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Insurmountable offers a lonely climbing adventure, spanning three mountains, shaped into a fun survival roguelike. Tackle the mountains in sequential order as one of three preset climbers and try your best to maintain your vital statistics while also dealing with a slew of random events that help or hinder you along the way. While there's a story, it's pretty much non-existent and feels unimportant.

Even with such a daunting name, the game is actually rather player friendly as you start off the run. The game only has Normal difficulty unlocked in the beginning and while it still presents a challenge, it does not feel impossible as there are different ways to manage your resources and statistics, with these methods for you to discover often just off your main path. The game gives you some resources to start as well and those prove critical in tight situations. The game hits difficulty spikes after scaling the first mountain and heading into the subsequent stages. I haven't managed to unlock the other two higher difficulties, but I imagine those are are going to make me pull some hairs out--if only to make a wig and then stick it back on my head to stop myself from shivering.

While it is a simple idea of Man vs. Mountain, the statistics that you have to worry about are your health, sanity, body temperature, energy, and oxygen reserves. The game does not hesitate to tell you if any of the stats are in critical ranges as you start to have dangerous random events occur. The game is over if your health reaches 0 and so if you can crawl back to the designated safety spot before your health gets there, you will live to tell the tale, or to be able to attempt the next mountain with some battle scars.

In addition, as you progress, you will find various ways to gain experience and to level up. Each level up is associated with a choice from randomized selection of passive or active abilities that will boost your chances of survival.

After all, it's a matter of survival, and even planning your feet and a flag atop the highest unconquered peak is not the same as then making it safely home, recounting the adventure with a mug of hot cocoa.

The events that you encounter along the way often involve decisions that have unpredictable outcomes. Sometimes you may hit a jackpot and gain a massive boost in the stat that's just about drained, while other times you will end up wasting a lot of time and energy to discover that all was for naught. Even though it's a lonely adventure, you will still find other people and creatures along your way, or maybe all that you find is a frozen corpse and a residual backpack. But your decisions may lead to gathering of resources, spending them, or setting off a chain of events that will affect your game later on.

Even though the events are rather interesting and fun, there is a lack in variety of these events in general. I think for maintenance of player interest beyond the initial captivation, the game would do well to further flesh out more sets of possible events and outcomes. Furthermore, as the days go by with different weather conditions, it would be great to have more time/temperature/weather dependent events. The store page mentions hundreds of events, but I seem to find myself coming across similar ones rather often in the few times I have tried playing so far. So it could be that I just have not seen most of them.

It is easy to expand your camera zoom as far out as possible and only click on the events of interest as you try to climb up. The computer will generate a path for you and you can confirm that selection if you wish. But this often yields in some paths that will waste your precious time and energy, while also taking you across some dangerous random events. Pathfinding is absolutely critical so rushing ahead will often result in regret, if not disaster. Every step is a calculated risk, so planning your paths carefully will likely maximize your chances of survival.

You will encounter expendable resources as you move about, but you will also find equipment that will help you in certain situations. Some equipment only help you, while others may have some negative effects. Just as above, pay attention and think your decisions through.

Each run will be different as you may choose a different character, the mountains and events will be changed, along with weather patterns in addition to how you decide to move about. All in all, with the difficulty spikes that are built-in along the way, even a run completion in normal difficulty will be a challenge. But I do like the progressive difficulty unlocking to make it easily accessible for you to learn as you play for the first few times. I am still trying to find my footing amid all of the slippery slopes as well as sublime and supernatural events.

Nevertheless, be prepared to fail, and to die. (I would love to see legacy accumulations of previously failed runs in the form of residual equipment and resources become buried to be discoverable later in subsequent runs. Just a part of my own wishlist, of course.)

Level-creation is often an important aspect of why a game is fun also. I would love to see seeded run options or some preset challenges that the player can use to hone skills and to avoid the RNG machine by choice.

I recorded myself playing the game for the first time, if you are interested. It was a matter of discovering the game, so be aware that things move along rather slowly.

https://youtu.be/gVohLNkZmqQ

You can play the whole game with a mouse, but you can also use some keyboard shortcuts that you can easily rebind.

With the hex-grid modification of the mountains, it is far from realistic, but there's certainly enough of that cold and lonely essence that has been infused into this game by its appearances. It looks pretty cool overall for the type of game and the atmosphere it is trying to present. You can zoom in quite a bit on the climber and the surroundings, so that's cool too.

The minimalist music fits the scene and mood, while the sound effects work well also. Nothing too fancy, but it wouldn't surprise me for a climber to only hear his/her own footsteps clinking along the ice while alert and perhaps voices telling him/her to lie down to take a nap or jump off a chasm in an attempt at flight in a delirious state.

Potentially playable for anyone who is willing to take on a single-player mental challenge, unless the roguelike nature is just a no-go, which is fine too. I find this game very intrinsically satisfying.

The base price of $19.99 US with regional pricing is quite reasonable for this game. It has a lot of replay value.

1. More varied/situation-dependent events.
2. Fleshed out stories to engage the players.
3. Legacy/cumulative caches/deposits from previous runs.
4. Preset levels/Seeded runs by player choice.

All in all, Insurmountable is good fun and definitely worth your time and attention. Check it out now or wait until a price that's reasonable for you. Its roguelike nature will deter some players but I think it's quite a reasonable challenge for survival for anyone who is interested.

