This game feels too much like a pre-installment/test game before King's Bounty to be a coincidence. Featuring turn based strategy with an rpg gameplay elements, the game has 3rd person view for the "rpg" side of things, where you roam around and a turn based strategy (move in hexagons) gameplay for skirmish instances when you encoutner creatures. The story itself is decent enough but nothing special (like in the D&D games; now those were one of a kind).

The graphics seems outdated though playable and the game itself is pretty unique and enjoyable. The gameplay music and sounds are not that great and above average at best. The game is slightly difficult and requires some thinking in the tactical strategy mode. The game does have some bugs though and may on occasion, crash.

So overall a 3.5 but a 3 seemed to little in my opinion...

Story: 7/10 (nothing special)

Gameplay: 8.5/10 (for being pretty unique)

Graphics: 7/10 (decent)

Music and sound: 6/10 (sub-par)

Replayability: 7/10

Challenge: 8/10

This is truly a great game. My only faults are that it is a little difficult in the beginning and the sound quality isn't that good, however the game play itself is a lot of fun with a great story.

This game starts out rather tough, constantly leaving the main hero feeling not too heroic. Thankfully it autosaves before battles. The hero tends to die in 2 hits, and be targeted first by the AI at the start of the game. Sadly i was not able to get beyond 2 hours into the game, there is a crash every time before a specific battle that blocks further progress. The gamersgate version doesn't seem to be compatible with the patch that i downloaded, it will not even install. Without a patchable and working version i have to give this fun game a low score, pity this was my first (and likely last) purchase from gamersgate.

Story: 7/10 (nothing special)

Gameplay: 8.5/10 (for being pretty unique)

Graphics: 7/10 (decent)

Music and sound: 6/10 (sub-par)

Replayability: 7/10

Challenge: 8/10

The game feels like a blend between FF Tactics and King's Bounty. I played both and didn't enjoy King's Bounty as I found it too difficult to get into. This one is easier to get into.

It does have some nagging bug still in the latest version and I wouldn't expect another patch.

I would check videos to see if it is your kind of game. I'm getting enjoyment out of it as I really like the genre, but I feel it is kind of a let-down. I hope Valkyrie (the expansion) is better.

I picked up Ascension to the Throne for pretty cheap, like 5 bucks, and it was very much worth it! First off, the bad: The Graphics were mediocre at best and atrocious at worst. The game tended to glitch and sometimes crash once in awhile, usually only in certain spots though so you could save and keep trying. The Good: The storyline was pretty good, a decent mixture of traditional/cheesy rpg-esque themes and some traditional things. The world was oddly thrown together but it was a good setting. The combat was simple, fast, and easy to learn. I understand why the have the enemies on the map so you can see them before battle, you really have to think about how to fight them to win AND mitigate any losses. The unit roster was goofy, but in a fun sort of way: I mean any game where you can have samurai, knights, bears, and gladiators in an army automatically gets some points in my book.

All in all, this game was a low-risk investment that ended up paying a high reward in the form of many hours of fun.

This game is a lot of fun for fans of the RPG and FPS genre, it has elements of both that combine into a good way to waste a few real-time days worth of game-play. There are a number of bugs that make some of the quests difficult or impossible to complete, but the overall game is still fun and fortunately none of those bugs prevent the overall game from being "completed". Because the storyline is pretty much "set", the replay value is limited, but it's worth picking up anyway if this is your type of game.

Ascension to the Throne is an RPG/turn-based strategy game, much like the "Heroes of Might & Magic" and "Kings Bounty" titles, with the latter ones in my opinion doing just about everything better.

But if you have already played and liked the HoMM and KB series this is an game worth checking out, assuming you can look past the rather crude looks and sounds of this one. The core game play is pretty fun and entertaining with the managing and battling with your army, although the AI can be pretty dumb at times. Apart from that the coders have done a pretty thorough job with this one as its pretty much bug-free, despite its apparently low production values.

