Recent reviews by elcman

Beautiful, cinematic, and overwhelming.

"We didn't penetrate their armor." "We didn't even scratch them." "That one didn't go through." "We didn't penetrate their armor." "We didn't even scratch them." "That one didn't go through."

*switches to expensive, high-penetration shells*

"We didn't penetrate their armor." "We didn't even scratch them." "That one didn't go through." "We didn't penetrate their armor." "We didn't even scratch them." "That one didn't go through."

Welcome to free to play, pay to win. Fun until you get frustrated enough to quit.

EDITED:
THEY FIXED IT! THEY ACTUALLY FIXED IT!

Steam Deck feels splendid. This game is very visually dense so it might be hard to pick out targets and opportunities, but that sense of wonder when walking around Washington DC is still there. And it's smooth!

Thanks for listening, Ubisoft.

Previous post:
Do not buy this game. It's a second hand title with no effort to make it work on Steam or Steam Deck. I loved this game back in the glory days... but it's nothing like it used to be. Toss it, forget it exists, and move on.

First, I love the casual nature of this game. Some intense scenarios give you some extreme challenge at certain points. But once you build up a few vehicles and get some ranks under your belt, it is just a matter of choosing what you want to accomplish.

So, with that out of the way. THIS IS A GREAT STEAMDECK GAME. Seriously. Pick up, run a bit of cargo, drop to menu, click the power button. It's always waiting for you and it starts quickly and without a hitch. Make sure to quit every so often so it saves to the cloud.

Let me say this. I love to hate this game.
Hate: Zombie animation lock. Millions of zombies, but the houses are empty of resources. Flailing player controls, precise zombies. Sprinting zombies, all of them, and they can see at night. You hit a zombie 10 times in the head, two handed, with a crowbar, while they're prone, to kill them or you can curbstomp them in one hit. Trees hide zombies that can literally touch you and can clearly see you. Skill-less, clumsy adults; "How did I function in the real world?" 6 bubbles of skill advancement and you likely won't ever fill even one. Guns are useless. Weapons are useless (animation lock). Your character truly deserves to die. You should be a zombie because zombies are simply better at everything.

Love: Crouching low while exploring a neighborhood with a handcrafted spear; hoping there isn't a horde around the corner. Then panicking in real life when there is.

Great story! Incredibly rich, visceral visuals with a dense world tapestry that you will explore and get lost in. Some frustrating elements with balance, upgrades, and play style diversity.

Overall, love the game!

Other notes:
There's a lot of opportunity in this game ... extending its original story. Diablo 3 focused on end game and replayability... The Ascent could shine in this way, especially in co-op. New missions, trials, randomized "abandoned" areas of the Arcology. Randomized armor, weapons, and more balances augments would be key to long term replayability, too. What's there now is custom and curated and incredibly well done. It's a perfect template for something with randomized elements.

... I used a different keybind set than traditional WASD. (SDFC, if you wanna know). F is hard locked to general interactions meaning the most pressed button in the game is... unchangeable. You have to change the key at the system level to make it work, too. Key remapping software will not do. Currently, mine is changed at the system level (SharpKeys), and I use another to modify general Windows interactions. (AutoHotKey, but mind you AHK will not work in-game, which is why I did it that way.)

That one ... HUGE complaint aside, this game is rich. It's well acted, well written, and this is a densely immersive environment. Gunplay, hacking, schlong-diggity-dong modifications... everything so far is great. I wish I could give a "thumb's sideways" for how they've handled PC launch when it comes to binding and customization, but... I still give it a thumbs up.

Warning! Eeeaaaaarrrrlllyyyy access.

EDIT: Gonna tame this a bit, because I'm having fun, yes. Even with the inexplicable moments. So, less emotion, more constructive for those who want to take a stab at this. Still, this is a "no" for me who don't want to deal with an incomplete game.

First, perspective is everything. Don't expect things to work the way you think they'd work, it'll just end in frustration. When you run into something that doesn't work the way you expect, I tend to look at it and say to myself, "What would someone who has never been in this situation think you'd solve it?" And the answer is a short trip from there. :)

For example, water towers don't work on people, they only work on buildings. Wells work on people. Do people drink water from buildings? Apparently not. Because having a well powering multiple towers will still have people die of thirst even when the water tower is full because... game mechanics.

Another example, Trappers hunt in trees. Trees produce meat. Put a trappers work area over a dense set of trees and you'll make meat and "fiber". But "Trappers" will not kill deer, or boar, or bears, like the old Age of Empires way. You need to use your Specialists to kill things... then either harvest it yourself or use to Food Storage waypoint to harvest it. (Which... comes with varying results, especially because everyone moves like turtles in this game.)

Yet another example, you can't research until you have a Purple Potion. Research Juice. That's a representation of research, but even if you have smart people, you can't research until you go out in the "World Map" and explore. I didn't know how to leave my base... until I found a button when selecting a Specialist, your "hero" characters, and clicking the "Go to World Map". I was frustrated for, literally, hours before finding that.

Tutorial Tooltips came on AFTER I had figured everything out. And some of them were even actually helpful.

Research needs a RESEARCH QUEUE. Just one or two in advance. Many times I get wrapped up in details to realize I hadn't checked research for the past three days. TIME IS MONEY. And Research is VERY important to progress. At least... put up a persistent notification that says "nothing is being researched" when you have "research juice" to consume.

Farms, Trappers, and Fish are extremely important. Nothing on the map regenerates, so don't waste time trying to cut down a bunch of trees to build a farm. Just clear the ground. You'll have plenty of wood, believe me. Don't build your buildings too close together. You will get bigger and better buildings, so a little city planning goes a long way at making things efficient.

Things I still laugh about:
My characters pop a status icon that shows I need a shower. I'll go into the latrine to take one. Damn, ten people used this latrine for a shower. I better dig it out because it is now contaminated. WHO HAS TO DECONTAMINATE A LATRINE!? WTF, it's the apocalypse! Drinking water out of a pond is scarier than pooping, but not in this game. :D

Destiny (2) has always been a mainstay. Great FPS action. A nice variety of world exploration. It's got tons of lore, deep character classes play styles, weapon trees are long and branchy, and there's enough content to keep you occupied for years if you let it. When I'm in the mood... I tend to play it a lot, burn out, and walk away. But I'm always rewarded with a good time when I come back to it. Highly recommend.

Did you play the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2? What about Alan Wake?

Those stories were a little more connected to reality, but this... and the storytelling, is vibrant and beautiful. Large, gorgeous levels. Plenty of secrets to keep you hunting. And the action, what originally reminded me of the original Max Payne, is spot on. Yes, you feel kick ass, but slip up once or twice and it and the bad guys will crush you. Fantastic!

Once I realized that Remedy made this... (I'd seen it around, but didn't intend to invest until it hit Steam.) Well? It did, and I bought it instantly. :) And stayed up WAY too late already.