Ascend by Alternative Shift is an interesting, minimalistic title that challenges players to fly their way around the screen while avoiding the ever-persistent threat from fairies that don't enjoy being blown around.

After spending a brief moment wrestling with the game's control scheme it became almost second nature to swipe and generate a small breeze to move around. An indicator provides you with the location of the next closest objective in your area, however as you collect more 'nodes' you'll have to contend with more and more fairies that are angered by the wind as it passes them by. As it is your 'seed' loses life over time and is only replenished by the nodes, however fairies can also whittle away your health and double-tapping the screen will allow you to attack them with a buffet of wind, buying you precious seconds to get to the next node. Unfortunately there's just not a lot of depth to the gameplay and while avoiding fairies and collecting nodes can be challenging, keeping ahead of the curve gives players no rewards outside of more enemies to deal with.

The visuals have a strange techno-organic feel to them that borders on being completely sci-fi, but the luscious greens, browns and even blues help to offset the sharp angles of the technological designs.

Ascend is a serene experience that quickly shifts pace in to something far more hectic and while the ability to quickly juke and jive around the screen like a leaf on the wind can be fun, it's unlikely to remain a hit for long.