The RPG side of things with the hero customization, quests and characters in the game can be a bit thin, especially as there is no voice-acting at all, making the game having very little depth. At times I felt like playing some MMORPG when it came to the quests and NPC´s. The game is also rather easy, after you get the hang of it. Just keep your main characters alive and have your army cap maxed out at all times and you pretty much have to deliberately try to lose a fight for it to happen.

It is also recommendable to have some experience from the game mechanics of this type of games as you get no tutorial or manual with this one.

The current default price is 20€, which might be a bit too much for an game like this. But if you see this on an sale its an title worth checking out, assuming you like this type of games.

I would also like to notify that the game has its sound volumes set to 0%, by default(for me at least). If you are not hearing any sounds apart from the ones during cut scenes be sure the check out the volumes under the "Options" section.

I must say that this game had a great potential, because it is an unique combination of RPG and Turn Based Strategy. However, the RPG content is very small (not many quests, NPCs, basic conversations) there is no manual, nor tutorial in the game and it is hard to get immersed in the game from the first minute. The graphics and sound effects are poor according to present standards. Yet, the battles are interesting and ths game can deliver a bit of fun, but once you finished the game you don't feel like coming back.

If you are looking for a serious TBS+RPG entertainment I highly recommend you Heroes of Might and Magic series and King's Bounty: The Legend and Armored Princess/Crossworlds. You will play those games again and again...

Love this type of games! Mix of third person rpg and turn-based combat. Good indie game all and all. The quality shows as an indie title but it's not that bad graphics and control vise. There is another Ascension to the Throne game too. Valkyrie, be sure to check that one out if you like this game.

This seems like a love it or hate it game, and I fall in the love it catagory. If you liked Kings Bounty, I think you'll like this game too. It's sort of the poor man's KB - combat is the same but the storyline isn't up to par.

WARNING: It's insanely tough at the beginning. I recommend you do the "get the ore" quest first as the sword helps big time. Keep your hero in the back initially and let the peasants do the work. If your hero dies, it's game over. If a peasant dies, you buy another peasant.

The graphic is not sharp and detailed but the overall storyline and composition was better than expected.

The difficulty is less than expected but the finding hidden treasure is not easy. There is no nudity but some female characters are barely cladded.

The battle system is quite similar with King's bounty. Based on your allocation and choice, you can beat the final boss without any series casualties.

If you addicted to King's Bounty, you may love this game.

Just finished playing this game and I honestly enjoyed it.

Though I was afraid that this maybe a long, boring and repetitive game, but it seemed balanced to an extent.

The body armour, type of units and maps gave this game some nice variety.

The gold and the level up system are easy to come by compared to other strategy/RPGs.

I say this game has a Gothic and King's Bounty feel to it.

It feels a little short, but the game is highly enjoyable.

Unlike King's Bounty, 1C company's other game, Ascension to the Throne was a game that I couldn't stop playing until I finshed it.

Initially, the game can be very hard, but once you understand how to position your army, and what units to focus on, it is pretty much an easy game.

A game with such a fantastic concept, done so terribly.

Graphicly, this would have been perfectly acceptable around 5 years ago, but not any more.

The audio is piercing and repetetive, not at all enjoyable.

The acgual battles are enjoyable, when you get to them.

My greatest complaint however is with how it controls the actual game, you are given no idea of what is going on, and even worse, if you ever manage to work out the story, you'll realize it is full of plotholes, mistakes and simply lazy choices.

I can't really reccomend this game at all.

This game could of been great.

I will start by saying this isn't a bad game but could be alot better. My first beef with the game is its copy protection.. Only 3 activations are allowed before the key becomes useless... I dont like this idea as i often change OS and PC's.

Second is Resolution there is no option to put the game into a 1920 x 1080 which i need for my 32 inch screen.

You have to force anti aliasing with you vid card can't see an option to set it anywhere in game.

No config file to play with or ability to mod the game as an average player.

Other then that the game is pretty much the same as Kings Bounty with slight diffrences.

