Surmount Review: A Little More Altitude

A mountain is many different things to different people. It’s one of the easiest and first markers used in analog map making. Home to many animals, and sacred ground to some. For a few though, they’re challenges. The earth itself calls out to those who hear it to scale its highest peaks, its most dangerous, yet most beautiful landscapes. To those few, the mountain is the ultimate thrill, and at the same time the most serene place in nature. 

What if a mountain changed over observable time though, and to scale it today meant something different tomorrow. Would you keep trying, even if it could be more difficult the next day?

Take a-hike

Surmount opens with the tale of Mount Om, the playground where this all takes place and is reportedly the largest mountain on Earth. As you’re riding the bus, you’re told the story of the Terra Burra people, the denizens that live in the surrounding areas near Mount Om… until the bus breaks down. While work is underway to fix said bus it allows you to stretch your legs on a climbable path, as you can’t wait to get at Mount Om. It’s here though that you’re met with a mysterious entity who speaks in riddles and enters you, but that’s not important, there’s a mountain to climb. 

In New Tully you’ll meet some interesting faces including Kenzie, who’s a researcher studying the mysterious Mountain. It could have ended with that, however, Kenzie has in their possession an extra Climbing Permit which is required to traverse Mount Om. After passing a quick climbing ability test course, Kenzie agrees to make you their research assistant and hands you that sweet Climbing Permit. You’re also given a KlifDex (a cross between a Rio MP3 Player) and a Nokia brick cell phone, complete with a playable game of Snake (or in this case Sneakers).

Once you get to New Tully and move past the celebrity Olimark’s posse, you’ll be able to take on the Mountain in earnest. You could also set out on various Expeditions, various courses with tasks set by the colorful cast of characters in the game. These Expeditions offer play-to-learn tutorials for certain terrain formations as well as techniques to climb precarious placements and types of climbable earth. Finishing these expeditions award you with consumable items that’ll help you on your journey up the Mountain, as well as currency and clothing items to customize your character.

Your time spent climbing the mountain, as well as fulfilling expeditions for people, will also broaden the lore and overall experience. 

Mount Never-Rest

Surmount is a climbing simulator, but one with infinitely a more approachable time with regards to difficulty and accessibility. Whereas in others in this genre they could also be referred to as “Stress Simulators”, there is plenty of challenge in Surmount but it’s largely never unfair. I say largely because the mountain stages are randomly generated and some just flat out don’t work. You could spend too long beating your head against the wall and in the end fall and end your run through injury, causing you to restart and say goodbye to that treacherous generated path.

Surmount utilizes a stamina meter that begins with two bars, depleting with any movement with climbing as well as the double jump. You’ll be able to grow your stamina through your journey, and replenish it by resting on stable footing or dangling from a hook-point. Speaking of which, while these can be saviors from swift falling death, be sure to not be swinging too much or that lifeline will quickly become a swing of doom as you speedily plummet into a rock face. 

Your stamina bars can also deteriorate from falling/smacking damage. At first just cracking a little, but with more and more damage the more bars you’ll lose. You can regain these with a medkit though so definitely try to make sure you have one on you at all times during your travels. You can also gain extra bars by eating fruits and bugs, found on trees and under rocks, respectfully.

You’ll climb using the shoulder or trigger buttons correlating to a hand for each side (LB/LT Left hand, etc), and while holding onto the terrain you can spin yourself with effortless glee. Make sure you let go at the correct time or you’ll shoot off in disastrous unintended directions. Through crates found on the mountain and also able to purchase, there are items at your disposal that live in your 6-Slot backpack. Ranging from ladders to ropes and medkits, there’s quite a number of different and helpful items at your disposal.

As for environmental hazards, Surmount has it all. Without spoiling what lies in wait in further zones, just know there’s a lot to avoid, dodge, and climb fast through. In the first area though you’ll find platforms that will crumble to your touch if you’re too rough, as well as rock walls that play by the same rules. So if you’re falling and grabbing a cracked rock wall for dear life, just know your downward trip isn’t over unless you take the split-second opportunity to jump to safety after the grab. Within each of the four zones, more and more hazards get added, with the final zone being something else completely.

However, through the accessibility options Surmount shines from a difficulty perspective at least. In these options under “Assist Mode” you’ll be able to toggle everything from Stamina percentage, invincibility, and even adjust gravity. If you want, you can turn on invincibility, crank the gravity down and just fly up the mountain like Superman. This comes in handy especially for playing the game in Co-Op if you’re all in on no assist, but the person you’re trying to convince to play it with you isn’t about that life.

Beauty at the Top of the Mountain

Surmount is a simple yet fun and cute looking game from the Mii-Incarnate character designs to the mountain paths and vistas. I spent a lot of time changing the look of my character, from clothes, to completely redesigning who I was playing as. For those curious, it was not I who scaled Mount Om and planted my flag at its summit, oh no, that honor goes to one Monkey D. Luffy. I didn’t have a vest, but with a straw hat, black hair, red tank top, jorts and sandals his spirit was evoked.

The music is sparse, but is varied in its delivery; to just barely being there, to sweeping epic tonal tracks, all the way to fun and bouncy bright ones bring the game to life. Outside of that there’s enough basic audio cues that add to the atmosphere, but the bright spot is definitely the suction cup sound effect when you’re grabbing terrain, reminding you that this isn’t a game to be taken stressfully seriously, but is supposed to be a fun jaunt.

Breakdown

Game: Surmount

Developers: Indiana-Jonas & Jasper Oprel

Co-publisher: Popagenda

Availability: PC & Nintendo Switch

Reviewed on Steam Deck (Both in Handheld, and docked with Xbox Series controller)

Pros:

+ “Gripping” gameplay is fun and challenging

+ Nostalgic and cute character customization

+ Hilarious handful of characters and situations

+ Great bevy of accessibility difficulty options

Cons:

- Can be frustrating due to the Random Generation of levels

- The last zone, is, haaaaaaaaaard

- Few odd bugs encountered during my playthrough in the build I had*

*Hopefully taken care of by time of release, or is being worked on.

Final Thoughts

It’s not a stretch of the truth to look at Surmount and think this is a Nintendo product. It looks like one, with cute and kitschy character designs, and polish at level and game design. But to then come down to earth and reality and remember that not only is this not a Nintendo developed game, it was made by only two people. That is amazing, and seriously cannot be stated enough how much of a triumph this game is to the spirit of indie. That two people, one rocking the code, with the other on the art (and that is punk rock as all) can make something like this is stunning and admirable.

The game can absolutely be difficult and kick your fingers loose when it wants to, but adversely with the suite of difficulty options at your disposal, you can choose to take control right back. The other fun and added benefit of these options are that it’s perfect and ripe for a randomizer for a Party Mode. Setting these at random and handing the controllers off to a friend or family member can make fun endless good times.

While I did run into a few oddities bug wise during my time with the game, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the game at play. Just one more try, I kept telling myself whenever I accidentally slipped or fell. Even if or when I felt the game did me wrong, I was coming back from more like a masochist. Not many games can achieve that with me outside of Souls-likes or Extreme Sports games, which I suppose this does technically fall under.

Surmount is absolutely worth your time, even if you’re on a search for a fun Single-player game, but if you’re able to grab a partner in crime, it’s a blast from beginning to end.

Reviewed by MC Wright