The Ascent vs Gang of Frogs

• 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

• Servo-Fly Recon Drone: Buzzes ahead of the player squad, illuminating hidden loot containers and pinging concealed subterranean insect ambushes.
  Miniature Cybernetic Drone
• Bono's Delivery Tadpole: Periodically drops mini fly-broth rations during prolonged boss encounters to provide clutch squad healing.
  Amphibious Support Courier

• 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.

• Ancient Military Tech Cards: Looted from ancient ruin vaults and reward chests; expands Gunther's deckbuilding shop with potent tactical abilities.
• Glowing Golden Flies: Found buzzing in hidden alcoves and high canopies; grants instant gold currency and temporary overdrive buffs when caught with tongue.
• Imperial Gold Bullion Ingots: Plundered from locked imperial bank vaults and convoy wrecks; used to finance permanent crew upgrades.

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

• 18th-Century Cyberpunk
• Space Piracy
• Anthropomorphic Frogs
• Co-op PvE
• Deckbuilding Roguelite
• Looter Shooter

• 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.

• Blunder-Buster Plasma Cannon: Heavy Shotgun / Area-of-Effect
  An 18th-century antique brass blunderbuss modified to channel superheated plasma pellets, pulverizing insect swarms at close range.
• Flintlock Kinetic Pierce-Pistol: Precision Semi-Automatic Pistol
  A high-velocity sidearm firing armor-piercing kinetic rounds that can punch clean through hardened chitin shells.
• Fly-Swatter Rotary Blaster: Rapid-Fire Gatling Blaster
  A belt-fed rotary gun capable of sustained suppressive fire, ideal for defending extraction zones against flying pest swarms.
• Mortar Howitzer: Shoulder-Mounted Explosive Ordnance
  Lobs high-arc explosive payloads with delayed fuses, cratering enemy spawn hives and knocking back heavy armored brutes.
• Volt-Harpoon Crossbow: Energy Sniping Crossbow
  Fires electrified conductive bolts that link nearby enemies with lethal arcing current, priming them for tongue executions.

• 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.

• Reinforced Amphibious Corsair Cuirass: Kinetic Defense +35%, Acid Resistance +25%, Tongue Grapple Velocity +15%; rugged leather and brass armor worn by veteran frog raiders.
• Bio-Synthetic Hydro-Skin: Health Regeneration +20%, Leap Distance +30%; flexible synthetic amphibian skin layer preserving moisture in arid alien environments.
• Imperial Plundered Plate: Blast Damage Reduction +50%, Movement Speed -10%; heavy salvaged gilded chest armor looted from imperial palace guards.

• 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.

• Kabuki Demon Mask: Intricate painted theatre mask featuring fierce fangs and gold trim, worn by fearless outlaw frogs.
• Corsair Tricorne & Feather: Weathered 18th-century pirate hat adorned with exotic alien peacock plumage and a brass skull buckle.
• Brocade Royal Captain's Waistcoat: Embroidered silk velvet vest with gold braided trim, looted from an imperial governor's flagship.

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.

Progression in Gang of Frogs merges third-person shooter mechanics with deckbuilding rogue-lite meta-systems. In combat, frogs utilize an agile move set including high-vertical frog leaps, wall-climbing, and a multi-purpose tongue grapple that can pull in airborne insect pests, snatch distant health flies, or fling explosive barrels. After clearing combat sectors, players choose one of three distinct exit gateways: Bono's Menya Cart (restoring health and purchasing temporary stat broths), Gunther's Emporium (purchasing and drafting ancient military cards for their persistent deck), or a Weapon Chamber (unlocking new gun drops and weapon perks). Cards grant game-changing passive modifiers, such as bouncing plasma projectiles, venom-infused tongue strikes, and chain-lightning leap landings.

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 game features procedurally assembled, hand-crafted planetary sectors connected via the Leviathan's solar navigation chart. Notable biomes include the Spore Marshes of Fungalia (dense neon wetlands covered in colossal glowing toadstools and spring-loaded jumping mushrooms), the Sunken Clockwork Necropolis (an 18th-century baroque alien ruin filled with brass gears, hydraulic traps, and forgotten cyber-tombs), the Basalt Canyons of Tartarus (a jagged volcanic wasteland plagued by burrowing insectoid larvae), and the Imperial Star-Citadel (a gleaming fortress of the galactic elite laden with armored turrets, laser barriers, and high-value vault chambers).

