Ghostrunner 2 vs The Ascent

• The Cybervoid: An abstract, simulated space Jack must periodically enter. It challenges him with surreal puzzles that reward him with devastating new ultimate abilities.
  Digital Realm
• Climber Headquarters: The physical location where Jack can briefly rest between missions, converse with allies to gain lore insights, and reconfigure his loadout in safety.
  Safe Hub

• Co-Op Teammates: The game supports 4-player local couch co-op and online multiplayer, allowing friends to synergize their cyberware abilities to dominate the battlefield.
  Other Players
• The Cyberdeck: Your constant companion. With a press of a button, it hacks nearby doors, ATMs for money, and turrets to turn them against your enemies.
  Digital Hacking Tool

• Memory Shards: Crucial items scattered throughout the platforming challenges that directly increase the capacity of Jack's motherboard, allowing more chips to be installed.
• Hidden Sword Skins: Cosmetic unlocks placed in highly dangerous, off-the-beaten-path parkour sections, rewarding daring players with new visual flair.
• Lore Artifacts: Items left behind by the citizens of Dharma Tower and the old world, providing narrative context to the post-apocalyptic ruin humanity finds itself in.

• Cyberdeck Upgrades: Crucial modules hidden throughout the arcology. Finding them levels up your hacking device, granting access to high-tier loot chests and heavily encrypted doors.
• Orphan Skill Points: Physical skill points hidden in the environment independent of leveling up, rewarding players who explore every corner of the map.
• Datapads: Glowing lore terminals scattered across desks and corpses that provide deep background information on the alien species and mega-corporations of Veles.

• Cyberpunk
• Post-Apocalyptic
• Cyber Ninja
• Speedrunning
• Artificial Intelligence
• Dystopia
• Synthwave

• Cyberpunk
• Dystopia
• Megacorporations
• Twin-Stick Shooter
• Sci-Fi Action
• Arcology
• Rebellion

• High-Frequency Katana: Primary Melee
  Jack's signature weapon. A mono-molecular blade capable of slicing through heavily armored enemies in a single strike and deflecting incoming high-velocity projectiles.
• Shuriken: Energy Projectile
  A throwable energy weapon used to stun shielded enemies, electrocute robotic foes, and trigger distant environmental switches during high-speed parkour.
• Motorcycle Cannons: Vehicular Weapons
  Heavy, forward-facing machine guns mounted on Jack's motorcycle, used to clear barricades and destroy pursuing vehicles in the Wasteland.

• The Dominator: Assault Rifle
  A rapid-fire ballistic weapon perfect for shredding crowds of unarmored gang members and low-level mutants in the slums.
• EBR Enforcer: Energy Burst-Rifle
  A highly accurate energy weapon that melts through the heavily armored corporate security forces and robotic enemies encountered in the upper tiers.
• Guillotine: Heavy Melee Sword
  Introduced in the Cyber Heist DLC, this massive, brutal blade completely shifts the dynamic of the game into a close-quarters hack-and-slash experience.

• Sensory Boost: Jack relies purely on speed rather than physical armor. The Sensory Boost mechanic allows him to slow down time mid-air, effectively acting as his primary defensive maneuver to strafe around bullets.
• Smart Deflect Chip: A powerful motherboard modifier that actively bounces deflected projectiles directly back at the enemy who fired them, turning offense into defense.
• Ghostrunner Chassis: The advanced cybernetic body of Jack. Despite its technological marvel, it cannot withstand sustained damage, adhering strictly to the game's brutal one-hit-one-kill philosophy.

• Habber Dash Jacket: Standard, low-tier street clothing providing minimal physical defense but high mobility, worn by common workers in the Warrens.
• CorpSec Riot Gear: Heavy, bulky tactical armor looted from corporate security forces, providing massive physical and energy defense at the cost of evasion speed.
• Cyber Warrior Armor: A premium cosmetic/tactical set offering a striking, neon-infused Samurai aesthetic, providing excellent balanced defense for endgame content.

