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You have 30 seconds to save the world. That\u2019s the elevator pitch of Ascend to Zero<\/em>, a fascinating new roguelike that puts some inventive twists on proven formulas. Let me tell you, I\u2019ve played it for a lot more than 30 seconds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To be clear, runs in Ascend to Zero<\/em> don\u2019t literally only last 30 seconds. Your character has an ability that can stop time indefinitely. When you resume time, you deal damage to nearby enemies, and defeating certain foes can add more seconds to your clock. But 30 seconds is what you\u2019re given from the jump, and runs play out with the explicit intention of extending that half-minute as long as you can \u2014 ideally, long enough to save the world.<\/p>\n Developed by Flyway Games and released July 13 for Xbox Series X and Windows PC (it\u2019s also on Game Pass), Ascend to Zero<\/em> is an isometric roguelike that mashes up a slew of obvious inspirations. It has shades of Vampire Survivors<\/em>, in that you automatically attack waves of enemies and numbers go up, up, up. It has unmistakable nods to Supergiant\u2019s oeuvre \u2014 not just obvious connections to the Hades roguelikes, but to 2014\u2019s Transistor<\/em> too, with its cyberpunk visuals and emphasis on stop-go tactical combat. And though I don\u2019t think it\u2019s intentional, I couldn\u2019t help but think of Scarlet Nexus<\/em>, Bandai Namco\u2019s 2021 excellent \u201cbrain punk\u201d action RPG.<\/p>\n Like Scarlet Nexus<\/em>, Ascend to Zero<\/em> is about the impending apocalypse. It\u2019s set in the future, when humanity has advanced technologically by generations. One day, some plant\u2026monster\u2026demon\u2026things emerge from interdimensional portals and start exploding everything. You play as a woman who\u2019s part of a research group at an advanced laboratory; her colleagues all sacrifice themselves to push her into a time machine, with the general thrust of \u201conly you can save us!\u201d Thus the justification of an eternal feedback loop.<\/p>\n After that brief series of introductory cutscenes, the game showers you with systems and currency types. The combat is the only straightforward part: At the start of each run, you pick up a randomized weapon, and it does all the attacking for you. Ranged weapons fire at enemies from afar; melee weapons tend to deal more damage but only strike enemies when they get close to you. Some weapons only stay with you for the duration of a run; others become part of your permanent inventory, and you can equip them on the fly. There are various armor types, accessories, gadgets, and more equipment that you can slot in and out of your loadouts to fiddle with your stats (attack, defense, health, that sort of thing).<\/p>\n The currency \u2014 or, rather, the sheer amount of currency types, which would make the World Bank blush \u2014 is where Ascend to Zero<\/em> starts getting complicated. One currency type lets you buy weapons and armor, increases how many inventory pieces you can equip at once, or temporarily upgrades stats for a single run. There\u2019s a second currency type that unlocks various avatars (after you\u2019ve discovered them on your runs), each of whom has a different special ability. There\u2019s a different<\/em> currency that upgrades those avatars. And a fourth currency is based entirely on the highest level you\u2019ve attained in a run; the higher max level you attain, the more you\u2019re able to use. (If you think I\u2019ve bothered to learn the names of each of these moneys, you\u2019d be mistaken.) It lets you increase what level you start your runs at and the rate at which you earn XP, thus creating a feedback loop that leads to even more leveling<\/em>.<\/p>\n The leveling system is perhaps the most baffling component of Ascend to Zero<\/em>. You start at level 1, like most games, but ascend (heh) to level 20 after defeating just a handful of enemies, then leap to level 70, then 140, then 220, then 330. It does not take long for your level to stretch well into the thousands. Functionally, these numbers aren\u2019t any different than a game with more, uh, modest scaling. But after years of playing games benchmarked by comparatively puny-seeming numbers, it\u2019s taken me some time to adjust to seeing such large figures splash across the screen. (Ascend to Zero<\/em> tells me I\u2019ll only beat the first biome after reaching level 20,000.)<\/p>\n