Astral Ascent has been getting constant content updates for the last year or two. Now they (Hibernian Workshop) have made a full-scale DLC along with a 2.0 update that adds tons of new areas to explore with unique mobs, imprints to put onto your spells as bonus passives, and an optional boss fight against the drink-maker Andromeda.
The Outer Reaches
With the DLC you now have the choice of going to the base game areas or to the new ones. The new zones are definitely a little bit harder with more complicated traps and enemies.
The increased variety of places to travel helps the game feel much less repetitive and having a whole new set of enemy patterns to learn has been tons of fun.
I particularly love the overall presentation of Frostborn Expanses with its snowy foreground and tricky ice traps, and Obsidian Heights’ tactical enemy style.
Unfortunately, beyond choosing which reward rooms to appear, there’s not a big reason to go to the new lands. They also have a sore spot of having identical level generation to the originals. I’d like to see some more exclusivity in the new biomes like spells or bonuses that only show up in a specific area.
Andromeda’s Trial
Andromeda’s boss fight is more of a side-note than anything super special, in my opinion. She’s brutally hard and will give you a massive power up should you actually win, but you cannot be killed in the fight and I don’t find it necessary to go for the benefits.
The optional battle is really cool with some epic patterns, however, and Andromeda does have new dialogue and an ending to go after.
Spell Crafting Got Way Better
I think the real meat of Astral Ascent’s changes is the new imprint mechanic. Spells can now have a focused passive effect on them that does tons of damage under specific circumstances. Things like large lightning strikes, but only if all the spell’s gambits are electric type. This system forces you to be more deliberate in your magic crafting, which is a great change.
Between the implementation of imprints in the free content update and the new zones to explore in the DLC, Astral Ascent is quickly becoming a juggernaut in the genre.
In an effort to tempt you into clicking deeper into our web of rogues, moving forward, we’re going to try something a little different, and after the upcoming advert for NordVPN, you’ll find a new feature: Rogueliker’s Hall of Fame. But first, here are a load of mega awesome roguelikes and roguelites, almost 40 of them, in fact.
Still with us? Ok, the Hall of Fame below highlights arguably the best game from each sub-category in the article linked directly above; however, each of these standout games is reinforced with another article about even more titles, whether they be turn-based roguelikes or first-person shooters.
Finally, if you’d prefer everything split into individual platforms, we’ve got you covered, too, although be warned, those lists don’t go into as much detail:
First, let’s establish the parameters for inclusion. We can answer the question of “what is a roguelike?” by telling you about the game that started this whole party. Rogue is a turn-based RPG with procedurally-generated content and permadeath. The genre has exploded in a hundred different directions since then, but all of the games on this list retain one or two core features that first appeared in Rogue back in 1980.
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all, There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