The game isn't hard to play at all and would of been great if they had added a random battle generator to increase replayablity.

Still a fun game worth picking up on the cheap if you see it on special.

This game isnt bad, has cool units and requires some strategy, very difficult in the begining but once you get going gets a little easier. Not much of a replayability but a fun game nonetheless.

Ascension came highly recommended but ended up being a very average game. Simply getting off the ground is a punishing trial and error waste of time -- the game could have done well to include a bit more information up front.

A mix of RPG and turn based elements, neither aspect meshes well with each other as the storyline falls more or less flat on its face and the player can rely as heavily on luck as they can strategy. That isn't to say the game is a complete waste; once a player has a feel for the game's foibles it can be quite fun, albeit goofy.

Combined with small bugs (tab crashing, loss of sound during scenes randomly), players may wish to determine whether they have the patience to invest their time when there are any number of superior titles available, especially from 1C.

I read all of the previous Gamersgate reviews carefully, and they were uniformly very positive, so I felt like I was making a well-informed decision when I bought this game. I hoped that it would be a gem in the rough. Unfortunately, it's all rough and no gem. I can deal with a generic setting and bad writing if the gameplay is good, but in this case I found it lacking in almost every way. I seriously regret paying $20 for what feels like a high school coding project.

Impressive animations for it's time, fun gameplay, and a nice story kept me playing this game almost to the end. Certainly worth a few days of your time if the price is right. You'll spend most of your time in a 3rd person perspective running around from town to town collecting quests and recruiting new units. Once you start a battle, you go to a grid, turn-based combat system similar the Heroes of Might and Magic series. The beginning of the game is very tough, requiring you to really pick your battles. Don't give up! Some suggestions are to keep your hero in the top left of your army. Units move first based on their speed value and where they are placed in your army (top right gets the biggest bonus, lower left the smallest bonus). When you level, put points in health, then magic power, then eventually magic resistance. If given an option, always go with leadership (or whatever the stat is called that allows you to recruit more army), and armor. Good luck and enjoy!

I purchased this game one weekend while it was on sale for $5, and was pleasantly surprised. This surprising little gem is well worth the asking price (Even the regular asking price) for anyone who is fond of turn based hax-grid tactical battles. Similar in its combat to the Heroes of Might and Magic Series, Ascension to the Throne provides several hours of challenging Roleplaying/Turn Based Strategy. There are a couple of downsides, however. Combat is very heavily oriented to a "best defense is a good offense" mindset, and battles can be viscious bloodbaths for both sides. Your main hero (Whose death spells game over) is woefully weak in the beginning of the game, and eventually you find a formulae that allows you to sweep away most opposition. That being said, there is still a great game here, whith a plethora of units, a fairly nice amount of learnable spells, and enough regularly changing terrain to make any forray into this mythical land well worth the price of admission.

This game is a brilliant mix of RPG and Turn-based Strategy, the story is good, but its a shame that there arent more sideline quests then there are.

The strategy part of the game is like the strategy part of heroes of might and magic.

The RPG part is 3rd person view, with you walking the contry getting your quests from various NPC´s.

The graphic´s are not exacly top of the line but is not stick man graphic´s either

the game is "simple" its not hard to get startet and its not a game that needs hours of getting to know the controls.

i find the game worth playing, its a generaly good game

I love this game! It's a RPG/strategy all in 1. It has similarities with Heroes V, but in my opinion is a lot better. The controls are easy to learn so you don't need to go flipping through the manual every 5 minutes. :) The graphics could be better, but when you're having fun, it doesn't really matter. This game is definately worth the $5 I spent on it.

I bought the game in one of the Gamersgate sales. It cost $9.99 and it was one of the best buys that I made in the last months. It is a mix of RPG with turn-based strategy. The story, although pretty linear, it is very good and well written. The graphics are not top of the notch but very satisfactory. There are a few bugs but nothing that prevents you from playing the game to the end. The battles are very well balanced. The controls are simple. The worst thing in the game is that it is a little bit short, but other than this it was a great game.If you like turn-based games, this is the game for you even paying the regular price ($29.99) it is worth to buy.

