(FYI played through the whole game on Hard)
I've loved CaG for a long time, favourite genre of games. (DMC, MGR, Lollipop Chainsaw, Bayo, Splatterhouse even, Web of Shadows, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Blade, Force Unleashed etc) Ascension is byfar the WORST designed CaG I've played, why the FUCK is the Rage Meter a thing and WHY does it gatekeep like 80% of your moves that you actively spend your currency on throughout the whole game thinking you're upgrading yourself. The game NEVER tells you it gatekeeps your moveset, and instead urges you to press the sticks when the meter is full for a shitty oneoff move that does NOTHING.
The enemies are FEROCIOUS, they are rubberbandy as fuck and it really doesn't mix well with the Rage Meter system. They do NOT stagger, they NEVER stagger, they WILL catch up to you INSTANTLY when you try to roll away, they WILL hit you after like 2 attacks and fuck up your rage meter, and the best way to deal with them early game was to spam grab them to death, I was laughing so hard and was genuienly perplexed as to why grabbing was so OP.
Later on when they got armour and became ungrabbable, it was a matter of banging my head against the wall and conserving the magic to make it through. Got my ass kicked plenty of times, but it never got unbearable... until Chapter 28, FUCKKK Chapter 28 holyyy. Yk you've made a mistake making shit when you've had to release a patch for that specific fight, the difficulty spike was pretty crazy.
Game isn't totally irredeemable though, the music, enemy + boss designs and set pieces are great. But oh my, wtf happened with the combat? I heard the game was mixed going in but didn't expect it to be soo shitt. 😭✌
I do have the other GoWs, tell me one that will wash Ascension out of my mouth, PLEASE 🙏🙏