Modern co-op games are often manifestations of a troubled mind. There are few instances where these games know exactly who they are (with a few broken bits), and at some point, devs and designers manage to fix it. Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case with Ascendant Infinity, an online co-op title being developed by PlayFusion.
At its foundations, Ascendant Infinity is a competitive co-op title that mixes PvE elements with 3v3v3v3 gunplay. The developers have tried convincing players that the game has everything you’d need for an adrenaline-filled first-person shooter experience that doesn’t take itself seriously. Well, that’s unfortunate, because I hope the makers of this game take it seriously and fix its core problems.
At the time of writing, the Closed Beta version of the game is live between April 5 and 6.
EU Servers: 6 pm-10 pm BST (both days)
US Servers: 5 pm-11 pm PT (both days)
A PvEvP shooter with 3v3v3v3 squads feels as complicated as it sounds
Right from the beginning, Ascendant Infinity tries to draw you into its charming biopunk world. While ‘biopunk‘ differs itself as a universe inspired by biotechnology, Ascendant Infinity’s overall aesthetic feels quite ‘cyberpunk‘ with its edgy characters and questionable outfits (seriously, when did track pants become a symbol of fashion in the cyberpunk genre?).
After a quick tutorial and interactions with a character that felt straight out of a Fallout game, I was dropped into the world of Harmony, which felt quite appealing at first. And then, it started getting worse. Eventually, I was left confused, frustrated, and a little sad comprehending the hard work that must have gone into a game that feels equally lost about itself.
It breaks my heart a little as I write this because biopunk (derived from cyberpunk) is one of my favorite themes in sci-fi. And, Ascendant Infinity barely makes any use of it. The moment I dove into a match, I witnessed a lovely world around me waiting to be explored. But, that feeling didn’t last for long.
The objective of Ascendant Infinity asks you to choose a loadout best suited to your playstyle, locate a Biocore, and carry it over to a zone you need to capture. Think of this as a mix of ‘capture the flag‘ and ‘control‘ game modes from some of your favorite first-person shooters. You can also use Power as a form of currency to purchase ammo and other upgrades.
Overall, the game’s map design felt inconsistent. Even with the awe-inspiring corridors and creatures that would genuinely scare you at times, you’ll likely struggle with how navigation works. The mini-map (or larger one, for that matter), felt terribly designed.
Unsurprisingly, this was the case with most players. After about 5 minutes of mind-numbing walking and studying my surroundings as if it were a museum from a post-apocalyptic world, I crossed paths with enemies who were somehow pretty good at this game. Within seconds, I was on my knees, asking my teammates for help.
Between the confusing time-to-kill (TTK) mechanics and limited gunplay, there was a moment of comfort when I came across a giant, baby-Godzilla-looking lizard who wanted to destroy me. My dead teammates asked me to fight this guy, and I did. A quick battle later, I was able to devour this little beast and help my mates get back in. Well, that’s pretty much the only ‘fun‘ experience I had with the game.
Ascendant Infinity is still in its beta stage, but don’t hold your breath
Despite running the game on a decent machine, Ascendant Infinity could barely give me a consistent, 60 frames per second. Lowering the visual quality didn’t work, and neither did any tweaks to other settings. Furthermore, the only servers available to me were US and EU, and being within the Indian subcontinent, I would have preferred Asian servers.
Even with the 150+ ping, I did manage to find stability in its matchmaking. But, playing against opponents would cause a serious drop in FPS, giving me little time to respond to any attacks. Keeping aside the bugs and glitches, a part of me wishes Ascendants Infinity was a PvE game instead, free from the shackles of a competitive shooter that tries to do everything all at once.
Moreover, the mediocre sound design raised my anxiety a bit, since I couldn’t figure out where the opponents were firing from. Or, whether it was an enemy or my teammate’s footsteps I was hearing.
PlayFusion’s vision to me feels like an aesthetically pleasing blur. The neon lights of the biopunk-inspired world shine well but simply don’t hold their spotlight on anything in particular. The endless cosmetic options and witty voice-acting simply don’t compensate for the lack of excitement the gameplay loop brings.
This isn’t a problem that needs fixing. It’s a problem that needs an overhaul. I dearly wish that the designers create a map that’s easy to navigate, and focus on a gameplay loop that’s not so complicated to understand. And maybe, Ascendant Infinity might just be the game developers are trying hard to sell at the moment.
