The Ascent has a first person mode thanks to a bug

The ascent
(Image credit: Neon Giant)

The Ascent has a peculiar bug where a player has found themselves stuck playing in a first-person perspective.

Just below, you can see a gameplay clip that a player posted to the official subreddit of the Xbox Series X over the past weekend. In the short snippet, a player finds themselves stuck playing The Ascent, an isometric top-down shooter, from the first-person perspective by accident, seemingly due to a bug.

The bug really shakes up The Ascent, as you can probably imagine. While the player is forced into the awkward first-person perspective, the camera is actually positioned within their character's head, meaning that when they move, you can just about see the front of their face clipping through the camera itself, as their eyes and teeth come into focus.

That being said, as many users point out in the comments section underneath the original post, it really doesn't look that bad. Sure, the camera jolts about a fair bit as the player character lumbers around, but the gameplay of The Ascent still functions even with this bug. 

It's also quite curious to note that The Ascent doesn't have a skybox. As a game played from the top-down perspective, it's pretty obvious why The Ascent wouldn't have a skybox when it's not something the player will ever see (under normal circumstances, at least), but it's still interesting nonetheless to see The Ascent's non-existent sky.

For those unfamiliar, The Ascent is out right now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, and it's available through Xbox Game Pass on every system (although according to one technical test, you're probably better off getting it on the new-gen consoles than the Xbox One). For our complete, detailed analysis of the brand new Xbox console exclusive action game, you can head over to our full The Ascent review for more.

Alternatively, if you're wondering what else the Xbox has lined up over the coming months and years ahead, you can check out our upcoming Xbox Series X games guide for more.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.