I can’t explain how much I like this game. And I’m a notorious hater so when I say I like something you can be sure it’s worth it lol.

Peaks of Yore is a free-climbing sim game that takes place in 1887. All levels are self-contained, and involve climbing a summit from ground to top. They start off easy, teaching you the core mechanics by climbing big boulders, and eventually you take on huge summits in subzero temperatures.

This level for example happens in a crevice that you have to climb down into and then back up the other end.

I love this game. It’s definitely more of a skill game, in that the climb is a bit arcady and solely involves moving from holding point to holding point. I.e. there won’t be points where you have to walk along a trail or anything. You can balance yourself with one arm indefinitely and build momentum to jump up to the next point.

Left mouse button basically reaches out with the left arm, right mouse button with the right arm, and you grab hold of holds like that and make your way from one to the next until you reach the summit.

What I really like is that the player skill definitely improves while the game changes very little. You do get upgrades which introduce new mechanics but it’s not a cheat code (except the ropes maybe so you don’t fall down) or really making things easier, it’s just introducing new things you can use during a climb. You start off on trivial boulders and even those, at the beginning, make you go “how the fuck am I going to climb that”. By the end of the ‘fundamental’ levels you’re zooming around the map and taking jumps without any care in the world.

The second level (though you can play in any order) is an actual mill and you have to dangle from the blades to climb up it. It was nerve-wracking the first time I did it because you know so little about the game. But when you come back to it later after having done harder climbs, you don’t even break a sweat. And I think that’s what I really like, is that the game is fair. It’s not one of those super hard games like Getting Over It or Alt+F4 which are meant to make you lose and rage. Peaks of Yore is consistent and fair, and you can tell was made by someone who cares about the topic – I don’t, but I appreciate that they do.

It feels great when you conquer a summit, and I can’t overstate how much I enjoy opening up the level book and picking my next challenge. I like also that the climbs aren’t usually overly long.

If you fall, you just start over at the beginning of the climb and make your way back up. You can secure dangling ropes during your climb to help you bypass areas you’ve already done. You can collect more on some summits by going out of your way to go get them.

All summits are graded in the handbook (the one above is ‘very severe’) but the highest grade is actually ‘ungraded’. I haven’t seen those summits yet but I can’t wait to get to them.

All in all, highly recommend this game. You know where to get it.