Underappreciated for sure. 2013 was already a decent year for PS3 exclusives and Ascension was one of the highlights among them. I think Ascension's lacklustre reception has more to do with the fact that it was following up what is still probably the best western pass at an action game, and relatively soon after it came out (~3 years), rather than any particularly egregious shortcomings of its own.

One common criticism was that it was 'safe' or 'more of the same,' which was never something I agreed with. For one thing, it made the pretty bold and controversial decision to eschew the action game convention of unlocking alternate weapons as you progress through the game, instead giving you elemental modifications for the Blades, while incentivising spatial awareness via both temporary but powerful weapon pickups that drop from enemies and a mechanic that rewards avoiding damage by giving you access to more powerful moves.

None of this is new to the genre as a whole, and the damage avoidance mechanic could occasionally feel restrictive in the more difficult bits. But within the context of the GOW series, these things made for some nice mechanical shake-ups which also helped to reinforce why the Blades are such a big deal throughout the series' narrative.

Narrative is another thing for which Ascension probably deserves more credit. Despite the 2018 game being so highly praised for showing a more mellowed out Kratos, that had already been done (and I would argue more effectively) in every game that preceded it. Ascension in particular placed enough of an emphasis on this that I recall it being part of the pre-release marketing, and I think it delivered on it pretty well. Orkos is probably the closest we've seen to Kratos having a conventional friendship with somebody, Kratos' wife Lysandra is finally given a name to make his grief more personal, Kratos reacts to a god impersonating Lysandra with hapless confusion rather than anger(!), and the occasional visions of Kratos without his ashen skin also help to visually humanise him in a way not seen since the original game.

Finally, the multiplayer was absolutely ace. Not only was it incredibly unique in terms of gameplay (the closest thing to it is probably Anarchy Reigns), but it also regularly pumped out extra modes, weapons, maps and other content all for free, with little references to Greek mythology popular and obscure littered all over the place. It had some balance issues (I spit on the name of P*seidon), but they were more than worth putting up with for a gameplay experience that you couldn't get anywhere else, neither at the time nor now. I'm inclined to believe Santa Monica have my back on this one given how many mechanics they lifted straight out of Ascension's multiplayer and put into 2018 (pause combos, elemental status effects, special abilities on a cooldown, stat-based armour customisation, etc.), albeit being a lot more sensibly implemented here than there.

Ironically, despite getting shit for its alleged derivative-ness around the time of its release, games like Ascension are pretty far and few between in the current gaming landscape. I doubt it'll happen any time soon, but I think it'd be really refreshing to see Santa Monica come out with something more like this than continue along the franchise's current trajectory. In the past 8 years, I think it's fair to say we've seen a lot more releases big and small which more closely resemble 2018's style of gameplay, tone, visual design and narrative structure than those of Ascension.

Give me back over the top spectacle that makes my console struggle to breathe, unashamedly videogamey violence and T.C. Carson pls.