Recent reviews by SilverWill

Ascent is a truly wonderful game, offering the most pure fun I’ve had with any game in a very long time. I enjoy building slowly to develop self-sufficiency, but, in the four months I’ve played, I have been the recipient of much kind advice and an occasional helping hand. I have to echo what so many others have said, this game has a great, caring community.

Jam is an incredibly talented developer. I am grateful that he has kept true to his own vision which, I think, has produced the coherence and scale we see already in this relatively early stage of the game. Yet he is very responsive to player experience and ideas. That makes it much easier to be patient when glitches arise, as they must, during the development process. We know Jam will address them.

As to gameplay, I am able to immerse myself in the game’s premise, that we are struggling to recover and rebuild the high civilization we’ve lost. As a number of other players have done, I have developed my own tools, primarily spreadsheets, catalogs and calculators, to record my own exploration and production data. What has been for some an inconvenience has been for others an element of realism.

At the same time, I am able to engage the community’s meta-game, expressed on the forum and wiki, in the lively chat flow, and now, perhaps, here in the Steam forum.

Finally, Ascent is the kind of game that allows me to step back when RL demands. When I return, I’ve suffered no loss. Jam has added new features. My colonies have kept producing. My fellow players have devised new plans and projects, all of which enhance my game.

It’s just pure fun.