5 Years Later, Cool Cyberpunk Shooter The Ascent Is Getting a Major Update — and It Sounds Like a Sequel Is in the Works

The Ascent is set for a surprise major update to coincide with the game’s fifth anniversary — and it sounds like a sequel is on the way.

Neon Giant’s twin-stick action RPG impressed players upon its 2021 release for its punchy action, highly detailed environments, and beautiful cyberpunk aesthetic. In IGN’s The Ascent review, we said, “The Ascent’s satisfying gun-tastic action-RPG gameplay loop mixes with its beautiful cyberpunk aesthetic to create an overall enjoyable experience. Neither its story nor its characters are all that memorable, and its enemy encounters can stumble toward the end, but its gunplay and ultra-violence in a neon-soaked world combine to craft a co-op-friendly game you don’t see every day.”

Now, publisher Krafton has announced that the upcoming update, due out in November 2026, will bring “a smoother more dependable experience for solo and co-op players, including improvements to co-op teleportation, the encounter system, save-game reliability and player-progression reliability.”

And then this interesting note:

“Final details will be shared closer to release alongside plans to expand The Ascent across new platforms, genres and future sequels. “

That to me sounds a lot like The Ascent 2 is in the works, and perhaps a Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Ascent is coming. But the mention of new genres is interesting, too. Could a full-blown first-person action RPG The Ascent game be a possibility? Given The Ascent has had over 12 million players, perhaps news of a sequel shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“We are incredibly proud of what we built with The Ascent and grateful to the millions of players who have made the journey to Veles,” said Arcade Berg, co-founder of Neon Giant. “We have also listened closely to feedback about where the experience can be stronger. With Krafton’s support, this update marks a new chapter for the game and for our ambitions for The Ascent as a franchise.”

Swedish studio Neon Giant is made up of only 20 developers, but it has a lot on its plate. Not only is it working on this The Ascent update as well as whatever’s next for the franchise, but it’s developing the promising No Law, which looks a bit like Cyberpunk 2077. I recently interviewed the team about how it’s developing No Law, which has a number of really exciting features open world fans will be keen to hear about.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.