• Animated Sword & Hand Skins: Extensive cosmetic options for Jack's katana and cybernetic hands, ranging from glowing neon blades (Aqua, Molten) to traditional, dark steel finishes.
• Motorcycle Liveries: Various paint jobs and decals applied to Jack's bike, such as the Design 24A skin, allowing players to cruise the Wastelands in style.
• Traditional Cyber-Ninja Plating: The sleek, metallic aesthetic of Jack's base chassis, designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency and lethal stealth.

• Cybernetic Tattoos: Extensive character creation options allow players to cover their avatar in glowing neon circuitry and gang tattoos.
• Transmog System: A heavily requested feature added post-launch, allowing players to equip high-stat, ugly armor but change its visual appearance to any cool outfit they have previously looted.
• Animated Weapon Skins: Purchasable or unlocked weapon paints that feature moving digital patterns, making your firearms glow brightly in the dark industrial slums.

Progression relies on a redesigned motherboard system. As Jack collects Memory Shards throughout the levels, he expands his motherboard's capacity, allowing him to install specific modifier chips. These upgrades can drastically alter playstyles, such as reducing the stamina cost of the Sensory Boost, outlining enemies through walls, or reflecting projectiles directly back at attackers. Jack also commands a suite of active abilities, including Shurikens to stun enemies or hit distant switches, Shadow to leave a decoy and turn invisible, and Tempest to blast multiple foes backward with a kinetic shockwave.

The Ascent features a deep ARPG progression system. Players level up to earn Skill Points, which are invested into attributes like Tactical Sense, Weapon Handling, Aiming, and Evasion. The game's defining feature is its 'Cyberware' system. Players can install active augmentations (such as launching a barrage of homing missiles or summoning an explosive spider mech) and passive modules (like increasing maximum health or adding dodge-roll evasion). Additionally, the 'Cyberdeck' acts as a hacking tool that players must continually upgrade to slice open high-level corporate doors, ATMs, and hostile automated turrets.

The game features massive, linearly structured levels that seamlessly combine intricate platforming with wide combat arenas. The environments are split between the suffocating, cyberpunk-industrial confines of Dharma Tower and the sprawling, ruined Wastelands outside. The introduction of the motorcycle drastically increases the scale of certain levels, featuring wide-open highways, massive desert canyons, and decaying mega-structures that require players to drive at breakneck speeds while dodging environmental hazards.

Veles is designed vertically, separated into distinct 'Tiers' that represent the socio-economic status of its inhabitants. 'The Warrens' and 'Deepstink' are the lowest tiers, characterized by claustrophobic slums, raw sewage, and heavy industrial machinery. The mid-tiers feature bustling commercial hubs, neon-soaked nightclubs, and dense residential blocks. The absolute pinnacle, 'The Pinnacle', is where the corporate elite reside in clean, opulent, sunlit luxury. Exploring the map involves seamlessly riding massive elevators and traversing open urban battlegrounds filled with countless interactive NPCs, alien races, and destructible cover.

• The Inter-Tier Transit Train: Public Transport
  The immersive fast-travel network players use to move between the massive horizontal districts of the arcology.
• The Arcology Elevator: Vertical Transport
  Massive, city-sized freight elevators required to travel between the socio-economic Tiers of Veles, bridging the gap between the slums and the corporate luxury zones.

• Ferals: Mutated Humanoids
  Rabid, heavily mutated creatures that hunt in massive packs in the dark, industrial depths of 'Deepstink', requiring heavy crowd-control weapons to suppress.
• Mechanical Spiders: Robotics
  Corporate defense drones that scurry across the ceilings and floors, harassing the player with energy blasts and self-destruct mechanisms.

• Jack: Protagonist
  The ultimate cyber ninja. After saving Dharma Tower, he now acts as its lethal protector, struggling to forge his own identity beyond his violent programming.
• Kira: Support Tech
  A key member of the Climbers resistance. She rebuilds Jack's systems, monitors his vitals, and provides crucial intelligence during his missions.
• Mitra: Antagonist
  One of the highly advanced rogue Ghostrunners who formed a violent AI cult, serving as a primary, incredibly dangerous foil to Jack in combat.

