The Climb (video game)

Lore & Background

The Climb began development as a demo called Return to Dinosaur Island, initially built in a cave before being moved to a cliff. Developers found that performance remained strong while viewing landscapes from the cliff, achieving 90 frames per second and sub-20 millisecond response times, which led them to build a game around the vista. The game features four environments—Bay, Canyon, Alps, and North—each with five levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and two bouldering maps that are shorter but more difficult, with chalking and path hinting disabled. An endless mode called Practice Wall randomly generates sections of an infinite wall for climbing.

Gameplay involves using Oculus Touch controllers to grab ledges, with independent stamina meters for each hand. Players can chalk their hands to maintain grip by holding a button and shaking the controller, but must let go of that hand to do so. Later maps introduce hazards such as Toxic Grips, Crumbling Grips, Technical Grips, and Dirty Grips. Some levels include ladders, ziplines, and unusual grips like a mammoth skull's tusks or a downed airplane's propellers. The game also features dangling carabiners as checkpoints and two resting platforms per map that pause the timer.

Reader's Guide

The Climb holds significance as an early commercial success in virtual reality gaming, being declared the most commercially successful game on the Oculus Rift as of July 2017, with gross revenue exceeding $1 million. Its development demonstrated the viability of VR experiences centered on physical interaction and scenic immersion, using CryEngine to maintain high frame rates. The game received mixed or average reviews on Metacritic, with critics praising its visuals and sense of physical exertion—Rock Paper Shotgun noted feeling sweaty and achy after climbing—while Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard found that extended sessions could tire the player's neck. Destructoid highlighted the commitment to a 60fps (90 for Climb) minimum frame rate. The Climb's legacy includes a sequel, The Climb 2, released in 2021 for Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2, and it remains a reference point for VR climbing games.

Did You Know?

• The game features an endless mode called Practice Wall that randomly generates sections of an infinite wall.
• A sequel, The Climb 2, was released in March 2021 for Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2.