Dice Temple: iOS Board Game Review - Ascension

Once upon a time I made a joke that so many others have made. And although I only vaguely remember this moment, I am sure this particular  cliche had something to do with English majors working at Starbucks. Many moons have passed since that fleeting quip, and now I find myself a college graduate. And having studied the admirable subjects of Political Science and English, working hard to develop skills of analysis and text that are vital to a liberal arts education, I find myself reaping just rewards…at Starbucks.

Now all in all working this minimum wage job is actually pretty enjoyable. My co-workers are fun and have great sense of humor. I get a 401K, and have access to other benefits. But at the end of the day a minimum wage job means one thing that not even free caffeine and a carefree work atmosphere can soothe: no money for board games. 

I know. I know. You’re thinking that this must be a farce. A sick joke. But let me assure you. You will not dispel this waking nightmare. Although it may pain you to hear this, its true, I must survive on collecting such amenities only during times of gift-giving (birthdays, Santa Day, Channukah, etc.). But recently, to curb my ever-growing thirst for tokens, custom dice, and the like, I’ve taken to trying out different board game apps on my iPhone.

One I’ve been particularly impressed with is Ascension: Chronicle Of The Godslayer. Designed by Magic The Gathering Pros Justin Gary, Rob Dougherty, and Brian Kibler, Ascension was originally a physical deck building game that adapts the ever so popular card drafting mechanic into a fast moving, quick thinking experience. Now adapted to iOS, this game deserves merit for two reasons. First, its an awesome game. And second, the app’s design is wonderfully intuitive and streamlined.

In Ascension, players use resources in their own identical base decks to acquire cards from nine available choices, three static cards (basic cards that are always available and provide more resources), and six rotating cards randomized from the shuffled play deck. The main objective of the game is to gain victory points, which are obtained in a variety of ways. As players build their decks, they develop and utilize combinations of cards they have acquired to accelerate their obtaining victory points. 

Much like many other deck building games, drawing cards, gaining static effects through ‘constructs’ (cards that continually stay in play under your control), and building resources to purchase available cards are important strategies throughout the game. But to Ascension’s merit, another mechanic is introduced; While some resource cards contribute to buying cards in the draft pool, some resources contribute to a combat number used to destroy monsters that appear in place of purchasable cards. Killing these monsters obviously endows rewards, which gives further dimension and strategy to the classic deck building model.

Ok. So now that you’ve waded through the dry technical bull, I will say one last thing in Ascensions favor, which is that its interface on iOS is great. Its easy to figure out without reading many of the rules (which is great ‘cause I just bought the app to kill time on my tens at work anyways). It doesn’t seem buggy, there are multiple AI difficulties and avatars to choose from, and there’s even cheesy epic fantasy music to pair with the theme of the game. (Which, lets be honest, doesn’t matter. Its a deck building game. But the effort is appreciated.)

So If you are like me. Short on extra cash, spoiled enough to have an iPhone, and can’t seem to satisfy your gaming fix with one night a week of rolling dice, then check out the Ascension iOS game. Besides the fact that you have to pay extra for in-game expansions (which I have not done and I still enjoy the game), and that Magic The Gathering is the greatest card game ever and everyone else should seriously just give up, this is a great buy, and one that I am glad I picked up.

Game Designers: Justin Gary, Rob Dougherty, and Brian Kibler

Game Publishers: Arclight, Asmodee, Stone Blade Entertainment

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Thanks for reading Dice Temple! More reviews at dicetemple.tumblr.com. Questions, concerns, and review inquiries (much appreciated!) can be sent to maloney_andrew_t(at)yahoo.com