Fallen Tear: The Ascension is an upcoming Metroidvania from CMD Studios and Winter Crew, which is now available on Steam’s Early Access!

Fallen Tear: The Ascension is a homegrown, Filipino-developed tale that unfolds as an epic adventure within a vast, magical world. In this journey, players confront dangerous beasts, defy gods, and overcome various challenges in pursuit of restoring balance to their realm, Raoah.

Fallen Tear: The Ascension Early Access Impressions

Meet Hira

You step into the role of Hira, a mysterious youth whose journey to become a Hunter takes a tragic turn when his village is destroyed. Rescued and brought to the Temple of Oras, a sanctuary steeped in ancient wisdom, Hira learns of his destiny: to restore balance to a world consumed by corruption. Yet beneath this grand mission lies a personal longing to reunite with his estranged family.

What sets Fallen Tear: The Ascension apart from many independent 2D Metroidvanias is its approach to storytelling. Instead of static images paired with narration, the game unfolds through fully animated cutscenes that seamlessly blend into the action. The result is a vibrant, cinematic experience where each biome bursts with atmosphere, artistry, and life.

In early access, we get to explore several of the game’s interconnected biomes. After a brief tutorial in the starting town, we were transported to our headquarters at the Temple of Oras. From there, the surrounding forests opened up for exploration, which is teeming with secrets, hidden paths, and rewards waiting to be uncovered.

A Promising Journey

Fallen Tear: The Ascension embraces the familiar mechanics of the Metroidvania genre while adding its own unique flair. Players can engage enemies with sword attacks, dodge, jump, and even time their strikes to counter. Difficulty settings meaningfully shape the experience: the default mode features tougher enemies, limited health restoration, and smarter AI for those seeking a challenge, while the easier mode allows players to focus more on exploration and story progression.

As with games of this type, a controller is the recommended way to play. While the keyboard remains serviceable, the controller enhances responsiveness and fluidity. The game also runs on Steam Deck, though, being in Early Access, occasional motion lag and minor jitters are present.

The onboarding is refreshingly straightforward. Fallen Tear wastes little time with lengthy introductions, quickly immersing players into its world. Early biomes serve as accessible training grounds, easing newcomers into the mechanics before ramping up difficulty to satisfy seasoned veterans.

Progression is tied to Ascension, where Hira unlocks core Metroidvania abilities such as wall climbing, dashing, and the ever-essential double jump. These skills are crucial for accessing new areas, and acquiring them requires earning trust points from the Temple.

Another standout mechanic is the introduction of Bonds, where allies who join Hira after completing side quests. Each Bond not only grants a trust point but also becomes a permanent presence in the Temple, offering support during the adventure. This system adds layers of strategy and serves as a driving force for both the narrative and gameplay loop, ensuring that exploration and relationship-building remain central to the experience.

The Bonds That Bind

Our four-hour journey through Fallen Tear: The Ascension’s early levels revealed a game brimming with potential. There are minor setbacks if you are defeated, such as losing a fraction of your Fallen Shards, the in-game currency, but depending on the difficulty setting, bosses can deliver significant challenges that demand strategy and persistence.

As a Hunter, you can pursue bounties by purchasing information from bounty boards using Fallen Shards. These encounters pit you against rare variants of standard monsters, rewarding you with Hunter Points that enhance your abilities. Defeating enemies also earns Fated Rewards, which can be used to upgrade passive skills, strengthening your resilience and enabling more powerful combos and aerial strikes. Combat feels fluid and rewarding, especially when paired with ascended abilities like dashing and double jumps.

Progression also introduces Bonds, allies who join Hira after completing side quests. You can bind up to three Bonds, each offering support in battle or granting access to previously unreachable areas. Building a high Bond meter unlocks the Fated Rush, a devastating team attack that unleashes all three Bonds simultaneously to deal massive damage across the battlefield.

Exploration is equally rewarding. Scouring biomes uncovers boosters that improve stats, materials for weapon upgrades, and items that deepen your affinity with Bonds. While Fated Shards can be used to enhance allies further, the currency is deliberately scarce, encouraging players to spend wisely.

Fallen Tear: The Ascension is now available on Early Access on Steam.