Ascend to ZERO Adds Acclaimed Voice Actress

Flyaway Games has announced that celebrated Japanese voice actress Akari Kito is joining the cast of Ascend to ZERO, with a voice-over update now live as part of the game’s ongoing Steam Next Fest activities. Kito brings voiced dialogue to several characters in the game, including Chrono Child and Frost Moon Hacker, a drone-wielding warrior who made her debut during the Steam Next Fest demo earlier this week. Beyond those two, Kito also lends her voice to four additional characters, each representing an alternate future version of the protagonist raised in a different timeline. It is a casting choice that should turn heads, given Kito’s profile in the anime and games industry.

Ascend to ZERO is a time-action roguelike in which players use time freeze mechanics to tear through enemies and push back against a world-ending threat. The combat system lets you dodge, escape, and strike whilst time is stopped, making for dynamic and tactical moment-to-moment action. Between runs, players can grow their characters through levelling up and acquiring powerful equipment, and the game’s roster of diverse characters each come with their own unique skills and playstyles. The alternate-timeline framing of those characters also feeds into the game’s layered narrative atmosphere, which the new voice performances are clearly designed to deepen.

Alongside the voice-over update, Flyaway Games has also extended a special in-game event tied to Steam Next Fest. Players who download and play the demo can unlock an exclusive colour scheme that will carry over into the full game at launch. It is a neat incentive for anyone sitting on the fence about trying the demo, and the event window has now been stretched to give more players the chance to grab it.

The demo itself, which went live earlier this week, also includes what Flyaway Games is calling the Stage 2 Update. This introduces a brand new area set on a machine-ravaged, post-human Earth, bringing fresh monster attack patterns and stage gimmicks alongside it. For players who have already worked through the earlier demo content, there is now meaningfully more to explore before the full game arrives.

No final release date has been confirmed for Ascend to ZERO at the time of writing, but the game is currently available to wishlist on Steam. You can check out the latest trailer, which features Kito’s voice work, on the official Steam page, and download the free demo to try the game for yourself right now.