HIGH LIFE
Game The Ascent
Developer Neon Giant
Publisher Curve Digital
Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Release Winter
Don’t look down. It’s the mantra of all those who fix their sights on a point high above their heads and vow to make it to the top. But in The Ascent, it’s impossible not to: the edges of the tower we are climbing are constantly, mercilessly kept in our peripheral vision. Out there, away from the gunfire and the tentacles, drones dart through tangles of cables thatched across a nearbottomless chasm. Disused balconies – more than we can count – line the sides of it, floors falling away below as far as the eye can see. And so the kick of a shotgun is always tempered with a lurch of the stomach.
So it is, too, over at Neon Giant, the Swedish indie studio responsible for this behemothic creation. Much of the world may be on pause right now, but as we sit down to speak with slightly frazzled co-founders Tor Frick and Arcade Berg, it’s clear the studio is currently working overtime. All 11 people at Neon Giant are pouring everything into finalising the details of the biggest announcement of their careers: their debut game will be an Xbox Series X launch title, leading the charge for the next generation of videogames. The length of their to-do list is, for now, helping them to not think too hard about just how far they’ve come. Here we are to force them to look: to ask, in no uncertain terms, how they got here. “Yeah,” Frick says, shaking his head in disbelief as he repeats our question to himself: “How did that happen?”
THE VETERANS AT NEON GIANT HAVE A COMBINED RECORD OF OVER 70 YEARS IN GAME DEVELOPMENT
Well, firstly, this is not your typical merry band of sci-fi enthusiasts out to try their hands at making a videogame for the first time. The veterans at Neon Giant have a combined record of 70 years in game development, and have worked on a prolific slate of triple-A titles, including , , , 2016’s , , , and no fewer than five of the most recent games. Frick and Berg are well known in the industry for their talents and expertise, having worked for many years at both Epic Games Poland (now People Can Fly) and MachineGames. Frick is the artist responsible for designing many of the most iconic virtual guns you’ve ever shot; Berg, the technical mind behind the combat arenas you’ve fired them in.
