It might be tempting to stick to a path with a ton of stone, but there could be a loot event over on that dangerous ice path. You might have picked up a climbing pick and boots that reduce the energy cost of traversing stone. You really have to think about what you’re doing. But your success or failure will come down to your actions.
The events are random, your rewards for the events are random, and the weather fluctuates. I love how from top to bottom the game entirely revolves around the choices you make, even though randomness is also a huge factor. Time doesn’t move unless your character is moving, so the game has an almost meditative and relaxing feel to it, in spite of the punishing difficulty. The game is purely about strategy, the kind you can mull over at your own pace. The core principles of the game’s design are fantastic. Just getting to the top of a mountain is only half the battle, you also have to get back down alive. The night is cold, and also impacts your visibility. But once that bar starts ticking you really have to choose what paths you take wisely, at least until you come back down. Up until that point, you can move a bit slower. Then you have Oxygen, once you breach the death zone at 6000 meters, the air becomes thin and hard to breathe. Energy is what you use to actually climb, and temperature is to keep yourself from freezing to death. Sanity constantly drops while you’re on the mountain, and traumatic events can impact it as well. But you will constantly get hit with bad events based on them. Your other stats, energy, sanity, temperature, and oxygen can go to zero, and you can survive for a time. Striking that balance leads to making agonizing decisions. So gathering useful gear, and leveling up is very helpful. You aren’t just preparing yourself for the climb you’re on, but the next one. You might be tempted to take the most direct path up a mountain, but that would be a mistake.Įach run consists of THREE separate mountains with the same character, and all your loot and skills carry over, but you will also obtain a scar between mountains, a permanent penalty for that run. Rougher terrain consumes more energy, but some tiles are dangerous and can trigger events that can hurt you. Three unique characters and multiple difficulties to choose from.Ī massive part of the game is simply figuring out where to move. Every bit of movement consumes time and energy based on the type of terrain, the conditions, and several other factors. You simply click a tile, and your character moves to it. The game is kind of turn-based, but not really since there are no enemies to take a turn. You choose one of three characters, each one starts with different equipment and abilities, then you choose one of three routes that dictate a set of random modifiers, such as rough terrain, or frequent storms, and you’re off. I make this comparison because actual board games can’t have bloat, because of the cost of producing physical pieces.
There isn’t an ounce of bloat in this game, it’s clear that the developers had a vision and followed it with a laser focus.
It’s what really sold me on its board game feel aside from its hexagonal-shaped tiles. Insurmountable has a clean-cut and straightforward approach to its concept. It just so happens that I’m as much an avid board gamer as I am a video gamer, and combining the two definitely hits one of my soft spots. This formula serves the game quite well if that’s what you’re into. Events are resolved via text-based choices, similar to drawing some kind of event card in many popular board games. The environments are nice, but the game isn’t flashy. A lot of the game is focused on text-based events. Insurmountable plays very much like a digital board game, and it’s best to approach it with that kind of mindset. I initially thought the game was going to play somewhat like Death Stranding, but I was way off the mark with that prediction. You can find a video version of this review on my YouTube Channel The game is about scaling mountains and the difficulty is based on keeping yourself alive against the elements, mitigating risks, and optimizing the path you climb. There is no combat, yet death follows you with every step. Insurmountable is one of the most unique rogue-lite games I’ve come across.
0 kommentar(er)
