A cloud-first Ascend, redesigned Settings, and every game you own in one library

Version 11.5.0 is about making Ascendara easier to find your way around. Ascend now puts your cloud tools first, Settings is split into clear categories, and you can bring in the games you already own on other stores without hunting through menus. The release also comes with a written case study comparing Ascendara with six other popular launchers.

Ascend, rebuilt around the cloud

Ascend's most useful features are its cloud ones, but they used to sit behind a long sidebar full of social tabs. Ascend now opens on an Overview that shows when your library was last synced, with Sync now and Restore buttons and quick access to every cloud tool. A compact navigation bar across the top replaces the sidebar, and your status, settings and plan details live in the profile menu.

Cloud save backups get the biggest upgrade. You can now restore or download a backup straight from Ascend, and backups are grouped by game with cover art, the latest one first and older versions tucked away. Friends, requests, people search and the leaderboard now share one Community page, and every Ascend page uses the same calmer, cleaner style.

• A new Overview with your sync status and every cloud tool
• Restore and download cloud save backups from Ascend
• Backups grouped by game, with older versions tucked away
• One Community page for friends, requests, search and the leaderboard
• Badges for new friend requests and unread messages

Settings you can find your way around

Settings has grown a lot, and scrolling through one long page to find a single switch was not great. Settings is now split into categories, such as General, Downloads, Gaming and Saves & Backups, with a menu on the left that shows one category at a time. Related options sit together in cards laid out side by side, and searching for a setting opens the right category and highlights it. Every setting is still there; it is just easier to reach.

The game index now lives in Settings too, under Game Index, instead of on a page of its own. External Sources has its own page with a simple on and off switch, and when one is active, Settings tells you so and lets you switch back to the Ascendara index in one click.

Every game you own, in one library

You can now connect your Steam, Epic Games or GOG account to see every game you own in your Library, including games you have never installed. Owned games appear as regular game cards with a small store badge. Open one to read its description and see screenshots, then play it through its launcher or install it from its store.

You sign in directly with each store in a separate, locked-down window, and Ascendara does not save your password. Your connection and list of owned games are encrypted on your computer with your system's secure storage, kept apart from your settings and cloud sync, and never uploaded.

Bringing games in from other launchers used to mean choosing between features with technical names. There is now one place to start: Import from other launchers explains, in plain words, the difference between adding the games already installed on your PC and connecting the stores where you own games, and suggests the easiest place to start. The importing guide walks through both.

• Connect Steam, Epic Games or GOG to see every game you own
• Owned games use the same cards as the rest of your Library
• Play installed games through their store, or install them in one click
• Sign-in data is encrypted on your PC and never uploaded
• One guided import for launchers, written for people new to PC gaming

How Ascendara compares: a new case study

How does Ascendara stack up against other launchers? It is one of the most common questions in the community, so it now has a proper written answer. Santiago (tago), Ascendara's developer, audited and compared the launchers together with a few AI models. The case study compares seven launchers (Ascendara, Hydra Launcher, Playnite, Project GLD, Heroic Games Launcher, Lutris and GOG Galaxy 2.0) across 24 features, from cross-platform support and save backups to store accounts and documentation.

Every claim was checked against each project's public source code, legal terms and official documentation as of October 2026, and each source is cited so you can verify it yourself. The report also calls out what the other launchers do well, because a comparison is only useful if it is fair.

Prefer something you can click through? The same findings are on the interactive comparison page.

Fixes

• The game page no longer crashes when you go back to the Library
• The warning for games that close right after launching stays visible after you leave the game page
• Play sessions are measured more accurately when a game closes
• Downloads no longer stop when another program briefly locks the progress file

Changes

34

Launchers compared

7