The Ascension Game: Volume 1

The Ascension Game #1

by Ace Arriande

Pizza, coffee, and a library full of unplayed games. That's the plan, or at least it was supposed to be. Instead, an average gamer finds himself seemingly transported into the world of his favorite game. While some might appreciate that, it's quickly apparent that he isn't in some sort of virtual reality experiment, all of his downloaded mods are active, and the world is likely set to its highest difficulty with permadeath enabled.

The good news is that one of the mods enabled has turned all of his favorite NPCs into women while removing the marriage limit of only having one partner. The bad news is that his mastery of the game has limited use when he discovers new elements he never encountered in the game nor any of its mods. And the more he progresses, the more he realizes something else is going on behind the curtains, but he has to focus on survival and keeping his new companions safe before he can uncover the secrets of the world he has been brought to.

Note from the The Ascension Game is a lightweight LitRPG that focuses more on build variety and horizontal progression rather than strictly numbers going up, though options are limited at first. The system draws inspiration for its mechanics from a variety of RPGs and sim games. Romance is included as well as unconventional relationships.

Genres: Adventure

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2022

Reviews

[Yamini · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book reminds me of the concept of the Jumanji movie where you basically enter a game in real. The details of the path to move forward, activity and characters in the Video game have been explained, making it easier for the reader not to be lost in the vast array of tasks waiting for the lead.

Filled with a few funny moments, a lot of action-packed sites and a cute pet, most of the book was a great read. I did not however like the overindulgence of sexual descriptions in the book making it too smutty for my preference. A little disclaimer around it will help attract the right audience. Another important part is that it ends on a cliffhanger, so you will have to wait for the other parts to get full closure.

Genre: #smutty #action #adventure
Rating: 2.5/5 ⭐️

Thankyou #storyorigin @audible for the Audio ARC

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall decent story

I found the setting and characters interesting enough to keep going, but it does have one issue that plagues the harem genre in spades, the harem is pretty much useless. I didn't care too much in the beginning since the story is self-aware about it, but near the end the women joke about how they'll just play with each other all day while the mc works hard and risks his life to get them in a position where they'll all be able to survive long-term, reminded me of that fact in an incredibly negative way, causing me to end the book with a bad taste in my mouth. I dislike useless harems and harems where they are not only useless, but also spend all their time playing with each other even when the mc is working hard are the absolute worst. I'm unsure if I'll get the next book when it comes out due to this issue. That being said, the characters and setting are interesting enough that there's still a chance of me continuing, especially since I'm curious about the mysteries around why the mc was transported to this new world and the implications that go along with that.

[Dp2k · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's Minecraft all the way, even with how blocks of dirt and stone are harvested and used. Killing and cooking a bird means shooting it with an arrow and then poof, it's a prepped bird over the fire and then poof, it's cooked and ready to eat. Everything is "poofed". There's a thing behind it all but I didn't get into it far enough to find out because I don't want to read about some virgin's Minecraft run. I am aware that it gets smutty, but that doesn't cover up the lameness.

[Kiriama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minecraft meets Dragon Quest

This was a light, adult version of both Minecraft and Dragon Quest combined. It's both funny and honestly, on par with something a lot of gamers would really do. Without spoilers, it was a great read (well audio listen in my case) Since it also has whisper sync the narration was affordable and loved the narrators'

[Danny Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book. There are a lot of VR based LitRPGs but this has the MC being integrated into a game that he has played and beaten a lot. I don’t think I have encounter that scenario before. The dialogue can be a little much building up to the romantic scenes. I just wanted them to stop talking and get on with things. The characters and interesting and there is a good story there.

[Paul Hefka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking good.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fun and entertaining. The story and characters were interesting and engaging. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. This book is definitely worth reading.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique tall tale.

This was a different twist on the isekai genre as the author worked to not use the same tropes as everyone else hut still ends up doing it but it was fun to read.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read couldn’t put it down!

Smooth Flow with great content highly recommended.
Looking forward to reading more by this Arthur and continuing this series. If you like adventure LITRPG with a touch of harem then you’ll enjoy this. And remember watch out for the slimes.

[James Goudreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decent

A little weird and preachy at time but a decent read none the less. While I like a good cultural reference as much as the next guy, you need to have some meat with those potatoes and this does get a bit into the weeds with the references.

[Darrin Carvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent premise on an isekai world with crafting powers, but a lot of the execution just makes me want to put this down and go read "Survival in Another World with My Mistress" again. The characters here feel much too flat.

[angel romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good

I never really got into terraria but this book made it seem real interesting. Outside a couple repeated dialogues this book was really well paced and written.

[Michael Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

I think this is a great start for the series. Hope the next volume has the same or more. Cool book.

[tester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written for children or people with the mental capacity of one. Probably fine if your ~18, but an adult wouldn't find this very entertaining.

[Richard Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rubbish story, full of smut, not my style of book.