The Game Census
The Ascent cover art

The Ascent

Neon Giant · KRAFTON, Inc. · 2021-07-29

SteamPlayStation StoreAmazonMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureIndieRPG

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Mar 24, 2022 (PlayStation 4), Jul 29, 2021 (Xbox One), Jul 29, 2021 (Xbox Series X|S), Mar 24, 2022 (PlayStation 5), Jul 29, 2021 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

The Ascent is a solo and co-op Action-shooter RPG set in a cyberpunk world. The mega corporation that owns you and everyone, The Ascent Group, has just collapsed. Can you survive without it?

The Ascent is a 2021 Action, Adventure, Indie, and RPG game priced at $29.99, with an estimated 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 owners and a Mostly Positive review sentiment (74% of 24,938 reviews).

227
playing now
73%
positive of 25k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
71/100
critic score (9 outlets, IGDB)
72/100
IGDB user rating (88 ratings)
28
Nexus mods (16k downloads)
3.95★
PlayStation Store rating (5,845 ratings)
73/100
opencritic · fair · 56% recommend · from 116 critics
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$29.99
steam price (US)

227 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 11:00 UTC (census sample)

The Ascent is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing video game developed by Swedish game studio Neon Giant and published by Curve Digital for Windows, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One on 29 July 2021. It was developed using Unreal Engine 4 by a team of 12 people and is Neon Giant's debut in the industry. The game received positive reviews for visuals, combat, and soundtrack, but criticism for the emphasis on grinding.

Trailer

The Ascent trailer thumbnail

The Ascent - Official Launch Trailer

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 227 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 493 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~62/week).
  • · Review velocity down 32% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (5,941 reviews).
  • · Top 3% of 27,667 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 506k–1.1M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 25,293 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$2.99-90%
Microsoft Store$29.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $2.23 at AllYouPlay (2024-06-21) · bundled 11×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $29.99 · on sale 189 of 200 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
4.5k4.5k20212026Week of 2021-07-01: 1,730 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 447 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 4,538 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1,403 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 466 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 193 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 233 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 109 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 802 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 125 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 436 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 141 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 300 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 125 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 216 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 87 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 222 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 143 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 129 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 170 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 225 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 259 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 171 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 276 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 112 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 235 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 102 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 189 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 218 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 106 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 133 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 149 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 197 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 134 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 143 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 135 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 115 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 88 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 98 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 98 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 68 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 177 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 95 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 119 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 101 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 69 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 95 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 85 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 63 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 61 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 79 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 219 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 123 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1.4k332026-09-15 12:00 — 64 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 101 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 70 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 73 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 168 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 65 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 49 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 88 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 56 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 87 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 76 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 63 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 33 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 603 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 1,008 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 576 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 841 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 857 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 493 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 712 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 831 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 311 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 227 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
3.1k50Aug 2021Aug 2026Aug 2021 — avg 3,149 · peak 13,930Oct 2021 — avg 202 · peak 478Dec 2021 — avg 376 · peak 879Feb 2022 — avg 233 · peak 995Apr 2022 — avg 189 · peak 460Jun 2022 — avg 199 · peak 567Aug 2022 — avg 517 · peak 1,909Oct 2022 — avg 442 · peak 1,556Dec 2022 — avg 227 · peak 510Feb 2023 — avg 183 · peak 420Apr 2023 — avg 254 · peak 611Jun 2023 — avg 167 · peak 472Aug 2023 — avg 128 · peak 374Oct 2023 — avg 134 · peak 353Dec 2023 — avg 157 · peak 345Feb 2024 — avg 93 · peak 233Apr 2024 — avg 102 · peak 274Jun 2024 — avg 233 · peak 953Aug 2024 — avg 110 · peak 292Oct 2024 — avg 113 · peak 302Dec 2024 — avg 120 · peak 232Feb 2025 — avg 105 · peak 306Apr 2025 — avg 86 · peak 194Jun 2025 — avg 100 · peak 279Aug 2025 — avg 125 · peak 342Oct 2025 — avg 85 · peak 217Dec 2025 — avg 79 · peak 191Feb 2026 — avg 72 · peak 192Apr 2026 — avg 54 · peak 127Jun 2026 — avg 50 · peak 116Aug 2026 — avg 342 · peak 1,340
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
34342026-10-022026-10-132026-10-02: 30 new positive2026-10-02: 30 new negative2026-10-03: 13 new positive2026-10-03: 8 new negative2026-10-04: 17 new positive2026-10-04: 13 new negative2026-10-05: 16 new positive2026-10-05: 13 new negative2026-10-06: 24 new positive2026-10-06: 11 new negative2026-10-07: 13 new positive2026-10-07: 8 new negative2026-10-08: 19 new positive2026-10-08: 17 new negative2026-10-09: 17 new positive2026-10-09: 12 new negative2026-10-10: 7 new positive2026-10-10: 6 new negative2026-10-11: 34 new positive2026-10-11: 20 new negative2026-10-12: 11 new positive2026-10-12: 2 new negative2026-10-13: 8 new positive2026-10-13: 6 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$30.12$2.992021-05-182026-10-082021-05-18 — best price $26.992021-08-06 — best price $26.392021-11-18 — best price $16.642022-01-05 — best price $29.992022-03-01 — best price $30.122022-04-10 — best price $29.992022-06-02 — best price $29.992022-07-27 — best price $9.122022-09-15 — best price $29.992022-11-14 — best price $25.192023-01-06 — best price $24.892023-03-10 — best price $7.622023-04-28 — best price $7.022023-06-26 — best price $26.392023-08-28 — best price $8.992023-10-20 — best price $6.922023-12-05 — best price $8.992024-01-31 — best price $29.992024-04-04 — best price $8.992024-06-05 — best price $5.992024-08-02 — best price $3.992024-10-28 — best price $3.992024-12-24 — best price $6.992025-02-27 — best price $7.492025-05-12 — best price $29.992025-08-12 — best price $29.992025-10-29 — best price $7.492025-12-11 — best price $22.842026-01-20 — best price $22.872026-02-22 — best price $29.992026-03-30 — best price $22.392026-05-11 — best price $22.942026-06-17 — best price $22.602026-07-22 — best price $22.252026-10-08 — best price $2.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

