Only Climb: Better Together

As a veteran gamer who enjoys creative multiplayer experiences, I was eager to try out the new platformer Only Climb: Better Together. This quirky co-op climbing game delivers delightfully chaotic fun with friends, though it falls short in terms of content and novelty.

Only Climb drops you and up to 7 other players into a towering animated junkyard, challenging you to race to the top by jumping on trampolines, climbing walls, and using janky lifts. The goal is simple: be the first to reach the peak without falling. This straightforward premise left me hungry for more substance, but the wacky obstacles and ability to shove other players makes for some hilarious Sessions with friends.

Junkyard Jousting

My favorite part of Only Climb is the multiplayer mayhem. Up to 8 players scramble up the teetering towers of trash in a free-for-all race to the top. You can choose to cooperate by activating mechanisms to help each other or go for ruthless competition by pushing others off ledges. The physics are delightfully floaty and unpredictable, so every match devolves into a laughably chaotic wrestling match atop giant mousetraps and seesaws.

Though basic, the creativity of navigating the offbeat obstacles kept my friends and me engaged for hours. The wonky physics leads to delightful moments like an entire team slowly teeter-tottering up a tower clinging to a giant spatula. Only Climb captures the infectious fun of games like Gang Beasts, providing a platform for ridiculous user-created moments.

Mystery and Intrigue

While the multiplayer satisfies, the limited content and lack of narrative depth leave something to be desired. The entire game takes place in one massively tall junkyard with minor visual variety between the handmade towers. A generic sci-fi computer terminal at the peak hints at a larger mystery, but it’s left disappointingly unexplored.

Some narrative bones or changing environments could have given this endless climb more purpose. Games like Human Fall Flat or Fortnite Creative succeed partly due to their charming worldbuilding and secrets to discover. Only Climb misses an opportunity to make exploration rewarding beyond reaching the summit.

Visual Fidelity

The visuals are a mixed bag. On one hand, the basic polygonal models and flat textures make Only Climb accessible for players without high-end rigs. My aging laptop ran it smoothly even with 8 players brawling on-screen. However, the repetitive junkyard backdrop grew stale over time, and I found myself longing for more environments to explore.

Varied locales like construction sites or treehouse villages could have delivered some much-needed visual variety. There's room for the developers to build on the charming scrappy aesthetic with cosmetic collectibles or unlockable environments. Still, the simple graphics have the benefit of keeping the focus on the social gameplay, not eye candy. For a multiplayer party experience, it gets the job done.

Pros:

• Hilarious multiplayer chaos
• Creative obstacles
• Floaty, unpredictable physics

Cons:

• Lack of visual variety
• Unresponsive controls and bugs can make precise platforming a nightmare
• Basic visuals