Rose Engine's eerie platformer ascend features a silent girl trying desperately to make it to the top of a dark and deadly maze, where moving platforms, pits of spikes, and crushing traps await around every corner, and mysterious text dogs her steps. Use [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to move, and the [spacebar] to jump, while hitting any key will make you respawn back at the last brazier you lit when you die. You can respawn forever, essentially, though if you want to see the alternate ending, you'll need to make it to the top with more than one life, as evidenced by the bars in the bottom left corner. You get another life every time you find a new flower, but once a flower has been drained, it's gone forever, so don't get too cocky. The hardest part about ascend might be that the controls seem a little too responsive, so that every jump and movement has a little extra zip in it that can easily make you overshoot what you were aiming for if you don't account for it, and since when you fall, you can fall far depending on where you are, working your way back up can be frustrating... you can't just die and respawn back up, after all, if you want that alternate ending. You're also left to your own devices to figure out where to go other than, as the title implies, up. If you have the patience for the climb, however, and you love subtle storytelling and a great, uneasy atmosphere, ascend is still worth checking out.
well, i just caused the zombie apocalypse.
also, first one to finish the game and to comment!
woo-hoo!
Your comment has been edited to include spoiler tags... Please use them in the future when discussing certain events and endings in games. Thanks! - Ed.
Got to a point where I fell down into almost right back at the start.
And I quit there.
Not to brag, but I beat this game without a single death... on my first try.
Maybe I'm just experienced.
would LOVE a mute button.. or volume control
For a truly hardcore experience
Try (1) collecting all 10 roses and (2) made to the exit without dying
Proof of (1)
http://i.imgur.com/wurYwD6.png
Days taken: 2. Unfortunately, I cannot made it alive to the exit with the 10 of them
Unfortunately, no new reward for your hard work, other than the vanity
According to the developer website, there are only 2 endings, and getting the alternate ending only requires you to have more than one life intact
Something about the game that will make this challenge slightly easier
You won't get hurt by the guillotine if you only touch them by their sides, this provide you some leeway in the timing of getting pass them
Also
The girl becomes fully colored when she reached 6 lives
I do have some questions about the story
What is the backstory, what actually happened to the girl, is she dead and the event of the game is to get her to let go of the loss of her life (good ending) or failure to do so (bad ending)?
Hm.. for such a limited thing, i'd love to be able to have a bigger view of the map... half the time the game seems like a leap of faith.
Update