Created by solo Canadian indie dev Pontypants in honour of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (2017), A Difficult Game About Climbing is all about punishing yourself.

It just launched, as of March 2024, and is available on Steam.

It’s very simple. You must scale some slippery rocks using your arms (your legs don’t work, for some reason), yet you will fall. Often. And must repeat everything over and over and over until you succeed.

Consider the Impossible Nature of Being in A Difficult Game About Climbing

Pontypants’ game pays homage to a lot of things. You can think of the terrifying documentary Free Solo (2019) and what Alex Honnold achieved.

Then there’s the broader philosophical reach.

Think of Albert Camus’ essay The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) and the nature of mindlessly repeating the same mundane actions your entire life.

Pontypants has made it clear the game is a direct homage to Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Here’s the trailer for that one.

Again, the idea was to infuriate players with absurd mistake-driven, repetitive gameplay. This has led to a Marmite game, with much love and hatred hurled in its direction.

Pontypants loved the game’s qualities, but was disappointed to see other indie game developers didn’t create similar titles.

That’s where A Difficult Game About Climbing saves the day!

You take control of the bald bloke in a loincloth. There’s a big old rock and you have to climb it one grapple at a time. Make a mistake? You plunge into the water below and have to start all over again.

No save points. No checkpoints. Just back to the very beginning.

You may wonder why anyone would want to punish themselves in that way, but there’s a sect of gamers who set their mind on something and will want to complete the game. All for the personal satisfaction!

A Difficult Game About Climbing is a Speedrunner’s Dream

As with the game it pays creative homage to, A Difficult Game About Climbing is perfect for speedrunners (see Summoning Salt’s documentaries).

The speedrunning community has already been on its case, setting various world records. You can expect those to tumble over the coming months.

The Making of A Difficult Game About Climbing

Rather nicely, there’s a great little mini-documentary about the making of A Difficult Game About Climbing.

You can see the game development process in action here, which is always appealing for us as creatives. We don’t make games, but it’s fascinating to watch how devs piece the titles together.

We Scaled the Heights for a Difficult Verdict

Obviously, this isn’t going to be for everyone. Certain gamers would be infuriated by what this title sets out to do.

Aware of that, Pontypants has replaced the game’s “Exit” icon with “Rage Quit” (for non-gamers, that’s reference to gamers abandoning a game in a temper tantrum).

The climbing element of the game is very enjoyable!

Its gameplay mechanics are similar to the brilliant climbing game Jusant (one of our favourite indie titles of 2023). And everything is very fair, your skills are rewarded. It’s just you’re mercilessly punished for mistakes.

You can be right near your goal of completing the game. But one mistake later and you’re right back at the start! Congratulations, you screwed up… loser!

It’s a big in-your-face moment and difficult to take.

You can then steel yourself and have another go, or take a breather. But it’s that repetitive quality, and the need for steely determination, that makes it so addictive. Plus, another welcome addition to our best indie games for autistic people list.

For what it is, the game is brilliantly well executed.

Enjoyable and yet so utterly baffling, infuriating, and merciless in mocking you for your stupid mistakes. We love it! Like the look of it? Then give it a go!