You have 30 seconds before the world ends (again) in Ascend to Zero. A clock at the top of your screen in every run of this survivors-like roguelite will not let you forget that, either. Using a variety of avatars, you must enter the final corridors existing on the precipice of the world’s end and fight your way to its apocalyptic core. Your stats will grow with each run, using a variety of currencies, as will your arsenal of weapons, both melee and ranged, and the armor set and other game-changing equipment you bring into this dash to the end. While 30 seconds fly by, your unique time-stop ability pauses the clock, allowing you to inflict heavy damage on surrounding enemies when you’re ready for the seconds to start ticking by again, and using this move to defeat bosses and mobs is key to adding more time to the clock.
While it looks like an action game at first glance, because of its survivors-like combat, where you build upon an auto-attacking set of weapons while moving around to ensure they hit their targets, Ascend to Zero plays more like a management game – how you manage your time, the ways different chips and abilities affect the seconds you have left, and your combat levels, which are always on the rise as more and more difficult enemies await you in the next room, is the difference between success and the end of the world. It’s only $12 but is currently on sale on Steam for less than $10 and is well worth your time.