1.4k582026-05-30 — 63 pageviews2026-06-03 — 78 pageviews2026-06-07 — 95 pageviews2026-06-11 — 84 pageviews2026-06-15 — 58 pageviews2026-06-19 — 492 pageviews2026-06-23 — 139 pageviews2026-06-27 — 105 pageviews2026-07-01 — 118 pageviews2026-07-05 — 108 pageviews2026-07-09 — 99 pageviews2026-07-13 — 61 pageviews2026-07-17 — 77 pageviews2026-07-21 — 58 pageviews2026-07-25 — 67 pageviews2026-07-29 — 179 pageviews2026-08-02 — 85 pageviews2026-08-06 — 163 pageviews2026-08-10 — 99 pageviews2026-08-14 — 77 pageviews2026-08-18 — 92 pageviews2026-08-22 — 85 pageviews2026-08-26 — 1,376 pageviews2026-08-30 — 295 pageviews2026-09-03 — 137 pageviews2026-09-07 — 135 pageviews2026-09-11 — 150 pageviews2026-09-15 — 156 pageviews2026-09-19 — 119 pageviews2026-09-23 — 85 pageviews2026-09-27 — 106 pageviews2026-10-01 — 136 pageviews2026-10-05 — 171 pageviews2026-10-08 — 153 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

1702026-10-02 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-03 00:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-03 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-03 18:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-04 03:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-04 12:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-04 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 15:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-06 00:34 — 17 viewers2026-10-06 09:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-06 18:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-07 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-07 12:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-07 21:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-08 06:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-08 15:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-09 00:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-09 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 03:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-10 12:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-10 21:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-11 06:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-11 15:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-12 00:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-12 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-12 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 03:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-13 12:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-13 21:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-14 06:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-14 14:34 — 4 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
90.7%
earned "We're just getting started"
16.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerCo-opOnline Co-opShared/Split Screen Co-opShared/Split ScreenSteam AchievementsFull controller supportCamera ComfortColor Alternatives9 DLC

9 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese

Post-launch support: 9 DLC released, first 2021-07-29, latest 2025-07-31 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox Series, Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)49,5031%66
Steam (Steam)23,2392%66
PS5 (PlayStation)14,4757%67
PS4 (PlayStation)5,3546%67

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

RPGGoreCo-opIndieActionShooterViolentAdventureCyberpunkIsometric

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsImmortal: UnchainedBorderlands 3Force of NatureEternity: The Last UnicornRebel Galaxy OutlawTorchlight IIICyberpunk 2077

Similarity via IGDB.

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