The Ascent launched on 29th July to a relatively positive reception, but some massive bugbears existed with the Steam version having features that were not available to those playing it on PC through Game Pass and the Microsoft Store, as well as those on Xbox.
Thankfully, as of a few hours ago, developer Neon Giant has pushed through an update to bring a similar experience to all platforms.
“An update is now available for The Ascent on Xbox and Win 10 platforms bringing parity against the Steam version, including DLSS support (Win 10), a whole host of co-op, stability, mission fixes and more,” the official account for the game announced.
The full patch notes are available here on publisher Curve Digital’s website.
“First off, a massive thank you playing our game! We’re working tirelessly, day and night to improve all aspects of the game. We promise to update you as soon as we have information on when future patches will be released and what they contain. Secondly, we kindly ask that you double check you’re always playing on the latest and greatest version!” reads the beginning of the patch notes.
Aside from the DLLS support another missing feature only appearing on Steam was Ray Tracing which is now available on the Windows Store / Game Pass version for PC.
On top of missing features Game Pass games on PC also suffer from a locked down ecosystem which makes modding more difficult or impossible. It also causes issues such as AMD / Nvidia software not being able to properly interface with games (such as an inability to force V-Sync, for example) and a lack of access to files.
Not being able to directly edit settings files was recently a thorn in our side with Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, which lead us to abandoning the game instead of playing it as a jittery mess, a problem that could have been easily fixed with file access.
While Xbox Game Pass remains a great value for money these little problems are really eroding the experience.
Back to The Ascent and it is available now on PC (Steam and Microsoft Store) as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Xbox Game Pass subscribers on console and PC can also play the game without any additional purchase.
