Ascend to Zero (2026) - ★★★½ I like the timestop because it has two functions. it works as a room select, pausing enemies while you figure out your route and speeding through rooms you don’t want to bother with. it’s also your special combat move you trigger repeatedly, keying in bonuses, etc.
the synergies and weapons are good (although on some level you’re going to be timestopped so much the weapons don’t matter that much). However, the loot is a chore. You can’t sort by item type so your swords and spears get mixed together, making it hard to organize even after you buy out all the item storage and respec options. Figuring out what to keep and what to recycle after a run is like 10 min worth of work for a 30min run.
There’s also some other minor weirdness with polish and the controller scheme. Some things like upgrading your gadget don’t seem to recognize your button presses until they’re made multiple times. Sometimes RT is used to increase a substat, sometimes it’s left stick.
Overall, it has flavor. That counts. I just need to really be in the mood to juggle inventory screens to pick it up.