• The Indent: Player Avatar
  An enslaved corporate worker who must utilize extreme violence and cybernetic enhancements to survive the collapse of their mega-corporate owners.
• Poone: Syndicate Boss
  The stressed, foul-mouthed leader of your home district who acts as your primary early-game quest giver, trying desperately to keep his turf from being overrun.
• Kira: Corporate Handler
  A highly capable, mysterious operative who takes an interest in your lethal efficiency, guiding you through the complex espionage of the upper tiers.

• Dharma Tower Ascend: Linear Combat / Platforming
  Slice through the neon-lit industrial sectors of the tower, utilizing new parkour mechanics to dismantle the rising AI cult's initial strongholds.
• Wasteland Expedition: Vehicular Combat
  Mount the Ghostrunner motorcycle and escape the tower, dodging apocalyptic hazards and engaging in high-speed combat across the sun-scorched desert.
• RogueRunner.exe: Endgame / Roguelite
  An intensely challenging, roguelite-inspired endgame mode where Jack must clear randomized arenas to test the player's pure mechanical mastery.

• Mutual Dependencies: Early Campaign
  Fight through rival turf in the deep slums to restart the district's primary water supply, establishing your value to the local crime boss.
• Data Miner: Corporate Espionage
  A massive mid-game raid on a high-tech corporate facility requiring heavy hacking, culminating in a brutal boss fight against a heavily armed mechanical spider.
• Unhandled Exception: Story Finale
  The climactic final campaign mission requiring players to defend a central hacking terminal against endless waves of the most elite corporate security forces in the game.

The Ascent features both single-player and up to 4-player cooperative multiplayer. Uniquely for a modern game, it fully supports 'couch co-op' (local multiplayer on a shared screen) as well as online co-op. Playing with a squad fundamentally changes the combat dynamic, allowing players to synergize their cyberware—such as one player acting as a heavy tank with energy shields while others use sniper rifles and hacking abilities to control the battlefield. Enemy health and spawns scale dynamically based on the player count.

Ghostrunner 2 launched on October 26, 2023, across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game was available in three distinct tiers: The Standard Edition ($39.99), the Deluxe Edition ($49.99) which included exclusive cosmetic sword and hand skins (like the Molten Blade and Ahriman's Katana), and the Brutal Edition ($69.99). The Brutal Edition included all Deluxe content, advanced 48-hour early access, an animated Aqua sword skin, and the game's Season Pass, which promised additional game modes and cosmetic packs.

The Ascent launched on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S (including Day One on Xbox Game Pass) on July 29, 2021, and later expanded to PS4 and PS5. The base game is sold standalone, but Curve Games also released the 'Cyber Edition' bundle, which packages the base game with the 'Cyber Heist' story DLC and several cosmetic/weapon packs, including the 'Cyber Warrior Pack' and the 'CyberSec Pack'. These premium packs offer unique Samurai-inspired armor sets, animated weapon skins, and tactical grenades.

Developer One More Level supported the game post-launch with a Season Pass and several DLC packs. Notable drops included the Ice Pack, Heat Pack, and Dragon Pack, which introduced highly stylized cosmetic sword skins, motorcycle liveries, and hand wraps. The game also received substantial free updates, most notably the 'RogueRunner.exe' mode, introducing roguelite elements to the gameplay, and a punishing 'Hardcore Mode' designed for the most dedicated speedrunners.

Neon Giant provided excellent post-launch support. The major expansion, 'Cyber Heist' (released August 2022), takes place immediately after the main campaign. It introduces new overworld locations, new main and side missions, and highly requested melee weapons like the Rock Crusher and Guillotine. Additionally, several cosmetic DLCs ('CyberSec Pack', 'Cyber Warrior Pack') were added, alongside free game updates that introduced a highly requested Transmogrification system (allowing players to change their armor's appearance without losing stats) and a New Game+ mode.

