Climbing is one of the most physically demanding activities a human being can do. Yet in the triple-A videogame space it’s become one of the most straightforward. Think of how reduced it to pushing upwards on the analogue stick, Ezio Auditore and his ilk traversing vertical and horizontal spaces with similar ease. Or consider Nathan Drake, whose technique of smoothly moving between conspicuously marked handholds, with a grip suggesting self-chalking palms, has been copied by many other blockbuster adventurers since. Indie games have taken things to the opposite extreme: essentially an upwardly mobile asked you to conquer a mountain with unconventionalmight be more about jumping, but the viral masocore platformer is defined by its verticality. What’s missing is something in between, a game that communicates both the appeal and the challenge of climbing; that bridges the gap between the effortless and the stressful. Well, here it is.
