Astria Ascending

Astria Ascending primarily features two modes of play, which incorporate gameplay conventions and mechanics from the platformer and Japanese role-playing game genres. The player controls the on-screen character, a soldier named Ulan, from a 2D side-scrolling perspective. The player acquires quests through Ulan's dealings with non-player characters, and solves puzzles through her manipulation of environmental objects. The game world of Astria Ascending features over 20 dungeons, and five unique cities.

Players may approach or avoid enemies which are integrated into the open field; once Ulan touches an enemy, the screen transitions into a separate battle screen. Combat in Astria Ascending is turn-based, with players in full control of an active party of four combatants. During the player's turn, any party member may be swapped out with another from a selection of up to eight characters. Attack abilities are tied to different elemental attributes, which produces different results depending on a combatant character's individual strengths and weaknesses in relation to specific elements.

Astria Ascending was developed by French-Canadian video game developer Artisan Studios, with Dear Villagers as the publisher. Astria Ascending feature the contributions of several developers who had previously worked on the Final Fantasy series as well as Kobojo's 2015 mobile title Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey. Narrative Director Kazushige Nojima provided the world direction, plot, story, and wrote much of its dialogue. Hitoshi Sakimoto composed the score as its Music Director.

While Astria Ascending has no direct connection to Zodiac, both games are set in a world conceived by Nojima called Orcanon. Astria Ascending also adapts the art style and graphical assets of Zodiac, which were developed by CyDesignation.

Astria Ascending received mixed or average reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.