Game: Surmount
Genre: Platformer, Adventure, Multiplayer, Sports
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam & Epic Games (Windows/macOS))
Developer | Publisher: Jasper & Jonas
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $14.99 | UK £13.49 | EU € 14,99
Release Date: May 2nd, 2024
Review code used, with many thanks to Popagenda PR.
Developers Indiana-Jonas and Jasper Oprel have certainly reached new heights with their game Surmount (check out the trailer). The pair met during an online session of Animal Crossing in 2020, and four years later (and a week ahead of schedule), Surmount erupts onto the Nintendo Switch.
Surmount is a platforming adventure where you’ll experience mountaineering and rock climbing like you’ve never seen before!
Will it gain altitude and soar high into the sky, or will it lose its footing and plummet down a crevice?
The Beginnings of Surmount
Surmount opens with a short cut scene and tutorial. Whilst on a bus journey, you learn that Mount Om (the largest mountain on Earth) attracts thousands of tourists each year, many trying to Surmount the mountain. However, Mount Om holds many mysteries, and none have reached the summit.
Disaster strikes and the bus breaks down at the base of a small foothill. While waiting for it to be repaired, you need to explore and learn the basic controls: grab, swing, and jump. Using these, you must climb up the hill to continue the story. At the top, you gain your first insight into the mysteries of Mount Om and are given the name ‘Little Climber’. Then, with the bus miraculously repaired, you continue your journey to New Tully, the gateway to Mount Om.
More Than Just Surmounting Mount Om
Once in New Tully, you find Kenzie, a scientist who is looking for a research assistant. Completing their aptitude test gives you access to all of New Tully and Mount Om.
However, before embarking on the highly dangerous ascent of Mount Om, it’s strongly recommended that you complete some of the side expeditions. Mind you, these can be a challenge in themselves!
The first few available are relatively straightforward and designed to give you more practice, tuition and helpful hints. Unfortunately, they do get harder, with, for example, speed climbing or firefighting. All of these expeditions are stand-alone adventures – if you fail, you can try again or come back at a later point. You can also replay some of them and beat your previous time.
It was a welcome relief to find these mini expeditions. Climbing Mount Om is hard – after all, no one has ever reached the summit!
The Main Objective: Surmount Mount Om
My first attempt at Mount Om was a disaster – I barely got further than the first rock face. My excuse is that Yaro was using the hook so I couldn’t tether myself, but really, it was because I was useless at climbing. I could do the hand-over-hand, edging around the rocks, but to spin and launch myself in the right direction was a fling too far!
So, I did what Surmount had suggested and completed more side expeditions. This gave me more practice at using the hooks, air draughts, spinning, and foraging. With this newfound experience, I attempted Mount Om again and was successful in completing Zone 1.
There are four zones on Mount Om, each with a unique biome. Zone 1 doesn’t have too much harsh terrain, unlike Zone 2, which has ice and strong winds. Each zone has three routes which need to be completed. You can rest and suspend the game at the campsite, located at the end of each route, However, if quit out or die, then you have to start at again from route 1.
Help! I Need Somebody.
One of the best things about Surmount is the local co-op option. My gaming buddy, who is far more dexterous, would take the lead. They would climb ahead, spinning up the mountain, whilst I held on. Then I would haul myself up using the tether between us. Once they regained their stamina, we’d do it all again! Using this method, we successfully navigated our way through to zone 2, route 2.
Unfortunately, more than once, one of us would glitch and end up stuck in a rock somewhere. The developers are releasing a day one patch (although it will be delayed for the Switch), and hopefully, this is one of the technical issues they will resolve. Both my gaming buddy and I experienced a couple of glitches during solo play, although mostly in the side expeditions rather than the main climb. Generally, after a few seconds, Surmount would reset to the start of the level, rather than us having to quit.
Even though each zone is rogue-lite, there are items which can be found and used to propel you up the mountain – ropes, first aid kits, rockets, snacks, and many more. I did meet someone who sold ropes at one of the campsites. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to collect the ropes that I had brought, so they were left hanging in mid-air. Hopefully, this is another one of the technical issues which will be resolved with the patch.
One permanent item, in full working order, is the cannon, which Kenzie builds once you’ve cleared zone 1. Initially, it will launch you to the start of zone 2. You will need gems to pay for its construction, though, and gems can be found all over the mountainside. On completing zone 2 and providing more gems, you can launch yourself to zone 3, and likewise for zone 4.
Customising Your Little Climber
You can customise your character prior to starting a new game of Surmount or, once you’ve completed Kenzie’s aptitude test, by using the changing room in the shop. I spent quite a while creating the perfect mountaineering champion. There is so much choice: skin & hair colour; hairstyle; eye, eyebrow, nose, ear & mouth shape; facial hair and markings; glasses or shades; and clothing & accessories of all types (including hats, tops, skirts, shorts, trousers, shoes and backpacks). There are even more items to buy at the shop (using gems) or find during expeditions!
Surmount Gameplay
There is no denying it; the controls do take a while to get to grip. The coordination needed to cling onto the mountain, spin around, launch (hopefully in the right direction) and then grab the next rock is demanding.
One of the great features is that you can remap the controllers, which I did to ‘extend’ and ‘shorten’ the tether ropes. You can also alter the way the swing and grab work. I tested the swing option, and rather than rotating the left stick, you can just hold it in one direction. It worked well for the full swing and launch, but I struggled to climb using the hand-over-hand method. But best of all, there is an assist mode. Some of the help you can get is invincibility, unlimited stamina, or even low gravity. And, whilst not the intended completion method, floating around the zones is a lot of fun!
The text size is large enough in both the docked and handheld modes, but there is no touchscreen functionality.
Apart from the issues about glitching into rocks mentioned above, Surmount played smoothly. However, it did take a while to load, especially on the Mount Om routes, but that might be because most of the routes are procedurally generated.
The game autosave and I didn’t encounter any issues with the saving process. There is no time of day as such. However, when you finish a route, it’s deemed as night, making sleeping in a tent a logical option. It can take anything from 5 to 45 minutes to complete a side expedition or Mount Om route – obviously, it depends on how good your climbing is!
Conclusion
I was delighted to find that Surmount was more than just a platforming adventure of climbing a single mountain. The side expeditions, storyline and humorous interactions with other climbers make it a joyful experience, even for those of us whose climbing skills are lacking.
The coordination needed to control your little climber grabbing the rock face and flinging them in the right direction is harder than it looks and makes this a challenging adventure. The option of a local co-op is a great addition and makes Surmount a fun game to share.
Unfortunately, my co-op player and I glitched a few too many times to give Surmount a Two Thumbs Up (our initial thoughts). But it made us smile and laugh, especially with low gravity, so it’s a:
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 
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