Your Library

The Library brings together every game you play with Ascendara: games downloaded through Ascendara, custom games you add yourself, games imported from other launchers, and, if you connect a store account, games you own on Steam, Epic Games, or GOG. Games appear in the Library while they're still downloading.

Library Tabs

The Library sidebar has these tabs. Drag them to change their order, or choose which ones show with Library pages (see Sidebar Actions).

All Games: Every installed game and your folders, plus owned games from connected store accounts. Owned games show a small store badge and open their store to play or install.
Hidden Folders: Folders you hid with Hide This Folder. This tab only appears once you hide a folder. Right-click a folder here and select Show in Library to bring it back.
Favorites: Games you marked with the heart icon. You can favorite games before you install them, give them a personal 1–5 star rating, and set a status (Playing, Completed, or Backlog). Favorite ratings are stored only on your computer and are never shared.
Cloud Games: Games saved to your Ascend cloud library that aren't installed on this PC. This tab appears when you're signed in to Ascend. Select Download & Restore (or Add & Restore for custom games) to install a game and recover its playtime.
Wishlist: Your Steam wishlist, once you connect your Steam store account. Filter to games that are On Ascendara and download them directly. With Ascend, Ascendara notifies you as soon as a game from your wishlist is added to the index. Without Ascend, you can hide this tab with Hide this page.
Play Later: Games you saved to play later from Search or a game page.
History: Games you deleted while keeping their data. Their playtime and stats are preserved, and are restored if you reinstall the game.
Retro: Your Ascendara Retro library of classic console games.

Add game: The main button at the top of the sidebar adds a game you already have on your computer (see Adding Games).
The arrow next to Add game opens more ways to add games:
- Import from other launchers: Bring in games from Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Ubisoft Connect, or Battle.net, either by scanning this PC or by connecting your store accounts. See Importing Games.
- New Folder: Create a folder to organize your games.
- Library pages: Show or hide sidebar tabs.
Library tools, near the bottom of the sidebar, groups the less frequent actions: Library Backups, Sync to Cloud for Ascend members, and Library Value.

Adding Games

Click Add game at the top of the Library sidebar.

Single game: Choose an executable, then enter the game's name, version, and whether it includes online play or DLC.
Scan folder: Choose a folder whose subfolders each contain a game. Ascendara finds the executables, lets you review the names, and adds the selected games. If a folder has several executables, choose the right one.

You can also drag and drop a game's .exe onto the Library. Adding a game never modifies its files.

Organizing Your Library

Folders: Create folders with New Folder and move games into them with Move to folder…. You can rename, hide, or remove folders. Removing a folder moves its games back to the main library. Hidden folders appear in their own tab.
Sorting and grouping: Sort by name or most played, put folders first or last, and group games by directory.
Multiselection: Select several games at once to remove them together.
Search: Press Ctrl+F in the Library to search your games.

Smart Collections

Smart Collections are automatic views built from data Ascendara already tracks: Continue Playing, Never Played, Played, Custom Games, Online, VR, and DLC. Open them from the command palette (Ctrl+K) with Open Smart Collections.

Duplicate Installs

If the same game is in your library more than once (for example, downloaded through Ascendara and imported from Steam), Ascendara asks whether to keep all entries or keep one and hide the others. Your game files stay on disk either way. You can review your choices later from the Library.

Playing Games

Open a game and select Play. Ascendara launches the game through the Game Handler, tracks your playtime, and updates Discord Rich Presence. By default, Ascendara hides its window while you play (Hide on Game Launch in Settings).

If a game has several executables, Ascendara asks which one to run.
If a game closes right after launching, Ascendara suggests running the executable directly from the game folder to check whether it works outside of Ascendara.
Online-Fix games require Steam to be running and signed in. Ascendara offers to start Steam.
VR games may need to be launched through SteamVR or the Meta Quest app. See VR Games.

After you've played a game for more than 3 hours, Ascendara reminds you to support its developers by buying it. You can turn this off with Developer Support Reminder in Settings.

The Game Page

Open a game from your Library to see its game information and manage it.

Executables

Select Change or Add Executable to open the executable manager. A game can have several executables (.exe, .bat, or .cmd), and the primary executable runs when you click Play. If Ascendara can't find the executable, look in subfolders such as bin, x64, x86, or Binaries.

Launch Options

Enter launch arguments that are passed to the game executable. On Linux, when a game runs through Proton, UMU-Launcher, or Wine, arguments in the form NAME=value are set as environment variables and %command% is ignored, so Steam-style launch options generally work.

Shortcuts

On Windows, create a desktop shortcut or add the game to the Start Menu. Shortcuts launch the game through the Game Handler, so playtime and Discord Rich Presence still work. Turn on Automatically Create Shortcuts in Settings to create a desktop shortcut when each download finishes.

Other Actions

Save Backups: Back up and restore saves. See Game Backups.
Verify Game Files: Check the installed files.
Open Game Directory
Edit Game Info and Edit Assets: Fix the Steam match or change artwork.
Edit Game Entry: Edit the game's raw data. Turn on Extra Game Options in Settings to show this option. Playtime, launch count, and rating status are protected; editing them can get your Ascend account hidden from the leaderboard.
Update: Shown when a newer version is available in the index.
Mods and Trainers: Nexus Mods and FLiNG trainers for supported games, with Ascend. Installed trainers can launch automatically with the game (Launch with Trainer).
Delete Game or Remove from Library: Deleting removes the game's files. Ascendara asks whether to keep the game's data in History.

On Linux, the game page also lets you set a UMU ID and reset the game's compatibility prefix. See Linux and macOS.

Game Profiles

Game Profiles keep a game's launch commands, automatic save backups, UMU ID, and custom save paths together in one place. Open them from the command palette (Ctrl+K) with Manage Game Profiles.

Achievements

The Achievement Watcher runs in the background and detects achievements unlocked in supported games. Achievements appear on the game page with their unlock dates, and Ascendara shows a notification when you unlock one. Add extra folders to watch in Settings → Achievement Watcher.

Profile and Levels

Your Profile shows your level, XP, total playtime, most played games, download history, and your PC's specs. You earn XP by playing games. Your profile is stored locally unless you sync it with Ascend. You can also keep private notes on your profile.

Library Value

Open Library tools in the Library sidebar and select Library Value to estimate the retail value of your library using the CheapShark API.