ONLY UP : Rising

ONLY UP : Rising is a game that took over social media gaming for a while. It is one of those really difficult games that people loved playing, and others loved to watch people get frustrated with how difficult it all was. To be fair, it was a pretty fun time and it is easy to see why so many people got into the game. The thing is, the official release got taken away as it used some assets from other games. To be honest, I thought this was hilarious, and it just kind of added to the legend of the game

Making It To The Top

There is not really much in the way of story in ONLY UP : Rising. The idea is that we play as a dude called Jackie, who starts out in a junkyard, and we need to work our way up to the top of the stage. That is the whole concept of the game, and it never goes any deeper than that. To be fair, think of games like Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy and you will be on the right track with what the deal going on here is. Games like this do not need some kind of elaborate story, so I am glad they did not cram one in here just for the sake of doing so.

Cause I’m Freeeeeee Running

A little Tom Petty reference for you, I do not think I have broken one of those out before. The gameplay of ONLY UP : Rising is what this whole thing is really about. You can run, jump, and climb, and you can make use of stuff like bouncy pads to help you progress through the area. The challenge comes in that one wrong move and SPLAT, you fall, and you have to start from the beginning. There is not a checkpoint system here, and it can be equal parts thrilling and frustrating when you make it near to the end of the map. It is easy to see why this was such a hit for streamers, and many times when you fall, you genuinely do not feel that it was your fault!

The Generation Before

There is a bit of a jank going on with ONLY UP : Rising, but while some people may say that this is a negative, and to be fair, that is a good call. However, for a game like this, the rough around the edges nature of it adds to its charm. The game has poor draw distance, and there is fog covering everything to hide it; you are not always sure what is climbable and what is not. Many, many times you will leap to grab onto something, only for it to not be grabbable. They did try and make it more “playable” by adding more camera options, but to be honest, taking away the jank kind of takes away the soul of what the game is all about.

I Have Heard That Before!

The fact that ONLY UP : Rising used assets from other video games, such as Final Fantasy VII and Minecraft, to name the most famous two, is pretty fun and just part of the charm of the game. Of course, this did lead to it getting pulled from Steam and having to be edited to remove the licensed stuff. I found it hilarious that the developer used this stuff, but clearly had no idea the game would blow up the way it did, so they probably would have gotten away with it. As of writing, the game has been completely pulled from Steam, but there are ways around this, if you get what I am saying.

Pros:

• There is something about it that makes you want to keep on playing
• The backstory of the game is interesting
• When you do a good run and everything goes right, it is exciting.
• I got a huge kick out of the illegal use of licensed stuff; the original version had

Cons:

• This game is very frustrating, but that is by design
• It is rough around every edge that it has!