Ascend to Zero lands on Xbox Game Pass as one of the best Vampire Survivors-likes in years

Ascend to Zero, developed by Flyway Games and published by Krafton, launched July 13 on Xbox Series X, Windows PC, and Game Pass — and it's already turning heads as one of the more inventive takes on the auto-battler roguelike formula in recent memory.

The core hook is a 30-second timer. Your character can freeze time at will, and resuming it deals damage to nearby enemies; killing certain foes adds seconds back to the clock. The goal is to stretch that half-minute as far as possible — ideally long enough to prevent an apocalypse triggered by interdimensional plant-monster-demon things. Combat is automatic: you pick a randomized weapon at the start of each run and it attacks for you, with ranged weapons keeping enemies at distance and melee options hitting harder up close. Some weapons are run-only, others become permanent inventory items you can swap on the fly. Layered on top are armor types, accessories, and gadgets that let you tune attack, defense, and health stats between runs. The currency system is where things get dense — multiple distinct currency types handle everything from buying gear and expanding inventory slots to unlocking new playable avatars discovered during runs.

Ascend to Zero wears its influences openly. The auto-attacking waves and escalating numbers pull straight from Vampire Survivors, while the cyberpunk aesthetic and stop-go tactical combat echo Supergiant's Transistor from 2014. The Hades DNA is there too — the roguelike loop, the narrative framing of repeated runs, the polish. Flyway Games is a smaller studio, but Krafton's publishing muscle gives the game solid visibility, and landing on Game Pass from day one means a large audience can try it with no extra cost.

Early impressions from critics suggest the layered systems reward patience, even if the volume of currencies can feel overwhelming at first. With Game Pass subscribers able to jump in immediately, word-of-mouth momentum should build quickly — and for anyone who burned out on Vampire Survivors clones that added nothing new, Ascend to Zero's time-manipulation twist gives it a genuine identity of its own.