Cyberpunk themed top-down RPG, The Ascent, launched on PC and Xbox recently, with support for ray tracing and Nvidia DLSS. However, it seems that the Game Pass version does not support these two enhancement technologies, unlike the Steam version.
As pointed out by PC Gamer, DLSS and ray tracing seem to be working fine when the game is downloaded via Steam, but the Game Pass version does not even include options for them in the Settings menu. A Reddit thread also noted the absence of DLSS and ray tracing in the Game Pass version, with one of the replies linking to an infographic mentioning that the game will only support DLSS on Steam. Additionally, it also mentioned that ray tracing is only supported on Steam and Windows 10.
This left a number of commenters annoyed, as they had no idea that the Game Pass version would be any different from other versions. However, this is mostly just the case at launch, developer Neon Giant is probably working on getting ray tracing and DLSS updated to this version of the game.
However, PC Gamer further noted that DLSS files made available via TechPowerUp also did not help. “Unfortunately that is simply not how Game Pass games arrive on your PC. They're packaged up as almost individual entities, and while we could navigate through the folders, we were unable to add in the necessary files, and were simply told there wasn't enough space to drop them in as if the game itself were a drive.”
The Ascent was earlier supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox Series X|S in 2020, but was delayed to this year. While the developer did not mention a reason, we can assume that like many others, Neon Gian was also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In our hands-on of the game we said, "From the design of its open hub city to its combat, The Ascent pulled me into its world that feels like a healthy combination of Cloudpunk, The Fifth Element, and even Super Mario Bros. (the movie). I know what you're thinking, but that last comparison is absolutely a compliment."