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Crytek's 'The Climb' Now Available--As An Oculus Exclusive

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Crytek has finally released its highly anticipated VR game, The Climb, letting Rift owners experience scaling up sheer rock cliffs to the mountaintops in locations around the world. 

Crytek has released a handful of VR demos in the past, but The Climb is the company’s first full VR game. The Climb was built using Crytek’s Cryengine to create realistic recreations of the Alps, Southeast Asia and the American Southwest. The game also represents one of the first releases that takes advantage of Cryengine’s VR optimizations.

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The Climb will challenge your resilience to heights, but more importantly, it will challenge your competitive side. The game offers different game modes and difficulty levels. Crytek said that the tougher climbs rate you on the time it takes you to complete the challenge, your climbing technique, how many restarts you used, and your climbing "flow."

The Climb also offers leaderboards where you can compare your scores with friends and see how you stack up against the best climbers in the game. You’ll be able to download "ghosts" from the leaderboards to challenge yourself against, too.

Crytek said that The Climb isn’t just about finishing the levels; it's about :how you can get quicker, climb more smoothly and efficiently, and compete on the leaderboards."

“We score your performance in a range of different ways. Of course, time is probably the most obvious, and we think the competition will be really intense. It certainly is in the studio!,” said Niklas Walenski, Game Designer, The Climb. “But we also score you on your 'flow' across a range of other mechanics. Can you beat the stage without dying? Without chalking? Without rewinding? Did you climb smoothly? Did you use harder grip types? Did you do cool stuff like huge leaps or hold onto grips with the trigger just half-pressed, something pretty tricky to do? There's a huge range of ways for you to improve your score on every level. "

The Climb is being released as an Oculus Rift exclusive. The current version of the game is designed to work with the Xbox controller that is bundled with the Rift, but it will also support Oculus Touch controllers when they become available (via a free patch).

The Climb is available today through the Oculus Store. Oculus classified this game’s comfort rating as Intense, so the game won’t be suitable for everyone.

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Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Zapin
    Why even release this with XB1 controller support?
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    That's the first VR title that actually makes me want to spend the coin... but not until controllers are out. Wonder why they didn't release for the vive... it's actually a complete solution now instead of having to wait.
    Reply
  • none12345
    Such a sad state of affairs to see VR going into exclusives, and fragmented app stores, and the like.

    I want no part of it unless its universal.
    Reply
  • IQ11110002
    Exclusives, Then no deal!
    Should be on every platform regardless of what VR hardware you just bought.
    Makes me want to get a Vive even more now, but I will wait and see if the same thing happens with exclusives for that.
    Reply
  • Agustus69
    To be honest, that looks like it would get pretty boring after about 30 minutes of game play.
    Reply
  • DoDidDont
    VR Headset manufacturers have to stop this exclusive stuff. Sure it may sway a few sales in one direction, but if VR is really going to take off and become a success, the software title need to be universal for all headsets and controllers.

    I’m not impressed with the VR titles out and in development so far. They look like simple demo’s for ages 7+ game from Nintendo.

    Some of the stuff Nvidia were showing at the GTC was impressive, but again a very short lifespan entertainment wise.

    I wont be buying into this VR stuff until the software gets a whole lot better, and Nvidia’s high refresh technology is implemented into a headset..

    We want to be roaming the corridors of Doom in VR, not landing Mario style kiddy planes at an airport!
    Reply
  • TheRaistline
    VR Kit exclusivity is on track to Ruin VR before it has a chance to be gain popularity amongst the general public.
    Reply
  • OkinSama
    People complaining about Exclusives, have no idea what that term even means in this situation. They're thinking of console exclusives, and that's is not what is going on here.
    Reply
  • TheRaistline
    17907662 said:
    People complaining about Exclusives, have no idea what that term even means in this situation. They're thinking of console exclusives, and that's is not what is going on here.

    You sir or madam, are incorrect. This situation is exactly like console exclusivity. Many of these exclusive games are due to partnerships with a specific hardware manufacturer. In addition to this the software companies are not allowed, under contract, to make the game compatible with any other hardware.

    There is currently no other reason nor physical limitation as to why any Rift game cannot work with a Vive headest. There has already been hacks that allow Rift exclusive titles to work with the Vive which proves that it can work with a minor software update/patch. Instead, there is an agreement in place between the software company and the hardware manufacturer that prevents this from happening. There is, however, a physical limitation that will prevent some Vive titles from working with the rift due to it's full room mapping and tracking to allow a user to utilize a real space instead of being stuck in a single position.
    Reply
  • Agustus69
    To be honest, that looks like it would get pretty boring after about 30 minutes of gameplay.
    Reply