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Ascend from Dis playtest
by Evgenii Samarin
A comic-ink roguelike deckbuilder where noise is a resource. Scavenge loud and the horde answers in waves — or fight quiet and stay poor. Outplay enemies that run decks of their own: peek, steal, and sabotage their next move while an infection ticks toward turning you.
Anyone with a Steam account can join, and it's free.
- Access
- Instant
- On playtest since
- Aug 18, 2026
- Planned release
- Mar 1, 2027
- Developer
- Evgenii Samarin
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Players
- Single-player
- Languages
- English, Russian
How to join the Ascend from Dis playtest
- Open the game's Steam page with the Join playtest button. Sign in to Steam if it asks.
- Use the Ascend from Dis playtest signup there. You're in straight away, with nothing to pay.
- The playtest shows up in your Steam library, ready to install and play.
New to playtests? How Steam playtests work
How AI is used
This game uses generative AI tools to create some pre-rendered visual assets (character art, card art, UI/store artwork), which are then curated and edited before shipping. Gameplay systems, balance, and hand-authored writing are created by the developer. The game does not generate AI content live during play.
The developer's own words, from Steam.
About Ascend from Dis
The city of Dis was sealed years ago. The plague stayed in. So did you. Climb out of the quarantine zone one district at a time — through a horde that has stopped wandering and started listening.
EVERY LOUD PLAY RINGS THE DINNER BELL
Scrap is power: bombs, overcharges, upgrades. But every scavenge and every big swing raises the Noise meter — and at 4, 7, and 10 something new claws out of the dark. Fight quiet and bank the stealth bonus, or embrace the bell and build a deck that feeds on what answers it.
YOUR ENEMIES HAVE DECKS TOO
Combat is deck versus deck. Enemies queue their moves from real card decks — peek at what's coming, steal their best card, jam junk into their queue, or force a discard. They'll do it right back: stalkers read your loud plays, wardens stamp junk into YOUR deck.
THE INFECTION IS A CLOCK AND A FUEL TANK
Corrupted cards are the strongest in the game — and they cost infection. Ride the fever bands for power, spend it on plague skills, purge it at rest sites. Hit 100 and you Turn. The run ends.
OVERCHARGE — SPEND SCRAP, STAY SILENT
Any card with an overcharge line can be played hot for extra scrap: more damage, more draw, a clean burn with no infection. The quiet build's answer to the demolition build's bombs.
A CITY THAT REACTS
Systemic crises interrupt fights when your dials run hot — low HP, high noise, a fattening scrap purse all trigger mid-combat wagers with real teeth. Events are commitments, not vending machines: promises kept and broken follow you up the tower.
A STORY TOLD IN INK
Motion-comic chapters with full narration unlock as you climb: the horde that remembers your name, the Checkpoint that counts climbers, and what's really waiting on the surface. Every unlock is content — new cards and relics recovered issue by issue.
- 60+ hand-inked cards across four archetypes (Bruiser, Scavenger, Plague, Tactician)
- Enemy decks you can read, rob, and wreck
- Noise, Scrap, Infection, Deck Warfare — four economies, one climb
- Systemic crises and commitment events that react to how you play
- Comic story chapters + unlock track between runs
- Districts with run-warping conditions, elites, and a Checkpoint to beat
From the game's Steam page.
