Ascension: Deckbuilding Game 9+

I have a friend who has the ascension physical card game he ya rise of vigil and the darkness one which I didn’t even find out where expansions until I started playing this game. It is really good I think the aim could be programmed a little bit better they seem to only go for the best value per turn in most cases without thinking of the long run. For example if they have four tubes and the board is full of heroes to buy and no monsters to kill they will get 2 heavy infantries instead of a mystic because it is more short term value which can lead to them punching the cultist later in the game up to seven times I got it to once. There is a lot of dlc for this game but it is literally the physical releases of the ascension game as well and those are way more expensive per pack so it is more worth it here plus this game was just made for a computer or phone setting with a lot of the effects going off in the background where you don’t have to keep track of them and possibly forget like in the physical version.

The game is pretty good and a lot of enjoyment can be found in it. That being said it has a few problems. Firstly the online doesnt even exist nobody plays this game online so be ready to either do couch co-op or just play against the ai. The game also puts a lot of its content behind paywalls that being said i have enjoyed the expansions and how poorly implemented they are. As an example of how badly implemented this game is you can turn on 2 expansions and within 5 turns have beaten any opponent due to several ways that you can gain infinite turns without using glitches. The game also has a few bugs. Most of the ones that i have found are related to playing more than 100 cards in a turn. There are also a few card interactions that need to be hammered out. All that being said it is a good looking game that works well for wasting time. I particularly enjoy the games esthetic and the fact that you can break this game and then revel in the games lack of balance. Its kind of like the might and magic games, cosy as hell and extremely unbalanced. Also if you are turned off by the aforementioned pay wall its worth noting that the base deck is perfectly fine on its own. If you want to buy expansions these are the ones i would recommend: return of the fallen, dreamscape, promo pack 3, 4, and 5. I would not recommend buying dawn of champions. The other expansions range from ok to hot garbage.

The card game Ascension is s pretty solid game. It has wonderful synergy between cards and a mechanic that is quick paced and has a good amount of strategic deck building. The gameplay drawback is its ridiculous randomness, particularly when you purchase expansions. At times these expansion sets are reminiscent of playing Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land since you can randomly gain free cards by the dozen. That said, if you are selective with which expansions you buy the game is better balanced. Check board game geek to see which ones are ideal.

The real issue with this isn't the gameplay. It's the slowdown. If the AI gets certain cards, too many cards in hand, or too many cards interacting with each other on the table it grinds to a halt. I've sat and stared for a minute or two waiting for the computer to slog through placing a few cards on the table. In a game where turns last an average of 10 seconds this is truly unforgivable, especially on an iPhone 6. A game as streamlined as Ascension shouldn't consist of 20 minutes staring at nothing and 3 minutes playing. Give this one a pass until playdek does something about the terrible slowdown.

One year later and the game runs just as slow. Still not worth the time it takes to get through a slogged game.