Source: KRAFTON

On the 30th, KRAFTON's creative studio, Neon Giant, celebrated the 5th anniversary of its cyberpunk action-shooter RPG 'The ASCENT' by reviewing its achievements and announcing plans for future expansion.

'The ASCENT' is set in a cyberpunk city thrown into chaos following the collapse of the mega-corporation 'The ASCENT Group.' Players take on the role of a contract worker indentured to the corporation, tasked with uncovering the truth behind its downfall. Players can explore the vast city, complete missions, and develop their own unique character using loot. The entire experience supports up to four-player co-op.

Immediately after its release on PC and Xbox in July 2021, the game became the most-played PC game on Xbox Game Pass and proved its quality by earning nominations at major award ceremonies, including the D.I.C.E. Awards and the Golden Joystick Awards. Following the launch of the PlayStation version in March 2022 and the release of the 'Cyber Heist' DLC in August, the game surpassed 12 million cumulative players over five years. Since March of this year, KRAFTON has taken over direct publishing duties to continue supporting the title.

In its 5th-anniversary announcement, Neon Giant declared that 'The ASCENT' is an ongoing journey. With KRAFTON's support, the studio is refining its debut title, with the first milestone being a large-scale quality-of-life patch incorporating player feedback, scheduled for release in November across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Arcade Berg, co-founder of Neon Giant, stated, "With KRAFTON's support, we are preparing plans to elevate 'The ASCENT' into a franchise IP," adding, "Before we begin the full-scale expansion of the IP, we will focus all our efforts on polishing the game's quality."

Meanwhile, images and detailed information regarding the major achievements of the past five years and the future roadmap can be found on the official website, social channels, Steam page, and official Discord channel for 'The ASCENT'.