This is quite good game but has no manual, so for your convenience I post here shortcut keys I found :)

General

-------

LMB click: Interaction with NPC or object (Move/Fight in Battle mode)

RMB hold: Free Look

Mouse wheel up: Zoom In Mouse wheel down: Zoom Out

Esc: Menu (Save/Load/Options/Exit)

Pause (toggle): Pause Game Print Screen: Screen Shot

Num 0 (hold): 3D Map

Num 7: Music volume down Num 9: Music volume up

Num 4: Effect volume down Num 6: Effect volume up

Num 1: Ambient volume down Num 3: Ambient volume up

Adventure mode

--------------

W: Move Forward S: Move Backward A: Move Left D: Move Right

Z: Zoom In Q: Zoom Out

M: Map U: Units I: Inventory & Status B: Magic Book

J: Journal & Quest Log

F5: Quick Save F8: Quick Load

Battle mode

-----------

N: Skip Turn E: Wait G (toggle): Show Grid

+CAMERA

W: Move Forward S: Move Backward A: Move Left D: Move Right

Space bar: Reset Position

## How to split a group of units ##

In the Units' window, you can split units by drag & drop them into empty slot by LMB with holding Shift key.

This game is good and enjoyable but not excellent. In a way it felt to me almost like a warm up effort for another of 1c's very enjoyable games, king's bounty: the legend. Ascension is a strategy game that just throws you into the midst of a world and expects you to figure it out. You can easily get yourself killed in the first five minutes by getting into the wrong fights or even by being too stupid in the opening dialog. The first section of the game when you are building your strength and discovering the world is immensely enjoyable. I think the lack of a decent tutorial or a manual is in some ways lamentable, but to me it also added to the fun of discovering the world for myself. Unfortunately, I found that about 1/3 to 1/2 way through the game, I broke the system and everything became immensely easy. At first, I saved before every combat because they were deadly things that could cripple or defeat my army every time. After the midpoint mentioned, I never needed to save again, because if a battle went badly it meant I lost a single man. The game has many strengths, such as a fun combat system and an interesting world, but also quite a few weaknesses, such as poor characterization and RPG elements (your character can only grow in 4 stats when he gains a level, and one of them is pretty worthless), some poorly documented quests, and a lack of balance in the combat system that causes combat to become too easy later in the game. Also, bonus stat gains are given based on how you act, and in my opinion the best stat gains are given for making your character act like an arrogant garbage pile. Apparently this makes people respect you and your leadership grows.

I just finished this game from beginning to end. Total playing time approximately 30 hours. It tells a story and is fairly linear so don't count on replayability. There is no manual, and no tutorial but the mechanics are fairly simple so this is not a large oversight. I got no sound in my game except for cutscenes which was an annoying feature/bug (not sure which).

Once you get past all that however, both the turn-based strategy and the RPG elements are top-notch. I found the game very enjoyable and had a great time playing it. The armies you control keep getting bigger and more exotic at such a rate that I never felt the battles getting repetitious or boring. Even at 30 hours I consider this a great software value.

Some tips on play might be in order. The beginning of the game is one of the hardest I have ever seen and the game gets progressively easier after that, though never too easy. When you start make sure you do the quest with the troll first since it is the easiest. Also, make sure you click on the army button (shield in lower right) and move all of your named (unique) heroes to the back row so they don't die instantly on the first round of the next battle. The rewards you get for all shrines, treasure chests, and quests you complete are based on your current level so don't be in a hurry to find all the loot first. Do any battles you can in an area first then scour the area for hidden treasures. Rings that add speed are essential for victory in the midgame and end-game. That should get your through the game without a hitch. Oh and save after every battle for at least the first few hours. The game is hard and I experienced a program crash approximately once every 5 hours of play.