Crytek's latest game lets you mountain climb in virtual reality

[Scorpus]

Crytek, developer of the popular Crysis series and beautiful CryEngine, has been quietly working on a new title for virtual reality platforms that lets you climb mountains from a first person perspective.

The game, known as The Climb, is an exhilarating experience (at least, according to those who've tried it) that sees you rock climbing in lush, beautiful environments. It's a single-player game for now, but you can compete against your friends on a leaderboard to see who can climb the most difficult paths in the fastest time.

The Climb's main mechanic is, as you might expect, climbing, which works through a combination of turning your head and pressing the appropriate buttons on a controller. As The Verge describes it, "to grasp a hard-to-reach hold, you have to really lean your shoulders and crane your neck, as if straining your arm muscles to scale a steep slope."

At this stage, The Climb only supports climbing through a controller, but when the Oculus Rift's motion controllers launch, Crytek will explore adding in a motion controlled experience. Even without motion controls, though, the game looks like a pretty compelling way to rock climb in famous, real-world locations from the comfort of your living room.

The mechanics of The Climb are quite different from Crytek's past games, and could almost be described as a virtual reality platformer. The sole purpose of the game is to climb mountains in the most realistic way possible, so the developer has focused on fine-tuning the experience to make it both as exhilarating and fun as real-world climbing.

Unsurprisingly, the game will use Crytek's CryEngine, and despite the impressive visuals, the company says they've got the game running at 90 frames per second at a resolution of 2160 x 1200 on "target machines". It seems pretty likely you'll need a beastly system to run this game, but it won't be impossible on today's hardware.

Considering the game only features a single mechanic and fairly simple gameplay, Crytek hasn't decided on a price point for The Climb just yet. However the title will be exclusive to the Oculus Rift, and will be launching at some point during the first quarter of 2016.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/63151-crytek-climb-virtual-reality.html

 

[VitalyT]

$40 for a game as such is ok, but for some who play it and decide they are good at climbing to try it real life, this may cost a bit more

 

[Arris]

I have a friend who is both a climber and a gamer. Going to get his take on this.

 

[Uncle Al]

Certainly is one of the more unique subjects to base a game around and there is certainly nothing wrong with a nice change of pace. Only time will tell if it will be as popular as the ever-well-known shoot 'em up .....

 

[3volv3d]

I know this is kinda sad, but I was playing Dying Light with some mates, and climbing up the towers and bridge. Looking around as you climb, and trying to make the next jump / reach for that next hand hold, without falling down to your death, was just so much fun.

So I can see how this could work, and I would love to try it.

 

[FPSChris]

$40 for a game as such is ok, but for some who play it and decide they are good at climbing to try it real life, this may cost a bit more

and $600 for an oculus

May as well pop to your local climbing club, pay them $30 and do an hour on the wall.