Some areas seem to lack a theme...

[Folkvang]

So, I think OnlyUp is a game that actually has a lot more to say than people give it credit for when they look at it just as "streamer bait" or the latest speedrunning fad. In fact, I was extremely impressed by the first half of the game because it's essentially a materialist critique of the modern world, as you climb toward greater financial success while always being in danger of falling back into poverty.

I would call this first half of the game 'Materialism.'

The second half is... not nearly as thematically coherent, moving from one abstract concept to the next without following any kind of logical order, so when you fall, it's not like you're falling from a higher to a lower wealth world. I would call the second half of the game 'Idealism.' Still, each individual area does seem to have a theme.

At least, most of them do.

In order, it seems to go...

'Religion'
'Education'
'Sex'
'Power'
And... then it gets kind of confusing. The next area's theme seems to be... ice? Followed by... Asia? What? Maybe you could say 'Eastern Philosophy', but I still didn't really get what the devs were trying to say with the ice stage. "Life is simple, yet we persist at complicating it." Okay, that's true. But what does any of that have to do with ice? Or grapefruit? Or any of the symbolism in this area?

After that, you get to 7. 'Death', which makes sense. But that part between Power and Death, I can't really figure out.

[Llorion]

Gave you an award for this because I cannot agree more! I got so much more from this game than just the "speedruns" or it being viewed mostly as an "obby". There is so much more to it, and not only what you said, but just the entire essence of conquering something that seems too hard to do. Once you beat the game, you feel a sense of confidence that you can conquer other things in life as well.

I do agree that there are some odd themes, and perhaps they will improve that in the future or make it a bit more apparent as to why they included certain themes.

Well said and I hope more folks read your post!