Score: 8/10

I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [i]Insurmountable[/i] offers a lonely climbing adventure, spanning three mountains, shaped into a fun [b]survival roguelike[/b]. Tackle the mountains in sequential order as one of three preset climbers and try your best to maintain your vital statistics while also dealing with a slew of random events that help or hinder you along the way. While there's a story, it's pretty much non-existent and feels unimportant. Even with such a daunting name, the game is actually rather [b]player friendly[/b] as you start off the run. The game only has Normal difficulty unlocked in the beginning and while it still presents a challenge, it does not feel impossible as there are different ways to manage your resources and statistics, with these methods for you to discover often just off your main path. The game gives you some resources to start as well and those prove critical in tight situations. The game hits difficulty spikes after scaling the first mountain and heading into the subsequent stages. I haven't managed to unlock the other two higher difficulties, but I imagine those are are going to make me pull some hairs out--if only to make a wig and then stick it back on my head to stop myself from shivering. While it is a simple idea of Man vs. Mountain, the statistics that you have to worry about are your [b]health, sanity, body temperature, energy, and oxygen reserves.[/b] The game does not hesitate to tell you if any of the stats are in critical ranges as you start to have dangerous random events occur. The game is over if your health reaches 0 and so if you can crawl back to the designated safety spot before your health gets there, you will live to tell the tale, or to be able to attempt the next mountain with some battle scars. In addition, as you progress, you will find various ways to gain experience and to level up. Each level up is associated with [b]a choice from randomized selection[/b] of passive or active abilities that will boost your chances of survival. After all, it's a matter of survival, and even planning your feet and a flag atop the highest unconquered peak is not the same as then making it safely home, recounting the adventure with a mug of hot cocoa. [h1]Random Events[/h1] The events that you encounter along the way often involve decisions that have [b]unpredictable outcomes.[/b] Sometimes you may hit a jackpot and gain a massive boost in the stat that's just about drained, while other times you will end up wasting a lot of time and energy to discover that all was for naught. Even though it's a lonely adventure, you will still find other people and creatures along your way, or maybe all that you find is a frozen corpse and a residual backpack. But your decisions may lead to gathering of resources, spending them, or setting off a chain of events that will affect your game later on. Even though the events are rather interesting and fun, there is a [b]lack in variety[/b] of these events in general. I think for maintenance of player interest beyond the initial captivation, the game would do well to further flesh out more sets of possible events and outcomes. Furthermore, as the days go by with different weather conditions, it would be great to have more time/temperature/weather dependent events. The store page mentions hundreds of events, but I seem to find myself coming across similar ones rather often in the few times I have tried playing so far. So it could be that I just have not seen most of them. [h1]Pathfinding[/h1] It is easy to expand your camera zoom as far out as possible and only click on the events of interest as you try to climb up. The computer will generate a path for you and you can confirm that selection if you wish. But this often yields in some paths that will waste your precious time and energy, while also taking you across some dangerous random events. [b]Pathfinding is absolutely critical[/b] so rushing ahead will often result in regret, if not disaster. Every step is a calculated risk, so planning your paths carefully will likely maximize your chances of survival. [h1]Equipment[/h1] You will encounter expendable resources as you move about, but you will also find equipment that will help you in certain situations. Some equipment only help you, while others may have some negative effects. Just as above, pay attention and think your decisions through. [h1]Roguelike Nature[/h1] Each run will be different as you may choose a different character, the mountains and events will be changed, along with weather patterns in addition to how you decide to move about. All in all, with the difficulty spikes that are built-in along the way, even a run completion in normal difficulty will be a challenge. But I do like the progressive difficulty unlocking to make it easily accessible for you to learn as you play for the first few times. I am still trying to find my footing amid all of the slippery slopes as well as sublime and supernatural events. Nevertheless, [b]be prepared to fail, and to die.[/b] (I would love to see legacy accumulations of previously failed runs in the form of residual equipment and resources become buried to be discoverable later in subsequent runs. Just a part of my own wishlist, of course.) [b]Level-creation[/b] is often an important aspect of why a game is fun also. I would love to see seeded run options or some preset challenges that the player can use to hone skills and to avoid the RNG machine by choice. [h1]Gameplay Video[/h1] I recorded myself playing the game for the first time, if you are interested. It was a matter of discovering the game, so be aware that things move along rather slowly. https://youtu.be/gVohLNkZmqQ [h1]Controls[/h1] You can play the whole game with a mouse, but you can also use some keyboard shortcuts that you can easily rebind. [h1]Graphics[/h1] With the hex-grid modification of the mountains, it is far from realistic, but there's certainly enough of that cold and lonely essence that has been infused into this game by its appearances. It looks pretty cool overall for the type of game and the atmosphere it is trying to present. You can zoom in quite a bit on the climber and the surroundings, so that's cool too. [h1]Music & Sounds[/h1] The minimalist music fits the scene and mood, while the sound effects work well also. Nothing too fancy, but it wouldn't surprise me for a climber to only hear his/her own footsteps clinking along the ice while alert and perhaps voices telling him/her to lie down to take a nap or jump off a chasm in an attempt at flight in a delirious state. [h1]Audience[/h1] Potentially playable for anyone who is willing to take on a single-player mental challenge, unless the roguelike nature is just a no-go, which is fine too. I find this game very intrinsically satisfying. [h1]Pricing[/h1] The base price of $19.99 US with regional pricing is quite reasonable for this game. It has a lot of replay value. [h1]Personal Wishlist--As Mentioned Above[/h1] 1. More varied/situation-dependent events. 2. Fleshed out stories to engage the players. 3. Legacy/cumulative caches/deposits from previous runs. 4. Preset levels/Seeded runs by player choice. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] All in all, [i]Insurmountable[/i] is good fun and definitely worth your time and attention. Check it out now or wait until a price that's reasonable for you. Its roguelike nature will deter some players but I think it's quite a reasonable challenge for survival for anyone who is interested. Score: 8/10 [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]