As you level up, hopefully you get lucky enough with the choice of some good abilities. Some are passive buffs, like gaining more experience or energy every time you trigger an event on the map. Some of these abilities have timers, such as allowing you to climb faster once within a 24 hour period. As you do random events (which again, are a risk-reward choice by the player) you level up and gain new abilities to help you overcome some of the challenges. Each of your three distinct climbers ‘classes’ starts with unique equipment and abilities. The number of randomized elements in Insurmountable is actually pretty impressive, ensuring that some climbs may be easier than others depending on how lucky you are. After the fourth or fifth time on the same mountain, I began to wonder if the entire lion population is just hiding in old houses on the slopes here. The first few times I ran into this scenario it was an interesting little story, a vignette of adventure in my own climb to the top. You have the choice of leaving the house or searching for supplies, risking being caught by the couger. One particular one I keep running into is a decrepit house where a couger has made it their nest. Several events, while randomized, seem to repeat constantly. That doesn’t mean there are no drawbacks to this. The mountains are more or less similar in their makeup, (if the layouts are procedurally generated, I didn’t notice) but everything else, from the random encounters to the scripted events, are at least randomized enough that they are worth exploring. It is this type of challenge that makes Insurmountable compelling. Random Rolls and Cliffside Woes You won't believe how many times I ran into this shack on the mountain. The goal of completing all three climbs in succession is the main challenge of the game, and let me tell you, it’s tough. There is no saving your game, no continues, once you lose all your health, you die and start over. Each of the three mountains you are tasked to climb is filled with difficult pathways and terrible conditions, and with one false move, you are basically dead on the slopes. Insurmountable is billed as a roguelike, and it certainly does live up to that expectation. The markers are often out of the way of the direct path to the summit, so there is a risk-reward portion of the game to consider as you trek through the mountains. So a cave marker would have you sometimes explore a cave, while a treasure marker has a chance of recovering an item for your inventory. Along the way are markers dotted across the map, which trigger special events. The goal of Insurmountable is to climb three different mountains, reach their summits, then climb down to a safe zone. Rougelike Determination Get ready for a lot of dangerous pathways.

Insurmountable gameplay