• Q: Is Ghostrunner 2 harder than the first game?
  A: Ghostrunner 2 maintains the brutal one-hit-kill philosophy but introduces more forgiving checkpoints, block/parry mechanics, and customizable abilities, making it slightly more accessible without losing its hardcore edge.
• Q: Do I need to play the first game?
  A: While Ghostrunner 2 includes a story recap, playing the first game provides excellent context for the fall of the Keymaster and the mechanics of Dharma Tower.
• Q: Does it support Ray Tracing?
  A: Yes, on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, the game supports advanced Ray Traced reflections and lighting, heavily enhancing the neon cyberpunk aesthetic.
• Q: Are there vehicles?
  A: Yes! A major new addition is Jack's motorcycle, introducing high-speed vehicular combat and massive, non-linear levels in the Wasteland.

• Q: Does The Ascent support local couch co-op?
  A: Yes! It is one of the few modern ARPGs to fully support up to 4-player local shared-screen co-op, as well as online multiplayer.
• Q: Is it a looter shooter like Destiny?
  A: No. While you do collect armor and weapons, it is a traditional ARPG. Weapons have fixed stats (which you can upgrade), meaning you aren't constantly grinding for randomized 'God Rolls'.
• Q: Is there a New Game Plus mode?
  A: Yes. A post-launch update added NG+, allowing you to restart the campaign with all your high-level gear and cyberware against significantly tougher enemies.
• Q: Do I have to play the DLC?
  A: The 'Cyber Heist' DLC is entirely optional but provides an extended endgame story, new locations, and highly requested melee weapons that change the combat dynamic.

Built on Unreal Engine, the game is a visual spectacle of gritty cyberpunk design. Dharma Tower is filled with reflective puddles, blinding neon advertisements, and complex industrial architecture, while the Wasteland introduces vast, sun-baked, apocalyptic ruins. The game heavily utilizes motion blur, high-speed particle effects, and visceral blood sprays to emphasize Jack's incredible momentum. Ray Tracing adds significant depth to the lighting and reflections, making the dystopian world feel grounded and incredibly sleek.

Despite being developed by an incredibly small indie team of 11 people at Neon Giant, The Ascent boasts 'AAA' visual fidelity. The game is played from a classic isometric perspective, but the camera seamlessly shifts and pans to showcase the breathtaking scale of the arcology. The environmental detail is staggering, with hundreds of physics objects, volumetric smoke, and neon signs reflecting in rain-slicked puddles. The implementation of Ray Traced reflections and shadows on PC is considered some of the best in the industry, making the grimy, futuristic city look hyper-realistic.

The soundscape is a fundamental pillar of the game's intense pacing. The soundtrack features heavy, adrenaline-pumping synthwave, darksynth, and electronic tracks composed by heavyweights like Daniel Deluxe, We Are Magonia, Gost, Dan Terminus, and Arek Reikowski. The sound effects match the brutality of the combat, with the metallic clash of katanas deflecting bullets and the roaring engine of the motorcycle providing constant auditory feedback that keeps players in a state of 'flow'.

The auditory experience is a standout feature, headlined by a pulsating, heavy synthwave soundtrack composed by Paweł Błaszczak (known for his work on Dying Light and The Witcher). The music dynamically shifts from brooding, atmospheric synthesizer hums during exploration to aggressive, high-tempo club beats during massive firefights. The weapon sound design is incredibly punchy, and the diverse alien languages spoken by the ambient crowds make the arcology feel like a true melting pot.

The UI is deeply immersive and stylized with cyberpunk minimalism. Key elements include the stamina bar (crucial for executing Sensory Boosts and parries), ability cooldown indicators, and a combo multiplier. When the game slows down during a mid-air dash or perfect parry, the UI reacts with sleek, neon-hued distortion effects. The Headquarters hub features a clean, diegetic interface for swapping motherboard chips and engaging in dialogue trees with the Climber NPCs.

