The elevator pitch for Aussie-made indie Ascending Inferno is one of the more bonkers ones out there, which makes it instantly appealing to gamers who feel like they may have already “seen it all”. Trust me, you haven’t.
“Experience rage-inducing precision platforming as a recently deceased soccer player damned to Inferno! Kick your sibling’s soul out of Hell for your chance at redemption!”, reads the Steam description, which somehow still manages to undersell this incredibly polished experience, that took its rightful place as part of this year’s PAX Aus Indie Showcase. It’s burned into my brain, and if not for the crowd of people forming behind me as I played, I would have happily (and ragingly) spent all day there.
Precision platforming on a 2.5D plane is tricky enough, but when you add a soccer ball into the mix, it becomes a whole new devilish task. Playing as Dani, you’ll need to run, jump and platform your way out of Hell, as you dribble, kick and header your dead brother Vincent’s ball-shaped soul along with you. It’s a wild premise, and while I didn’t have the time or inclination to deep-dive into the story in the intense PAX Aus environment, I did find myself completely drawn in by its handcrafted world of gorgeous pixel and voxel art, fluro purple giving the hellscape an almost post-apocalyptic cyberpunk edge.
“…the slice I checked out offers a tantalising gameplay loop that has my fingers itching for more.”
I was a little worried about how Ascending Inferno would handle, with its ball-juggling mechanics tied to precision platforming, but the team at Oppolyon Studios have done an incredible job at walking that fine line between frustration and satisfaction. The ball has a sort of magnetism to your feet as you move along, and when you jump it automatically jumps with you, allowing you to knock it to a higher ledge with your head. Small and large kicks help you to cross perilous gaps, but the understanding of when and how to use these is the difference between progression and plummeting levels below, forcing you to start over. It feels natural and fluid, and I was shown a slightly trickier move, allowing me to change the direction of my ball movement more swiftly.
Despite my frustrations when failing, something that’s obviously key for a ‘rage-inducing platformer’, it was never enough to make me want to stop playing. Quite the opposite. Dropping several levels in Ascending Inferno just made me all the more eager to make my ascent back up to where I’d made my error, and attempt to rectify it. Chatting with the development team on-site, that balance was a crucial one during their development cycle, and they noted that even since demoing the game at PAX Aus 2023, it’s come a long way. If you and your ball get separated, a handy Ball Cam shows you its position, which is another thoughtful touch to motivate you to retrieve it, while also a playful nod to sports-like presentation.
There was a board they’d set up with ‘fastest times’ written down, with one player that I saw managing to complete the demo stage in 2 and a half minutes. As my brother’s soccer-ball-shaped soul plummeted down several levels at the 15-minute mark, forcing me to reluctantly put down my controller, it just gave me more of an appetite to come back and fight another day. I imagine the speedrunning community will have a field day with this one; it’s just as fun (and rage-inducing) to watch others play as it is to play yourself.
There’s a lot of promising content to look forward to in Ascending Inferno that will be available when the game launches; nine challenging layers of a modernised Dante’s Inferno will make way for some unique mechanics based on Limbo, Lust, Gluttony and beyond. I’m curious to see what that entails and how it will impact the gameplay, as the slice I checked out offers a tantalising gameplay loop that has my fingers itching for more.
Excitingly, Ascending Inferno is out in just two weeks on October 28. You can check out the demo for yourself and give it a cheeky Wishlist on Steam right now.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
