When comparing Ascendant vs Shank, the Slant community recommends Ascendant for most people. In the question“What are the best Beat 'em up games on Steam?” Ascendant is ranked 4th while Shank is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Ascendant is:
Through the use of "Blessings" the user can modify their attacks and make a custom build character that behaves as they want, for their fighting style.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Modify ones attacks
Through the use of "Blessings" the user can modify their attacks and make a custom build character that behaves as they want, for their fighting style.
Pro Old school difficult gameplay
This game is tough, much like arcade beat 'em ups that sucked the player in as well as their quarters. But this is all on purpose as the game has randomly generated levels, much like a roguelike and being like a roguelike, death will be frequent.
Pro It's got 2 player couch co-op
The co-op is pretty nice, and is a welcome addition. Couch co-op is pretty uncommon for PC games, but Shank really pulls it off.
Pro Surprisingly good story for a beat-em-up style game
The story in Shank is, surprisingly, pretty great. It's got a pretty large comedic aspect, and while it's not the core of the game by any means, it's definitely a welcome addition and will allow you to enjoy it even more.
Pro The action is over-the-top and just all around great
Shank gives you the ability to launch into ridiculous combos at any given time, blood spatters and death are all over the place in this game, comedically so. It fits with the story of the game, everything is fairly light-hearted and it doesn't take itself too seriously.
The look and feel of all the different ways you can attack and chain those attacks together is really satisfying. The bosses take a little getting used to, and the higher difficulties can be pretty challenging, if that's what you're in to. Combat is pretty much everything in this game, and it's very well done.
Cons
Con Not much of a story
The game tries to blend different mythologies together into one story containing many different gods. While this is not the worst story to try and tell, once the gameplay begins the story pretty much falls to the wayside.