Climbing games are having something of a moment: Fare like White Knuckle, Peak, and Cairn have all made big splashes (so to speak) and I maintain that Jusant is one of the most sadly overlooked games to come along in recent years. And now we’ve got Ascenders: Beyond the Peak joining that mix, with its own take on the cliffside life—but it’s a whole lot different than the others.
Ascenders might be most aptly described as, what if Darkest Dungeon was a climbing sim? Thematically, that is. You’re not climbing solo, for one thing, but as the leader of a team—and as the leader, that means you’ll occasionally have to make some tough calls. Like, for instance, who’s going to die.
As you might imagine, that’s a fraught call to make, and not just because of the obvious moral considerations. Cutting the rope lightens the load so the rest of the squad is less likely to get hauled down into the abyss, but that’s not just because you’ve got one less climber dangling from a rope: Any supplies or resources they were carrying gets the same express trip to the bottom, which is going to cause headaches later on. There’s also the psychological toll on those who remain, which will almost certainly make the continuing descent more difficult.
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Of course, you can always opt to withdraw from whatever precarious perch you find yourself clinging to and maybe save a life. But your carefully planned route upward may be lost as a result, potentially risking everyone in the party, rather than just that one guy who doesn’t seem to be particularly good at the whole mountain climbing thing anyway.
This would be me. Every time, all the time. It’s why I only climb mountains in videogames.
Unlike the other climbing games I mentioned, which are primarily games of dexterity and timing, Ascenders is turn-based and strategy-first. The game features numerous classes of climbers, each of which brings unique tools and abilities to your party that can work together in sometimes very powerful ways. Artifacts collected during successful expeditions can be used during future climbs or to upgrade your base camp, or can be traded instead to other factions. Which factions you work with over the course of the game, which mountains you climb, and when you choose to press forward or retreat will also impact your reputation, the world state, and possible game endings.
And why, exactly, are you doing all this? Dying on tough ascents isn’t all that terribly uncommon: Mount Everest is famously covered in frozen bodies of fallen climbers, some of whom end up serving as landmarks for future expeditions. But the motivation in Ascenders goes beyond the classic, “Because it’s there.” It comes back to those artifacts you’re collecting: As the trailer hints, these mountains are “cursed with mysterious Lovecraftian threats hidden within the rock.”
“Every expedition is a desperate attempt to reach the summit, understand the forces shaping the mountain, and return alive with the knowledge and artifacts you need for your next ascent,” developer Ludogram said. “At all costs, your mission is to forbid them from falling into the wrong hands. Death after death, players will learn to turn the environment into a weapon, mastering each ascent through hard-earned roguelite progression.”
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That’s a long way from the chill, magical mountaineering of Jusant, but even so I have to admit I’m intrigued—and no, not just because I want to find out if I can cut the rope on the rest of my team even if I don’t have to. (Not entirely, anyway.) Ascenders is currently expected to launch into early access in Q3 2026, and will be available for PC on Steam.
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