Developer: Dontnod Entertainment | Released: 2023 | Genre: Platform, Third Person
Just like Submerged, this was solely a climbing game. Borrowing the atmosphere from ICO, it started with a kid walking on the sandy bottom of what was once an ocean. He arrived at a dried out coral mountain and started climbing it to the top, a daunting task since it was exceptionally tall. It turns out there were once a civilization living there, but now it was empty habitats and boats hanging on the side.
Apart from climbing and exploring, I could also find abandoned letters.
The climbing was a lot more sophisticated than in Submerged, and also considerably more challenging. I had a rope with me and could attach it to the wall at up to three spots during a climbing session. The game didn’t allow me to fall to my death, but falling to the end of the rope meant having to redo a lot of climbing. It was also possible to lower the rope and swing it to the sides for reaching a handhold.
Borrowing the hand swapping style from Crazy Climber, I had to alternate left and right hand gripping with each hotkey. I also had a small creature with me that could discharge a magical effect for making plants grow, creating more handholds for me to climb.
No doubt a lot of inspiration was drawn from Grow Home and Grow Up too.
The climbing sessions typical lasted for a few minutes, after which I arrived at another plateau with a few abandoned huts or a temple. Sometimes even small critters running around. I then had to find the next place to start the next climbing session. Typically there would be a socket for me to plug in my rope.
During the chapters of the game, these climbing sessions could actually be quite challenging. I would have to stop and rest to gain stamina, jump or double jump upwards, swing in the rope, grow plants, or grab moving beetles with bricks on top of them. As soon as I reached a plateau, I felt a little exhausted as had I climbed the stretch myself. Then I hit a hotkey for automatically rolling in the rope.
The control scheme actually felt weird to begin. The game recommended a gamepad and I tried both that and a mouse and keyboard for a while. It was worth persevering as I quickly got used to it, and the game was really beautiful and had unique climbing challenges. I chose the mouse and keyboard, and it was totally fine. It wasn’t one of those games where a gamepad was indispensable.
The story told via letters found here and there didn’t do it for me. It didn’t take long before I just browsed them really fast and then got on with it. Thankfully I found enough fun out of the climbing sessions. There was not a lot more to find in the nooks and crannies than just those letters. I did sometimes find a cairn and placed a stone on top of it. The reward was nothing. I could also find a shell for listening to echoes of a distant past, but again it was underwhelming. It just showed the kid from various camera angles.