New Heights: Realistic Climbing and Bouldering

The game is a good idea, a climbing system where you control the limbs, and so can perform various real life techniques/moves. But, the realistic look in terms of surfaces, is also it's biggest drawback, because they are 3D scanned, and so there is a mismatch between what looks to be holds, versus the actual holds you can grab onto. Not to mention, that the climbing system limbs, are jank, going where you don't want them to go, or twisting in weird ways. The game needs polishing, none of the surface textures should change or alter based on which camera angle you view it from, or whether you play on low or high graphic setting. The game Cairn is much better at both which grips you can see AND use, and climbing movement aren't as janky, but very polished. New Heights should aim to reach the same level as Cairn in this are, in order to be an enjoyable climbing game.

Came to check this out after playing Cairn. Props to devs, it's a very functional simulator. Being able to control body positioning yourself makes this different. Seeing the force vectors is great too. Notes to new players * check your graphics settings - mine started on Low quality by default : E * use keyboard + mouse, controller not great for this imo * pay no mind to ragdoll glitching after falls / exiting walls - it is not important Sure it's not absolutely perfect inverse kinematics, there are glitchy situations sometimes, but it is very cool tech to play with : ) I hope this gains traction and can be fleshed out further.

Great Game. If you like climbing or simulator games you should definitely get this. [b]The Good:[/b] [list] [*] * Very fun climbing system, this came out before Cairn, but if you're familiar with Cairn's manual mod using the bumpers/triggers, this is similar. [*] * A ton of real-world routes, at real locations to climb (including some real-world locations you can't climb IRL). The climbing has a bit of indie jank/charm but once you get used to it, it really does a great job of simulating a project. You get stuck in trying to solve various problems in the numberous routes in the many, many locations. [*] * The 1.0 update adds Hanshelleren and a ton of routes within including Silence. The area is really great looking and a fantastic end-game type content for a 1.0 release. Lots of hard/complex routes [/list] [b]The Bad:[/b] [list] [*] * Its pretty janky. The climbing can be cumbersome and at its worst and most frustrating moments it feels like you are just waving your limbs around looking for "green" on the hud. But its a very small team and clearly they put care and attention into the game, just don't expect AAA level mechanics/graphics etc [*] * Photogrammetry instead of fully hand-crafted. This is a personal opinion but I think this game suffers a bit from the fact that they scanned locations rather than building them (or at least building the routes) from scratch. Very often the visuals of the routes don't match what the hud tells you. e.g. perfect ledge/jug is red on the hud but her hand flat on a smooth bolder face is solid green. where you end up waving your limbs around looking for a "green" hold irrespective of what you see on the texture/surface That said they have clearly done work on many routes in the 1.0 that either intentionally or inadvertently addresses this. [*] * A small team managing competitive leaderboards. I am not much for competition so I didn't pay too close attention but over the course of the early access it was funny to see many lengthy routes that should take a minute or perhaps minutes have records in the tenths of second. They've wiped the leaderboards for launch. Hopefully they clear them every once in a while. [/list] All in all fantastic game for the price and aside from a game like cairn having a sort-of similar climbing system, there is really no other game like this on the market if you want a climbing sim.

Wanted more after a free solo run in Cairn. Feel like this is exactly what I was looking for

This team really knows about and loves climbing, which is clear in every aspect of the game. Wonderful natural routes, with even Hanshelleren to be climbed! This really adds to the climbing experience. I found the instructions on how to move an grip nicely done, with nice exercises in 'Rachels Gym' to get familiar with keys and mouse. Nicely set up routes with increasing difficulty. Really felt like 'being out there. And with Hanshelleren as the pinnacle of challenges. Still busy with that one :-). If youŕe a climber, youĺl appreciate this game

I genuinely do not understand why there are so many people still recommending this game after they have refunded it. I really enjoy climbing, and Cairn was almost great, but this... this is totally unfinished and genuinely unplayable. It looks like it was made in the 2000's by someone learning game design for the first time. The physics are completely ridiculous, I managed to stick both legs on the wall about waist height and then just lever my entire body up with no hands. The huge white glow on each limb with the 'Grip Overlay - Surface Curvature' setting is so prominent that it hides your entire limb until you've placed it on a hold, completely obscuring your view of where you want to place it, genuinely unplayable with this setting turned on. I've never completed a tutorial of a game and thought "well, that's enough of this game" until now. It could be a great game in time, but at the moment, I cannot recommend it at all.

I wanted to give this a good shot. I like the concept but the execution is appalling. She is physically incapable of using her two legs to push herself up and she just squats like a baby on the wall. No matter what I try she always does it. Unplayable.

The idea is good, everything else is bad. the mechanics of using various keybinds for body movement, then the mouse buttons for hands and holding shift and mouse buttons for feet becomes very cumbersome and awkward. you sometimes forget to let go of shift so you end up moving feet instead of arms etc. Graphics are ok but don't match with holds, limbs go janky, at one point i fell off the wall and the camera ended up off to the left of the player character so climbing was impossible. glitching into scenery takes away from the realism. and moving on the ground (walking), is also just not smooth, it's like trying to run with your shoelaces tied together. It needs a LOT of improvement to be a good game and after 3 years it should be better than it currently is. I wouldn't recommend at the minute.

I've really enjoyed this game since it first came out in 2023. The most recent update has fixed most of the problems i experienced and has really polished the gameplay a lot. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys climbing Irl or in games. The climbing can be very relaxing, or terrifyingly sweat inducing depending on the route. It is extremely replayable and it feels great to just hop on every now and then, and spend a few hours climbing. It also runs great w/ med settings on the steam deck which is a nice plus. My only real complaint is the Ik model for the character is relatively glitchy, and it can be distracting sometimes. Once this is more polished, i really think the game would be almost perfect.

Just buy Cairn