Ascendant Hearts

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

Ascendant Hearts is a Visual Novel released on PC in 2018, with a port to Nintendo Switch in 2020. This game’s story combines standard “isekai” and “harem” plots in a story where players take the viewpoint of a young man named Hayato who finds himself transported from our world into a world that seems to work by RPG-style mechanics, where a trip to an inn heals all wounds, everyone has an inventory they can disappear items into, and characters live their lives around the common plot contrivances of RPGs.

To this end, the girls you’ll meet who will gradually come to form your party (because of course Hayato will find himself in a party, and of course the other members will all be women) include Shiori, a typical anime-style tsundere and a mage whose mysterious backstory leads everyone to think she’s destined to be revealed as a traitor in a future plot twist, Aiko, a mage who believes her somewhat meek attitude makes her sure to be the one who gets permanently killed by said traitor, and Chise, a ranger-like warrior who has devoted herself to trying to contrive the circumstances that will lead to the story’s hero coming about to save the day.

This is the game’s big twist – not only does this world work by RPG rules, but everyone knows it does, and have become “fourth-wall” savvy. For example, Shiori hasn’t done anything to earn the ire of the village, but because she fits the tropes of someone who will backstab her party, everyone treats her like a vicious snake waiting to strike. It’s this sort of thing that makes for some interesting twists to the story.

Having said that, Ascendant Hearts’ story does have its downsides too. There’s a long section at the beginning of the story where Shiori frustratedly teaches Hayato how the rules of this universe work, and it’s pretty tedious getting through this. Plus, the constant animosity between Shiori and Aiko really gets old fast – Aiko continues to distrust Shiori because she thinks the mage will murder her, Shiori is exasperated at Aiko’s unfounded mistrust, and naturally you’re stuck in the middle of the pair’s frequent bickering.

Throughout the game you’ll have occasional choices, often having you deciding which of the girls to side with in an argument, with this ultimately leading to different endings each favoring one of the different girls (or none of the above).

Amidst all of this, you’ll have occasional fanservice scenes with static images of the game’s female characters in situations that have them in various states of undress or otherwise compromising poses. While this game stops just short of actual full-on nudity, there are still multiple scenes where these characters are nude with only the most sensitive parts hidden from view.

To the game’s credit, its static 2D anime-style artwork is quite good, with some nice character designs. This is backed by an instrumental soundtrack that fits the game’s tone and themes well, but is largely forgettable.

Before finishing up, I do feel I have to mention one frustrating issue this game has, and that is that it refuses to go along with Nintendo Switch’s typical use of A to confirm choices or continue to the next line of text – this game uses B for that instead, and A brings up a menu. This can be a bit frustrating, and it takes time to get used to.

For all its flaws, it’s hard not to like Ascendant Hearts. Its characters are archetypes and some of their conflicts with each other get tiring fast, but it’s hard not to like them all the same. Its story isn’t especially deep or moving, but it’s interesting enough to keep you invested. And yeah, if you’re the sort of player who doesn’t care for pandering fanservice objectifying female characters, this game won’t be for you. This isn’t a Visual Novel that was ever going to be a truly profound experience in the genre, but it’s an enjoyable one all the same.

tl;dr – Ascendant Hearts is a linear Visual Novel combining stock “isekai” and “harem” plot types in a story about a young man from our world finding himself transported to a world that runs on Role Playing Game tropes. It’s not especially deep, the intro gets a bit too much into the weeds, some of the character conflicts get old quickly, and there’s some female objectification fanservice content that won’t appeal to everyone. However, despite these flaws, the characters are likeable and this is overall an enjoyable story, even if it isn’t an especially impactful one.

Grade: B-

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