Ascension (AKA Volitant Assault) is a cancelled community-based online FPS that was in development around 2006 – 2007 by RenWerX, a team previously known for a few popular Tribes mods. By looking at footage and screenshots available it seems the game would have indeed been inspired by Tribes, with huge maps, jetpacks and vehicles in team VS team online matches.
Essentially RenWerx conceived an open, crowd-developer online multiplayer FPS, to create a better Tribes experience for hardcore players. As we can read in their old website:
“Renwerx has revealed that the final release title for its upcoming game will be ‘Ascension’, replacing the previous working title ‘Volitant Assault’. The name Ascension alludes to the freedom of movement afforded by the universal jetpack featured in the game, and also indicates a tangible evolution from past games of the genre.
Ascension is being described as an online ‘FPS+Z’ (First Person Shooter with advanced character movement on the Z axis). FPS+Z games typically use jetpacks to propel players through the air and across extreme terrain in a variety of game-types such as CTF, Rabbit, and Siege. The Renwerx game combines exhilarating freedom of movement with team-oriented gameplay to immerse its players in fantastic new worlds without limits.
Renwerx Project Lead, Nick “Novanix” Daum explains, “Some folks have played games like this in the past, but the vast majority of online gamers are still out there slogging it for miles across boring terrain. These gamers are going to find a liberating new experience thanks to the FPS+Z gameplay in Ascension.”
As you can imagine in the early ‘00s it was not as easy to develop such a game and in the end Renwerx had to give up their dreams and hopes.
A playable beta was shared by fans, and you can download it from here.
Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!
Images:
Videos:
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Thanks for this post. I have never heard of this. Looks like the last good capture of their website was in January 2011 here >> https://web.archive.org/web/20110128090210/http://ascension-game.com/
Seems there was a closed beta before it was abandoned. This reminds me of another abandoned project called “Starsiege 2845” also built in the Torque Game Engine from GarageGames.
You can still directly download the Ascension tech video (like the third video above) from their archived website:
AVI format >> https://web.archive.org/web/20060614121412/http://vid.renwerx.com/mar06.avi
MOV format >> https://web.archive.org/web/20060614121312if_/http://vid.renwerx.com:80/mar06.mov
WMV format >> https://web.archive.org/web/20060614121344/http://vid.renwerx.com/mar06.wmv
You can still download the similar “Starsiege 2845 – Alpha Tech Release” here >> http://library.theexiled.pwnageservers.com/file.php?id=2914
Make sure to install the v1.1a patch so it will run properly on a modern machine >> http://library.theexiled.pwnageservers.com/file.php?id=2916
It’s multiplayer only, but you can host a server and explore the environments solo as well.
You can find the “Starsiege 2845 – ATR” PDF manual here >> http://legacy.the-junkyard.net/files-ss2845.php?action=listfiles&category=1
If you do try playing around with this, make sure to find the vehicle creation pad in the game. This is where you can try out different vehicles in the game.
I seem to recall the Ascension team releasing what they had made after they announced the project was canceled, but can’t find a download for it. Anyone happen to know of a working link?
You know, I noticed that as well after posting my comments. On their archived website there are two dead links for the file ascension.zip. Of course I can’t find that file anywhere. Archived page >> https://web.archive.org/web/20100324202020/http://www.ascension-game.com/index.php/mod/news/file/single/NewsID/41
Another FPS-Z title with similar mechanics to this is currently in closed beta – Midair: Community Edition.
Definitely worth checking out.
https://www.youtube.com/c/midaircommunityedition
I asked over @ Tribesnext.com if anyone still had the final build of Ascension before it was cancelled (which the devs released for free back in 2010 as mentioned above). Lo & behold a nice member there had it and you can find it here: https://www.tribesnext.com/forum/discussion/comment/29959/#Comment_29959
Gave it a whirl in Windows 7 64 (as a hosted game) and seems to work just fine. I highly recommend once you set the graphics and sound settings in the game options menu to restart the game afterwards.