Ascend to Zero Key Art
Image: Flyway Games, Krafton

Ever since Vampire Survivors blew up, there's been a deluge of games about power-levelling against thousands of expendable enemies while building wacky item synergies. Ascend to ZERO (released today by small Korean studio Flyway Games) has some ideas of its own, though. Specifically, you've got only thirty seconds to save the universe, gaining thousands of levels in those precious seconds.

Specifically, you're a time-bending superheroine, looping through the apocalypse again and again until you're powerful enough to win. Initially, you've only got one simple weapon and thirty seconds to power-level as much as possible, but you have the ability to freeze time. When frozen, you can move around freely and collect all the experience and money dropped, but your weapons won't attack. Killing bigger enemies and bosses adds a few precious seconds to your clock, while dying takes a chunk out of the timer, so it's good to plan and look for enemies within your level range while time is paused.

Once the clock runs down, you lose all your levels but get to spend your (many) accrued resources to buy permanent or temporary upgrades for your next run. You can buy additional weapon and gear slots, higher starting stats, or longer starting time. Before long you'll be unlocking new character classes with their own special abilities and getting into full-on build-crafting shenanigans, all while making those numbers start higher and grow exponentially larger each run.

I've only scratched the surface of Ascend to Zero, but I feel there's a lot to like already. From the chunky 3D voxel art to a catchy high-energy soundtrack and combat with JUST enough depth and reaction (if you don't dash around boss attacks, you WILL die) to elevate it above its survivors-like peers. If you're starting to feel a bit burnt out on the subgenre or if numbers-go-up games are your catnip, this is one to check out.

Ascend to ZERO is out now on Steam for £10/$12 with a 20% launch discount running until July 23rd, plus a free demo. The game is also available as part of Microsoft's Game Pass subscription. Also worth mentioning that Flyway Games also has another game on the horizon that looks pretty slick; the cutely Halloween-ish Zelda-y adventure Waltz and Jam, so give that a peek too.