• 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.

• The Leviathan: Astral Solar Galleon / Flagship Hub
  Captain Hank's massive spacefaring galleon fitted with glowing solar sails, serving as the central hub for mission selection, vendor shops, and crew management.
• Astral Solar Skiff: Planetary Insertion Landing Craft
  A swift, nimble sailing skiff deployed from the Leviathan's docks to ferry outlaw frog squads down to planetary surfaces.

• 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.

• Monstrous Chitin Broodmother: Giant Alien Arachnid
  Towering hive queen that spawns endless waves of skittering larvae and spits caustic acid pools.
• Bioluminescent Gold Fly: Rare Xenobiotic Insect
  Elusive, high-speed insect that awards massive gold coin payouts and bonus buff perks when eaten with a tongue strike.
• Spore-Horned Hopper: Amphibious Mutant Grazer
  Docile wild beast found in fungal marshes that bursts into cloud-cover spores when startled.
• Baron's Cyber-Hornet: Mechanized Aerial Stalker
  Stinger-equipped drone hunter sent by The Baron to pinpoint player positions during bounty raids.

• 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.

• Hank: Captain, Creator & Employer
  The mastermind behind the clone operation; a veteran frog visionary directing interstellar heists from his command bridge on the Leviathan.
• Gunther: Card Merchant & Antiquarian
  Eccentric shopkeeper at Gunther's Emporium who deciphers ancient military technology cards and sells deck enhancements.
• Bono: Menya Cart Chef
  Jovial amphibian chef serving steaming bowls of nutrient-rich fly ramen at inter-level rest stops to restore squad vitality.
• Rocco: Tattoo Artist & Bio-Modder
  Gruff parlor owner who inscripts permanent runic ink onto frog clones to unlock lasting metaphysical stat boosts.
• The Baron: Imperial Enforcer & Bounty Hunter
  Ruthless cybernetically modified mercenary hired by the galactic aristocracy to hunt down Hank's outlaw frog gang.

• 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.

• Raid on the Clockwork Vault: Heist and Extraction
  Infiltrate the imperial treasure vault, disable defense sentinels, and escape with ancient bullion before orbital security converges.
• Nest Extermination in the Spore Marshes: Swarm Eradication
  Traverse the treacherous fungal wetlands, plant seismic charges inside three primary insect hives, and detonate the brood chambers.
• Showdown with The Baron: Multi-Stage Boss Encounter
  Survive waves of elite bounty drones across shifting floating islands and defeat The Baron to secure the sector's jump gate.

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.

Features drop-in/drop-out cooperative PvE for 1 to 4 players with seamless peer-to-peer and dedicated server matchmaking. Players can run missions solo with dynamically scaled enemy density or squad up with friends to combine complementary deck synergies (such as tanky frontline brawlers paired with long-range marksman frogs). In co-op, downed teammates can be revived by surviving squad members reaching the inter-level vendor chambers, ensuring runs stay fast-paced and collaborative.

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.

Gang of Frogs launches initially in Steam Early Access at an introductory price of $24.99 USD ($29.99 regular retail price upon 1.0 release), granting full access to all procedural biomes, co-op multiplayer, and community playtests. A planned 'First Mate Supporter Edition' ($39.99 USD) includes the base game, exclusive 18th-century pirate captain cosmetics (Tricorne hats, golden eyepatch, and brocade pirate coats), the full digital synthwave-baroque soundtrack composed by Icelandic indie artists, and a digital concept art booklet showcasing early frog character designs.

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.

Aska Studios and Megabit have outlined an ambitious Early Access development roadmap driven by active community playtests. Planned content updates include new planetary biomes (such as floating gas-giant cloud cities and frozen imperial mining asteroids), the introduction of new specialized frog clone archetypes, additional vendor questlines aboard the Leviathan, community challenge gauntlets with weekly mutators, and continuous expansions to the military tech card pool.

• 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.

