For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Dusk Climber, from Ivan Onoprienko, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.
The game's developer got in touch and brought this game to my attention. Dusk Climber is unlike any game we've played for quite a while and it was that aspect that made me interested in checking it out.
I was greeted by a welcome message from the developer and it came with a gift. unfortunately, the game didn't come out and say that this gift was some of the games currency. as i played Dusk Climber we learned that it's used for retrying and for cosmetics. at the time, there were no clues as to whether or not this was a good gift but after playing it and seeing how slow collecting 100 crystals could be, i can say that it was a good gift.
This lack of information, or not providing quite enough information, happens throughout Dusk Climber. the game does have a tutorial, and an option to replay the tutorial, and whilst that's useful at the start of the game it wasn't long before i was being introduced to owl nests and safety ropes. For the owls, i eventually saw in the top left that reaching those created a checkpoint. But for the safety ropes, the game never said what they were used for. Another example would be how the App Store page showed the camp and save system, but when i played the game it wasn't until the final run when i stumbled upon it that i realised the Save Progress it was talking about was the checkpoint system rather than some pause and save feature like you'd get on consoles.
The tutorial was useful though. there were on screen messages as well, an early one being that some platforms are old and unstable or reminders that we've run out of stamina and need to touch the screen three times to pull ourselves up. Retrying is very quick, or continuing from a checkpoint is quite cheap. this meant each run i did, i went further and further. I finished this gameplay video by reaching the next biome and it was satisfying. By reaching this new area, i now have the option to continue playing from the first one and working my way up or start from the second one. If i get tired from that aspect of gameplay, there are daily challenges i can try too. There doesn't seem to be a limit on how many times i can try it either. Dusk Climber also has leaderboards and after my final run i ended up 18th globally. So there are various options regarding how to play Dusk Climber, giving it some replay-ability.
The controls are simple and relatively straight forward. you can move your character by tapping the screen. by holding the screen and sliding your thumb you can see the arc of possible jumps and when it lines up with where you want to go you can let go and then tap the screen to pull yourself up. depending on which way i was jumping meant i would switch between my left and right thumbs. With no countdown timer, there was rarely any pressure to make fast jumps. it was nice being able to play Dusk Climber at my own pace and with the checkpoint mechanic it's possible to play it in little chunks, great if you're commuting.
As i played Dusk Climber i had some thoughts as to what could be added, what could be tweaked, and what might need a little more work done. But as it is right now, i do think Dusk Climber is worth your time. for me, it's a style of game i've not played as much so in that respect it's interesting, but the game as a whole is worth your time and it would be interesting to see where the developer takes it going forward.
Version 1.0.6 Played
