I recently got a chance to play around an hour of Chicken Climber on the PlayStation 5 Pro, thanks to a review code provided by Ratalaika Games.
You can find my gameplay video and written first impressions on the vertical platformer below:
Pros:
- High stakes platforming.
- Charming retro graphics and soundtrack.
Cons:
- Lack of checkpoints or rewind.
Overall:
Chicken Climber is a vertical climber where your goal is to make it up to the top of the level. You play as a chicken that can only move around by jumping.
You can only control the direction and strength of the jump. It will also take some time to adjust to the physics of the jumping chicken. The game can be a real struggle when you start playing it.
Furthermore, Chicken Climber features no checkpoints or rewind features. This means that, if you fall off at some point, you will have to redo entire sections of the same level. You can even fall all the way back to the beginning of if you are really unlucky.
As you can see in the video, I only completed the tutorial and a small portion of the first level in one hour. While the game is meant to be hard, an easier difficulty setting would have helped less-skilled players enjoy it more.
If you can get past the punishing difficulty, then Chicken Climber is a solid platformer with charming graphics and music.