# The Ascent

5 Hacker News commenters recommended The Ascent and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People praise its detailed cyberpunk world and stunning look, though most recommenders haven't played it. Some also recommend the Rust Datalog engine called Ascent.

## Why people recommend it

- Detailed cyberpunk world (1 comments): "The Ascent is probaby the best detailed cyberpunk world right now (I haven't played it)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49175737))
- Stunning visuals (1 comments): "It looks absolutely stunning." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49167825))
- Faster than Soufflé for a program (1 comments): "I had worse performance with Soufflé than Ascent for my program" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45831775))
- Rust engine, WASM targeting (1 comments): "Recommend Ascent (Rust only, but supports targeting WASM)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45818985))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2.md): 50 recommend
- [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper.md): 40 recommend
- [Quake II](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2.md): 33 recommend
- [Red Dead Redemption 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-dead-redemption-2.md): 28 recommend
- [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto.md): 28 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Ascent", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ascent/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).