PAX West 2024: Rogue Climber

There’s a very specific game genre that contains what are, simultaneously, some of the most frustrating and angering experiences known to mankind and also impossible to put down. Games like Getting Over It, Only Up, and I Am Bread are excellent examples. These games, coined as “rage games” are designed specifically to spark that which their title so aptly describes – the unreasonable fury that’s buried deep down inside all of us that only video games can bring to the surface.

For some reason, despite this utter indignation felt in the innermost depths of our souls, we continue to play these games, forcing ourselves not to be bested by a challenge that was never forced upon us. Rogue Climber is one of those games, and it achieves that feat with a weird and wonderful gusto. At Pax West 2024, I sat down with the people from Imaginary Game Studios and embarrassed myself with a sincere lack of platforming prowess. 

Rogue Climber is a randomly generated first-person platforming rage game centered around, well, climbing. The goal is to get as high as you can in the allotted time period, using the various mechanics, upgrades, and checkpoints to reach the highest point. If you make it a certain distance up, you will beat the level and move on to the next one, but if you fail, it’s back to the start. There are tons of different obstacles, traps, and even strange little enemies that stand in your way, attempting to prevent you from climbing. I played Rogue Climber for around 15 minutes, and it definitely scratches that “I’m not going to let this beat me” itch. 

I played Rogue Climber for around 15 minutes, and it definitely scratches that “I’m not going to let this beat me” itch. 

Imaginary Game Studios did an excellent job designing the controls, as they’re solid enough to be graspable but just janky enough to be challenging. They balance out quite nicely, leaving you with the feeling that you weren’t actually the reason you fell off the edge, but maybe you were the reason you fell off the edge, so dammit you’re going to try again to not fall off the edge.

There are a lot of complicated mechanics under the hood that don’t immediately present themselves to the player. Things like the sprint button sending you to the ground, the sprint itself ramping up if you have a runway, tons of different upgrades that have to be sought out and collected, and jump height differential being dependent on a ton of different factors. The devs informed me that many other potential mechanics will take some time to find, like the ability to phase through walls if the sprint is used just the right way. They tried to focus on something that’s easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. Because there are so many options within Rogue Climber, whether or not you get over the obstacles in front of you feels like it’s up to your competence with the controls and the way the game sets up its levels.

The levels are all procedurally generated, but they follow a general “double-helix” design that encourages you to keep moving upwards. Despite the randomness of the procedural generation, the levels always seem to make sense. I never felt like the level I was playing on was broken, and it often felt like the levels themselves had an intentional flow. The devs told me they wanted to make sure that each level was doable, even without acquiring any of the upgrades scattered throughout each run.

Imaginary Game Studios did an excellent job designing the controls, as they’re solid enough to be graspable but just janky enough to be challenging.

How each different level is set up is paramount to the entire experience of a game like this, and Imaginary Game Studios made sure to carefully curate their generation tools so they are consistently cohesive. There are five core level themes, with five main levels. It starts extremely bright and colorful, and the aesthetic of the levels themselves echo that of decay and industry while you move along. Its art design is unlike most games I’ve seen before, with large, bug-eyed entities and strange, rough textures covering every surface. It's extremely pleasant to look at, being bright and colorful, while also being viscerally disturbing, with an otherworldly look and odd sound design. While I was playing at PAX, a teenager playing before I even sat down was still playing after I had finished my interview, talking to the devs the whole time and really enjoying himself. When you start to get momentum going, Rogue Climber becomes a fun and silly experience with just enough frustration to keep you playing, and that convention-goer’s reaction is evidence of the legs this little rage game has. 

If the right eyes get on it, Rogue Climber will be a popular game on most streaming platforms. It’s hard to tell what will and will not catch on, but the promise held within the game lies in the potential for showing a player's skill ceiling and new distinct runs each time. It’s due for release sometime this year, and if you’re into these kinds of rage games, check it out and wishlist it on Steam!