• Q: What is Gang of Frogs?
  A: Gang of Frogs is an upcoming 1-4 player co-op third-person looter-shooter with deckbuilding rogue-lite mechanics, developed by Aska Studios and published by Megabit.
• Q: What is the core gameplay loop?
  A: Players embark on planetary raids from their flagship, shoot and leap through hordes of alien bugs, grab loot, and choose inter-level paths (Bono's healing ramen, Gunther's card shop, or weapon vaults) to build dynamic synergy combos each run.
• Q: How does the deckbuilding mechanic work?
  A: Cards infused with ancient military technology grant passive and active combat modifiers, such as bouncing bullets, explosive tongue strikes, and shield bursts, allowing players to customize their builds as runs progress.
• Q: Can Gang of Frogs be played solo?
  A: Yes, Gang of Frogs fully supports solo play with dynamic enemy swarm scaling, as well as 1-4 player online cooperative multiplayer.
• Q: What platforms is Gang of Frogs releasing on?
  A: Gang of Frogs is releasing on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, with full Steam Deck optimization. Console releases are under consideration.

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.

Crafted in Unreal Engine, Gang of Frogs showcases a colorful, stylized comic-book aesthetic reminiscent of 90s Saturday morning cartoons crossed with high-fidelity modern lighting. Detailed cell-shaded character models, expressive amphibious facial animations, volumetric nebula skies, fluid ragdoll insect physics, and vibrant neon muzzle flashes make every skirmish visually lively and distinct.

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 soundscape is a captivating blend of sea-shanty melodies, baroque harpsichords, and pulsing modern electronic synth basslines that intensify dynamically during boss encounters. Combat audio packs visceral satisfaction: resonant metallic gun clacks, squelchy bug explosions, comical frog croaks, and distinct audio cues when spotting high-value gold flies or activating legendary card abilities. Full English voice acting enriches Captain Hank, vendor banter, and the quirky battle cries of cloned mercenary frogs.

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.

The game features a stylish, diagetic retro-cyberpunk HUD inspired by antique nautical brass instruments and green-phosphor radar screens. It displays dynamic reticles that expand based on weapon recoil, an intuitive radial deck-hand display showing currently drawn active combat cards, quick-ping navigational markers for squad coordination, and clear status trackers for squad health, tongue cooldowns, and collected gold coins.

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.

Aska Studios has integrated comprehensive accessibility options: full keyboard and mouse remapping alongside customizable gamepad layouts with adjustable stick deadzones, toggleable aim assist and tongue auto-targeting, scalable UI text and subtitles, multiple high-contrast colorblind modes (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia), an arachnophobia/insect-fear filter that softens bug silhouettes, and independent sliders for screenshake and motion blur.

• 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

• Built in Unreal Engine utilizing low-latency Epic Online Services for 4-player cooperative networking and AMD FSR 3 / Frame Generation SDKs. Early Access playtests recommend at least a quad-core processor and dedicated 6GB+ VRAM GPU for fluid squad firefights and particle-heavy insect swarms. A solid-state drive is recommended for procedural map streaming.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine's dynamic physics and multi-enemy bug swarms demand stable mobile GPU TGP (75W+) and sustained quad-core/hexa-core CPU clocks. Running the game on a ventilated surface or cooling pad prevents thermal throttling during intense boss encounters and extraction phases.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Ensure gaming laptops maintain at least 75W-100W GPU TGP to sustain high frame rates when rendering volumetric lighting and hundreds of ragdoll bug corpses.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Fast-paced third-person camera panning and physics calculations require efficient laptop cooling; elevated laptop stands help prevent clock throttling.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows Power Delivery to High Performance to ensure continuous multi-thread instruction rates during 4-player co-op swarm defense.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Enabling discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch reduces input latency, critical for responsive tongue grappling and reflexive leap-dodging.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports AMD FSR 3 with Frame Generation, Intel XeSS, and Unreal TSR temporal super-resolution.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Foliage Density, Post-Processing, and Effects Quality provide the largest boosts to average frame rates.
• Game Name: Gang of Frogs

• 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.

• Upscaling Tech: Supports AMD FSR 3 with Frame Generation, Intel XeSS, and Unreal TSR temporal super-resolution.
• Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Foliage Density, Post-Processing, and Effects Quality provide the largest boosts to average frame rates.

• 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.

• G P U T G P: Ensure gaming laptops maintain at least 75W-100W GPU TGP to sustain high frame rates when rendering volumetric lighting and hundreds of ragdoll bug corpses.
• Cooling Thermals: Fast-paced third-person camera panning and physics calculations require efficient laptop cooling; elevated laptop stands help prevent clock throttling.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows Power Delivery to High Performance to ensure continuous multi-thread instruction rates during 4-player co-op swarm defense.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Enabling discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch reduces input latency, critical for responsive tongue grappling and reflexive leap-dodging.