One of my favourite parts of my working day is trawling the internet for new and interesting-looking games to get excited about. A quick scroll of social media, a little snoop around on Steam; for about an hour a day, I plumb the depths in search of gaming gems. Last week, I stumbled across a post on BlueSky announcing that a little Indie game called Ascent of the Last Colossus had just got a Steam page.
Ascent of the Last Colossus, the maiden game from Australian Indie studio Dobdob Collective, is a single-player “story-driven, exploration and action game focusing on expressive traversal and game-play choices” that is “inspired by immersive sims and Souls-likes”. You play as a being sent from beyond the stars to free the last living colossus, once worshipped, from being used to power a dying civilisation.
The game’s premise sounded right up my alley, but it was after looking at the handful of screenshots available on the Steam Page and seeing its visuals that I felt compelled to learn more. Thankfully, the game’s Creative Director, Daniel Ferguson, was kind enough to answer my questions, giving some more details on the game’s design and tone, as well as plans for its development and release.
Ascent of the Last Colossus Q&A
The premise of Ascent of the Last Colossus has a pretty serious tone, with the player tasked with “freeing” the last colossus from being used as a source of power for a crumbling civilisation. However, the player character bears a resemblance to one of Jim Henson’s Muppets. Can you give us an idea of the game’s tone?
This is definitely something I’ve heard a lot when people see the game. Apart from being a style I love working in, I feel it helps to emphasise core feelings, such as the immense scale of the world and the feeling of insignificance players will face when presented with what seems like such a huge undertaking.
The game isn’t meant to take itself too seriously on the surface, but I want the players to have a goal that feels important to keep working towards.
It also won’t be presented as something as silly as my previous game, Completely Stretchy, so it will be something in between that and a classic Souls-like in terms of its tone.
On the game’s Steam page, you’ve said that Ascent of the Last Colossus is inspired by Souls-like and Immersive Sim games, as well as being narratively driven. How much direction/handholding can players expect?
Players shouldn’t expect much hand-holding throughout the game! I want players to be free to experiment with how they approach the scenarios the game puts them in. In saying this, I still want to subconsciously guide players through level design, etc, so that they don’t end up completely lost and unsure of what to do. Overall, the goal is to encourage players to play in their own way while still making it feel accessible to someone who wants a golden path to follow along.
There won’t be any quest markers though >:)
Could you give us some more details on the game’s “expressive” combat? Will players be able to use different weapons?
At this stage, the combat is designed around the singular weapon. The weapon has three slots in it, and each slot will alter the way you play the game.
Players will be able to find items throughout the world that can be placed in these slots, changing the mechanics of the weapon and also the ways the player can traverse the world. For example, one slot changes your core movement ability, which could be a grapple that you can switch out for a blink-like teleport. This will also tie into how you approach sections of the game, as there is a mechanic I don’t want to spoil, but the way you kit out your weapon will be important to progress!
The game is still early in development, so things can change based on playtesting/feedback, but that is the core idea!
With a heavy focus on vertical traversal, progress to new areas is accessible once certain movement enhancements have been unlocked. Will players be able to get these in any order, or is Ascent of the Last Colossus more linear in its design?
As mentioned above, there is a core mechanic that I’d like to keep secret involving progression through the levels, but in a broad sense, the game will be made up of multiple open segments you can approach however you see fit, with the overall progression up the colossus being fairly linear.
Can you give us some examples of these movement enhancements and how you expect players to utilise them in combat?
Two examples that are currently implemented would be the grapple and the teleport.
The grapple works how you’d expect, letting you grab onto points and swing around the world fluidly. In combat, the grapple lets you close gaps between you and the opponent by either pulling them to you (If they are smaller than you) or pulling you to them (if they are bigger than you). This can be used in conjunction with the environment to avoid even using your sword at all if you play it smart!
The teleport acts similarly to the blink in Dishonoured, moving you to a spot almost instantly. In combat, this can get you out of sight quickly and make for a quieter approach. Similarly to the grapple, it can also be used directly against enemies to swap places with them. Jump off a cliff and just swap with the enemy!
I’m still prototyping and tinkering away with different mechanics both for combat and for movement, so hopefully we get a nice, diverse set of mechanics soon!
What are your plans for the development of Ascent of the Last Colossus? Will you be taking the game to Kickstarter, releasing it into Early Access?
At the moment, there are no plans for a Kickstarter, but it is something that we might consider based on people’s interest in the game. We also don’t plan on doing an early access release and would rather release the full game when it’s finished 🙂
It’s always exciting to discover a game early in its development, checking in every few months to see the progress and watch as an idea becomes real. It’s even more exciting to get insights from the creatives behind these games we play and love so much. I would like to thank David for taking the time to answer my questions, and I look forward to speaking with him and the Dobdob Collective team about Ascent of the Last Colossus again in the future!
Visit the Ascent of the Last Colossus Steam page to add it to your wishlist.
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