Reviews of The Ascent have been overwhelmingly positive since the game's launch. Many are touting that the game is one of the best indie titles released this year. However, there are a few issues with the game that still need to be addressed.
In just a few hours of gameplay, most players will experience at least one of these bugs, glitches, or errors. Thankfully, there are simple fixes to each of these, although they can be quite annoying to deal with. Hopefully, all of these problems are being addressed behind the scenes. Until then, use the following tips to get past the bugs and finish The Ascent.
Updated on September 17, 2021 by Payton Lott: It has been almost two months since The Ascent's launch in late July. A handful of updates have solved some of the game's issues, but there are still a lot of common glitches that players will experience. People need to keep in mind that The Ascent is an indie game developed by a small studio. A few issues were bound to pop up after release. However, many of the bugs listed in this guide are still a problem. The Ascent is a fun and action packed experience. Still, it is an experience that can be diluted by the many glitches and bugs still in the game.
6 Invisible Character Glitch
Cutscenes are a huge issue in this game, at least in co-op mode. During or after a cutscene, it is common for the character to appear invisible. Another variation of this bug is when the character is stuck aiming at one direction, and the right stick simply will not work.
At higher levels, it is impossible to survive while these problems are present. The most obvious fix is to back out to the main menu and reload the save. This can be frustrating at times, but thankfully the game files autosave every 10-30 seconds. It is usually not a big deal to back out and load back in. Still, doing this several times can detract from the experience.
5 Unable To Join Friends In Online Play
This error is likely the first roadblock gamers will encounter when they attempt to jump into The Ascent. Thousands of players have been having trouble grouping up and starting the game. Often, one player will not be prompted to choose a new save slot. When they try to join, the game will send them all the way back to the main menu.
In the event of this glitch, all players should restart their games and pick a new host for the party. If that fails, restarting the consoles and/or PCs should solve the issue. As a very last resort, re-installing the game is an option. The Ascent is not a large game and will download in under an hour, even with a sub par connection.
It is entirely possible that a hot fix will be released to fix this issue, but so far, these are the only solutions. With a little bit of persistence, the bug should resolve itself eventually.
4 Elevator Glitch
These glitches come in a bunch of different forms. Gamers will probably encounter the lift elevators that simply will not let users interact with them. The bug is exceptionally tedious to get around if a quest objective is above or below the elevator, and this can happen at a few points in the main questline. Sometimes, re-loading in will work, but that is not always the case. Try to re-load the point a few times, and if that fails, restart and try again.
After a few attempts, the game will automatically bring players back to the main spawn area or the origin of the quest. From there, trek back to the objective and the elevator should finally activate. Again, the continuous autosaves will work wonders when this happens.
3 The Infamous Interact Screen
Once gamers have seen these Ascent glitches a few times, it can actually be scary to talk to a store NPC. When in game, the NPC will initiate the store dialogue, but the options menu will not appear. At this point, the game will get stuck in the shop interact screen. As a solo, the only real option is to wait a few seconds for a save and re-load. Before quitting, players can make sure there is a recent save before committing to exit to the main menu.
In co-op, there are a few other options. The player who is not frozen can initiate one of the various cutscenes to try and work around the glitch. For example, initiating a quest or taking the metro to fast travel. About half the time, this will pull the frozen player out of the screen. Opening the character menu may solve the issue, but that is less likely.
The final fix is to re-load. Solo players may have to restart, but co-op players can get their squad mate to leave.
2 Accidental First Person Mode
Finding oneself in first person mode would be cool if the character's mouth did not block half the screen. This is similar to the invisible player glitch described above. It is definitely an interesting experience, and it reveals how immersive the environments in The Ascent actually are. In fact, the game looks better in first person than a surprising number of titles released this year. However, the glitch is still irritating.
To get around this, use all of the methods under the invisible glitch section. Before backing out, gamers might want to do a little exploring, as this bug is a lot less common than the others on this list. Wander about the city and take in all of the detail the developers put into this low budget title. Glitches and bugs aside, this is a beautiful game.
1 Other Notable Glitches And Bugs
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Using the methods explained in each of the sections above, gamers should be able to get rid of the additional bugs one way or another. Again, the best way is to save and load back into the game. By the time players have made their way through the entire story, they will encounter most of the bugs listed below:
- HUD Disappears: Players will be unable to see their health, augmentations, tactical, and ammunition.
- Mission Countdown Bug: Mission timer is up, but the mission does not end.
- Bugged Enemies (Spiders): Enemies are invincible, or aggro far outside of the usual zone. Some even heal constantly.
- Hit Makers: Hit markers and damage numbers do not appear.
- Guns Don't Deal Damage: Hit markers show up, but the enemy health bar remains the same.
- Speed running/speed crawling: One of the rare good bugs gives characters 2x speed when running or crawling.
- Augments Disappear: Characters can randomly lose acquired augments.
Of all these glitches, the worst has to be when augmentations somehow disappear from the character's inventory. Later in the game, most of the powerful augmentations can be purchased. Still, it is annoying to progress and get the augmentation just to have it stripped away by a bug.
Mission Countdown Bug
The mission countdown bug might not be a bug at all. Sometimes, one of the enemy AI gets confused and walks away from the fight or lingers on the outside of the mission area. This will happen during the Celine fight and later on in the story during one of the final missions. Search the area thoroughly before leaving the session to fix the bug. If the bug is actually present, that is bad news. Squads will need to start the objective all over again.