![]() ![]() There's nothing quite like that view from the peak and seeing how far you've come - complemented by some beautiful auroras. Yes, the very functional hexagonal tiles protruding upwards do look odd, but you get used to it. Presentation is all-around great and the UI is clear and informative. ![]() Random events and a different environment feel much too much like retreading ground. It's hard to compete with the moment-to-moment variation and responsiveness of a typical combat-centric roguelike. In fairness to Insurmountable, its concept makes it a difficult bar to surmount. Do I want to play Insurmountable into the early hours of my late years until my dying breath infects the air? Not currently, no. So roguelikes inherently beg to be played repeatedly. 'The only zen you’ll find on the mountain tops, is the zen you bring with you' or something. Reaching those peaks was so much easier for wanting to prove this rebellious scientist's theory right. I love that the three characters aren't just different loadouts of skills and items, but they each carry with them their own backstories and motivations. Spoilers for Bear Grylls' masterpiece there. Right down to 'should you eat these berries?' At least Insurmountable is kind enough to not yet give me an instant Game Over for being peckish. They remind me an awful lot of playing the Netflix interactive show You vs. The result is that I know I'm moving between event tiles rather than considering for instance where a cave might be in the landscape.Įvents as they're written aren't boring mind you. It's a difficult thing to solve with a small studio and a procedural roguelike. If one thing leads me to describe the game in terms of its systems instead of experience, it's this disconnect between the environment and the mechanics. The one - perhaps unavoidable - aspect of these random events is that they're not majorly contextual to the tile you find them. That might well be the difficulty I played on, however. I learned that it really wasn't ever not worth pursuing a lead on anything. From what I've played, risk-reward considerations seem to lean massively towards reward in outcome. ![]() Those systems are all sufficiently detailed and fun to consider, then. Some abilities can be activated for a limited time for such boosts, but also perhaps ignoring difficult terrain generating injuries - which affect meters. Items and skills both present a means to specialise in draining a meter less or boosting them in very logical ways. Events present risk-reward choices, items and good opportunities for meter boosts. Weather, time of day, altitude, whether you have a tent/cave to sleep in, etc will all affect the meter drain. Learning all the systems at play is engaging enough. Good management and dancing between feeding those meters so you can avoid the dreaded, slow, and panic inducing climb down the death ladder becomes rewarding as a result. It's how unpleasant a process Insurmountable makes being in the red that is its masterstroke. Pop-up by pop-up that health meter gets chipped away at and so many temporary reprieves simply mean you're on borrowed time. Pop-ups blare out music that screams crisis whilst intermittently detailing your climber's harrowing descent into vitals failure. Movement and climbing become sluggish and laboured. It's not immediate Game Over if your energy spirals to nought. Insurmountable thrives in the tension it can generate from a simple depleted vital meter. Perhaps not lastingly so, but consuming for those first playthroughs nonetheless. When judged on what it actually is, Insurmountable is compelling. Direct control, natural looking terrain and all that jazz. Of course the 'mountaineer roguelike' pitch no doubt inspires thoughts of a 'Strand Game' approach. But relatively exciting meter management?įorgiving its small indie nature, goddamn does it work. It's a roguelike, so die on any of the three mountains of your run and that's it.Īny game can be summarised as efficiently as you want of course, but what I mean is that Insurmountable boiled down is essentially meter management. Scale mountains with hextile-based movement whilst managing your sanity, energy, etc meters with items and random hextile-placed events. It's funny just how efficiently one can summarise the construction of Insurmountable. ![]()
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