It’s not exactly a cozy game, but this strategic exploration game is relaxing to play
There are plenty of games in which you can climb that mountain over there. Some of them, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or Death Stranding, even take the act of climbing pretty seriously. In these games, the weather, the air temperature, and your stamina are all factors you’re going to have to consider as you succumb to the deep human urge to get to the top of a thing.
There are a handful of games that are actually about climbing, like the knockabout social game Peak, or the VR experience The Climb, or the meditative Jusant, or the more technical Cairn, which is out soon. In some of these, you’re actively thinking about which limb to move next, which handhold or foothold to aim for, when to deploy a piton. In these games, the climb is an end in itself.
And then there’s Insurmountable, a unique mountaineering game by Berlin indie studio ByteRockers’ Games that came out in 2021. Insurmountable isn’t technical, it’s tactical. It breaks the act of exploring mountain wildernesses down into turn-based strategy, emphasizing route planning and resource management. But it’s also about mountaineering as a kind of choose-your-own spiritual adventure, during which strange events and chance discoveries fall into your path.
