, well designed and visually striking, often the highlight of a run
- Gorgeous hand-crafted pixel art, animations, anime-style cutscenes and strong music/voice work
- Huge build variety: four equipped spells each with augments (gambits), imprints and affinities, plus a signature spell and different characters that play distinctly
- Destiny Levels give a scalable difficulty ladder and strong endgame replay value
- Local co-op is praised as the best way to play; several reviewers said it only clicked in co-op
- Good polish and Steam Deck performance, and a developer that keeps supporting the game with free and paid content
- The 'spells must be cast in order' system makes you think about your whole loadout rather than one favorite skill
What players criticize
- Upgrade and meta-progression systems are overwhelming and poorly explained; some players say it took many runs (one said ~30) before things clicked
- Story and dialogue are widely described as derivative of Hades, stereotypical or cringey, with wasted potential; several positive reviewers still say the writing is the weak spot
- Non-boss rooms feel easy, samey and like filler compared to the bosses; some find the ambient music sleepy there
- Some players find combat lacks impact/feedback: weak-feeling basic attacks, enemies that barely react, and spamming spells in order regardless of which spells are equipped
- The hub area and finding upgrade merchants is confusing
- Build depth is questioned by a minority: cheap high-hit spells outperform expensive ones and modifiers matter more than the spell itself, so characters feel less different than advertised
- Visual busyness bothers some: screen noise, colorful enemies blending into the background, and a cluttered interface
- A few technical issues mentioned: long first-boot load on Steam Deck, high-refresh-rate (240Hz) problems, controller prompt mismatches, tooltips needing work
- Cheap-feeling hits: some enemies and projectiles track or teleport onto you regardless of dodge timing, costing perfect-room rewards
Distinctive features
- Four-spell rotation: spells are used one at a time in a fixed cycle, so you are only as strong as your weakest spell
- Mana-driven combat with no spell cooldowns, plus separate cooldown-based 'echo' abilities
- Zodiac-themed cast and bosses, each hero having personal storylines and a signature spell and weapon
- Perfect-room clear rewards that push players to avoid damage, tied to rewards and progression
- Two-player local co-op with distinct heroes, and a scalable Destiny Level difficulty system
- Imprints and affinities layered on augmented spells (added/expanded in 2.0), and a crossover with Dead Cells
Divided opinions
- Combat feel: most praise it as fast and satisfying, a vocal minority finds it shallow, low-impact and spam-heavy
- Story and characters: some call it a surprise highlight that hooked them, others call it cringey, derivative of Hades and forgettable
- Art direction: widely called stunning, but a few find it busy or bland/ADHD-overload
- Difficulty: base game described as easy by some, while higher Destiny Levels and modifiers are very hard; some see that as great scaling, others as slow to ramp
Repetition and friction
- Learning the many overlapping upgrade systems and reading lots of skill text before builds make sense
- Meta-progression with many unlocks and lots of tutorial hand-holding, which some find grindy or intrusive
- Repeating easy, similar non-boss rooms after the first ~10 runs
- Needing to clear rooms without taking damage to maximize rewards, which punishes tanky or chip-damage playstyles
- Hub navigation and hunting for the right merchant or NPC
- Some players report run length feels random because enemies scale alongside you, making progression feel weak in places
- Grindy, repetitive loop for some: players report boredom after extended playtime (one at ~20 hours) with empty or sparse stages
Hoped-for improvements
- A better onboarding/intro that shows combat potential early (e.g. a stronger starting experience or a companion) since the opening almost made some players quit
- Clearer tooltips and explanations for spells, gambits, imprints and how to actually finish/clear the game (Destiny system is not obvious)
- More meaningful differences between spells and more viable expensive spells so builds feel less homogeneous
- More varied room/level generation; reviewers of the Outer Reaches DLC said new lands use very similar level generation and offer little incentive beyond reward choices
- Stronger writing and deeper character interactions so the cast and Zodiac lore pay off the setup
- More hit feedback (knockback, enemy reactions) to make basic attacks feel punchier
Launched in Steam Early Access in 2022 and praised early as a potential next great roguelike; 1.0 released 14 Nov 2023 on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5 and Switch to strong reviews (OpenCritic top 7% per its percentile ranking, 100% of critics recommend). Steam reviews stay very high years later. Post-launch support includes the 2.0 update with The Outer Reaches DLC (new worlds, enemies, imprint mechanic, optional Andromeda boss), a Dead Cells crossover, the Celestial Haven DLC (a critter shelter), and further character DLC. Estimated Steam revenue from third-party calculator is about 4.2M gross / 1.2M net (Boxleiter estimate, not audited); SteamSpy lists 200k-500k owners. Metacritic user score (7.4 on ~51 ratings) is noticeably lower than critics. Price is $24.99.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Steam app data, review counts, SteamSpy owners, revenue estimate ↗
- OpenCritic score 84, 18 critic reviews, outlet scores ↗
- Metascore 86, user score 7.4, critic review summaries ↗
- Launch impressions: praise for art/magic system, meta-progression overwhelming ↗
- 2.0 / Outer Reaches review: imprints praised, new lands share similar level generation ↗
- God is a Geek review (9.5/10, compared with Hades and Spelunky); page blocked, snippet from search only ↗
- Early Access impressions ↗
- Push Square 7/10 review (page blocked; score from OpenCritic listing) ↗
- Estimated gross/net Steam revenue (Boxleiter method) ↗
- Celestial Haven DLC coverage ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Astral Ascent is a fast 2D action roguelite with a Hades-like structure: room-by-room runs with chosen rewards, a character-driven story and a hub world full of upgrades. It was still in early access when he recorded, which is unusual for him, but a large update drew him in. He is very enthusiastic about the animation, art, and the flashy, satisfying combat. He places it in what the ASR renders as 'an eighth', most likely A tier, just above Arcanum.
What the creator praises
- Stunning animation, visuals and art with lots of care put into characters
- Hades-style approach: attention to plot and characters alongside gameplay
- Gameplay feels awesome: quick, flashy, every spell and hit is satisfying
- Wizard/ninja power fantasy
- Rooms offer different rewards at the end, like Hades
- Big hub world with many upgrades and new characters to talk to after each run
Issues raised by the creator
- Not fully released yet, so he is unsure how the final version will turn out
- The volume of hub upgrades can feel overwhelming, though he dismisses this as a minor concern
Design observations
- Hades-like structure combined with a fast ninja/wizard combat feel
- Hub world keeps unlocking new characters and upgrade paths after each run
Updated opinion
Early-access game he would not normally rate; verdict is provisional pending full release.