The UI embraces the cyberpunk aesthetic with sleek, red-and-cyan holographic menus. In combat, the HUD displays a health bar, energy meter (for augmentations), and a tactical charge meter. One of the best UI features is the 'Waypoint' system; pressing a button projects a glowing digital line on the ground guiding the player to their next objective, seamlessly integrating navigation into the world without cluttering the screen with permanent mini-maps.

Recognizing the punishing difficulty of its one-hit-kill design, the developers included features to mitigate frustration. The most vital accessibility tool is the near-instantaneous respawn system, which eliminates loading screens between deaths. Players can also extensively remap controls, adjust UI elements, and utilize a slightly forgiving 'Sensory Boost' slowdown mechanic that assists players in tracking fast-moving projectiles before making a split-second decision.

The game offers standard accessibility settings including text scaling, subtitle backgrounds, and UI color adjustments. It also includes highly customizable aim-assist settings, which is incredibly helpful for players using gamepads in a fast-paced twin-stick shooter. Difficulty can be adjusted at any time, allowing players to scale back enemy damage if a particular boss fight proves too punishing.

• System requirements are verified against the official Steam storefront. Ghostrunner 2 utilizes Unreal Engine, leveraging intense particle effects, rapid rendering sequences, and detailed neon-lit environments, requiring high frame rates for its one-hit-kill gameplay.
• Laptop Performance Note: Because Ghostrunner 2 is fundamentally built around split-second reflexes and twitch-based gameplay, maintaining a rock-solid 60+ FPS on a laptop is paramount. Thermal throttling that leads to micro-stutters will directly result in immediate player death during intense platforming or combat sections.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A minimum GPU TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., RTX 3050 Mobile). For high settings and Ray Tracing features, a TGP of 115W+ (RTX 4060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The rapid asset streaming required when traversing environments at breakneck speeds stresses the CPU. A cooling pad is recommended to sustain high turbo boost clocks.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power profiles to 'Performance' to prevent the CPU from bottlenecking the GPU, ensuring inputs register perfectly during fast-paced dashes and deflections.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch is practically mandatory to reduce display latency to the absolute minimum, guaranteeing that parries and evasions connect exactly when you press the button.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports DLSS, FSR, and XeSS. Using upscaling is highly recommended when playing with Ray Tracing enabled to maintain the critical 60+ FPS threshold.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Ray Traced Reflections and Shadows drastically increase GPU overhead. Disabling them provides massive frame rate boosts on struggling hardware.
• Game Name: Ghostrunner 2

• System requirements are strictly verified against the official Steam store page. The Ascent utilizes Unreal Engine 4, featuring highly dense, destructible cyberpunk environments and impressive, hardware-intensive Ray Tracing capabilities for reflections and shadows.
• Laptop Performance Note: The extreme environmental density and massive amount of particle effects from explosions and lasers will heavily tax mobile hardware. Maintaining high frame rates is crucial for a twin-stick shooter, so managing thermals to prevent GPU downclocking is vital.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.
• Game Name: The Ascent

• Upscaling Tech: Supports DLSS, FSR, and XeSS. Using upscaling is highly recommended when playing with Ray Tracing enabled to maintain the critical 60+ FPS threshold.
• Key Settings Impact: Ray Traced Reflections and Shadows drastically increase GPU overhead. Disabling them provides massive frame rate boosts on struggling hardware.

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.

• G P U T G P: A minimum GPU TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., RTX 3050 Mobile). For high settings and Ray Tracing features, a TGP of 115W+ (RTX 4060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Cooling Thermals: The rapid asset streaming required when traversing environments at breakneck speeds stresses the CPU. A cooling pad is recommended to sustain high turbo boost clocks.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power profiles to 'Performance' to prevent the CPU from bottlenecking the GPU, ensuring inputs register perfectly during fast-paced dashes and deflections.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch is practically mandatory to reduce display latency to the absolute minimum, guaranteeing that parries and evasions connect exactly when you press the button.

• G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.