Savant Ascent beats its way to PlayStation 4

Savant Ascent, D-Pad Studio's "beat-pumping, dodge-and-shoot action game," developer Jo-Remi Madsen announced on the PlayStation blog.

In the game, players take on the role of real-life electronic musician Savant as he is rendered on Savant's 5th album cover. Players are equipped with missiles to destroy robots and bosses as they adventure across the various stages where new abilities can be discovered. Tracks unlocked during gameplay act as upgrades and players can switch the background music to any unlocked track at any time with each changing the gameplay.

"Even though this was to be a game revolving around music, we didn't want a game resembling Guitar Hero or Rock Band, or any other synced beat tapper," Madsen wrote. "Rather, we wanted the music to blend with the game. Subtle elements were added, to let the game live through the music — like enemies dancing to the beat, menu elements shaking on bass drops — and let Savant seem like this would be the kind of music he'd listen to as he set out on a robot-demolishing rampage."

D-Pad and Savant plan to add new elements to the game such as new soundtracks, levels based around the designs of future albums, new modes, abilities and secrets. Savant Ascent was greenlit for distribution on Steam last October where it is currently available for $1.99 on Windows PC, Linux and Mac.