The Ascent review – a frenetic murderfest in a dystopian future

PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X; Neon Giant/Curve Digital
This high-octane, low-intelligence arcade sci-fi shooter is set in a neon-lit city whose upper levels house the wealthy while the impoverished live in sewers

When I was a kid, nothing beat our family's weekly pilgrimage to the local video store Vidbiz. While my parents pondered which thriller to digest with their takeaway, I'd gawp at the colourful PlayStation games on the corner shelf. Game rentals let me embark on interactive adventures I could otherwise never have afforded - while consuming an entire share-size pack of Sour Skittles in the process. Xbox's Game Pass subscription gives me a similar buzz, offering a library of games to choose from and giving players the chance to try out odd or middling games that they'd never actually buy.

Sci-fi shooter The Ascent is a good example, the equivalent of a high-octane but intellectually bereft action flick. It is flawed but fun and atmospheric, set in a predictably bleak urban dystopia full of indentured workers, shady mega-corporations and augmented outlaws. Developer Neon Giant has dressed up The Ascent's loot-driven blasting as an anti-capitalist critique: the class divide is built into planet Veles's sleazy cyberpunk architecture. Its most impoverished inhabitants are banished to the sewers while wealthy citizens dwell in the districts above. As you climb your way up this tower-like metropolis, your grizzled mercenary fights tooth and nail to slowly - and literally - ascend to the upper echelons of society.