Recent reviews by Hoshin

Mechanics
* Globally fair. Will punish you if you mess up too much (even on regular difficulty). It deals out just the right amount of frustration so that you still put some effort progressively stepping up during your journey.
* The more you understand the combat system and unlock techniques and stances, the funnier it gets.
* Different playstyles are available : you can mix things up in a single playthough.
* Most pieces of armor propose quite unique perks, you're not just hunting for the next armor to equip bc it'll be flat out better than your current : it'll just be different
* light upgrade path for most of your gear
* there's a system of charms that basically give you a few perks, which can give you ever so slightly more customization options
* platforming is, imo, very reminiscent of the first Prince of Persia reboots (circa 2000) and work well overall and quite satisfying

Art / general feel / world design
* Exploration is not a slog, it's actually very enjoyable thanks to the world design and art direction. Even as a player mostly looking for action, I surprised myself exploring the map, wondering what was behind a hill, atop a light tower...
* Map is not saturated with POIs, which is a plus in my book, and a godsend compared to other franchises. You're guided in other ways, and it allows you to take in the scenery.
* Quite the cinematic experience overall, most cutscenes have a certain "je ne sais quoi". Even the regular camera orientation has been given thought.

Some cons
* Some event / locations just give you cosmetics, and I haven't found them to be better than most base ones (but that's my personal taste, I guess)
* Triggering cutscenes after a fight will depop all the enemies you downed : be careful if you're hurting for loot
* charms menu is a bit of a mess, and the descriptions aren't always clear
* some bits of platforming can be frustrating (mostly tied to the usage of the hook you'll get early on)
* for some, it might be a con : you can't skip cutscenes on your first playthrough (even if you died and had to start an event over that triggers a cutscene). It's fine in NG+ though.
* gathering resources to upgrade everything can be a bit of a chore at times, but I never found myself grinding for it either

Despite some crashes and bugs here and there, The Ascent manages to be very entertaining for people that want a nice RPG set in a distant future (took me 20-ish hours to complete the main story w/o ever rushing it).

Progression is okay (I experienced some difficulty spikes but I think my "glass cannon" build probably did not help) and even if you sometimes can find yourself in a dicey situation, death is not that punitive.

It proposes a story that is probably a bit overdone but that doesn't try to sell it to you too much either and satisfying gameplay when it comes to shooting at stuff =) Voice acting, when present, is nice.

In broad terms of "aesthetics" It mixes different influences from the likes of Blade Runner, Akira and Ghost in the Shell (to name the probably most prominent) and the graphical universe is served by a very decent soundtrack.
I don't get why we have a character creation screen, since it rapidly disappears under some kind of armor but hey, that's not that bad ;)

Pros:
* Didn't see time pass (a good sign ;)
* Gunplay feel is very nice (each weapon is a bit different from the others)
* Graphics, ambience, sound
* Combat is dynamic enough to not get too old too quick

Cons:
* Finicky multiplayer (still, do be careful and use a dedicated save) and achievements system
* Menus / UI deserves some much needed love. e.g: stats and how they work could probably be explained better.
* Still can crash (UE4 crashes, I guess because of the graphics settings, bringing them a smidge lower than what is either recomended or defaults helper)
* Last time I checked, camera movement was 100% automated, and I'm not sure I like that as depending on where you are and where the player is standing, you can have plenty line of sight or the enemies are basically already stomping your toes.

Definitely not the same as Enemy unknown / x-com 2 yet very familiar in the mechanics and, most obviously, the lore and the way the game has to punish small mistakes in an overkill manner at times ;) This is still a turn-based tactical game at its core, just with tuned mechanics, and you get to play non-humans and inflict on others what they put you through on the 2 previous installments.
I've played 10 hours-ish at the moment and want more, so I guess that for the price it is good value enough for me (got it for 10 bucks), but it looks like the replay value I can see from already restarting the game once, and the available difficulty options will probably make it worth its original retail price

Played twice and will probably leave it at that. I grabbed the 2 previous ones and enjoyed them quite a lot (and finished them, even going achievement hunting for a while). I pre-ordered this one without seconds thoughts ... looks like I should've.
I played it solo, which probably influences my judgement, but would honestly not want to drag a friend into this

Pros :
* Nice art overall, all the places are well crafted, the "neo 80's" vibe is really nice
* Gunplay is very familiar and satisfying, action bits are okay
* Solo is okay-ish, although the AI makes it clear that you'd be better off playing with a friend as it forces you in open gunfight most of the time
* The weapons upgrade system, although a bit cumbersome (maybe a tad to RPG-esque for this kind of game?) is a nice touch

Cons :
* Not enough value for the money it asks for .... might be ok for 10-15 bucks?
* The story (or lack of it as far as I've seen) doesn't create any sense of urgency or tension, it's pretty bland imo. It doesn't entice me to play more to see what happens next
* The ammo type shenanigans (use the right ammo for the right enemies) are nice on paper but I feel their implementation is flawed (i don't want to be looking at my enemies healthbars all the time and have to swap weapons so often), that takes a bit away from the enjoyment gunfights should procure
* Enemy respawns are more of a chore than anything else I don't want to clean the same place 5 times in a row just because I wandered away in a nearby building at some point. This reminds me of the artificial difficulty you can find in other games where the only thing that changes is the amount of enemies and their hitpoints ... at some point it just becomes boring
* I'm not sold on the fact that you need to gather coins to unlock weapon upgrades, I'd have preferred a simpler way to do this (like being able to loot the upgrade) as this has the tendency to transform this game in a "looter shooter" where you check every nook and cranny to get coins at a certain point and spend most of you time looking down at you shoes rather than exploring the maps

I've gone into that game having some doubts (with the game being targeted to coop and all) but still hoping for the best putting a few hours in before trying to convince some of my friends to tag along ... but it never got to that point.

I pretty much stopped playing when I realized that I'd rather be playing New Order or New Colossus than this installment :-/