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Only Up!

is the kind of viral game that gets a lot of attention due to the fact that an audience’s favorite streamers are playing it and raging. However, it’s a poor imitation of
Only Up! Game Cover
69%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
stability, optimization
73% User Score Based on 6,101 reviews
Critic Score 50%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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Only Up! Game Cover

About

Only Up! is a single player casual platformer game. It was developed by Indiesolodev and was released on May 24, 2023. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

"Only UP!" is a narrative-driven platformer inspired by the tale of "Jack and the Beanstalk." As young Jackie from the ghetto, you'll embark on a journey of self-discovery and learning about the world amidst crisis. With samurai-like patience and cunning, overcome obstacles and reach new heights, all while remembering that mistakes are opportunities for growth.

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Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
Only Up! screenshot
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73%
Audience ScoreBased on 6,101 reviews
gameplay30 positive mentions
stability113 negative mentions
  • The game offers a unique and challenging climbing experience that tests patience and skill.
  • Visually appealing with interesting environments and a simple yet addictive gameplay loop.
  • Provides a sense of accomplishment when reaching the top after numerous attempts.
  • The game lacks a save feature, forcing players to restart from the beginning after exiting.
  • Controls can be clunky and inconsistent, leading to frustrating falls that feel unfair.
  • The presence of bugs and glitches detracts from the overall experience, making it feel unpolished.
  • gameplay
    154 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Only Up!" is characterized by a challenging climbing mechanic that demands precision and patience, appealing to players who enjoy high-stakes platforming. However, many reviews highlight issues with clunky controls, inconsistent mechanics, and a lack of polish, leading to frustration and a sense of unpredictability in gameplay. While some players appreciate the addictive nature of the gameplay loop and the visual aesthetics, others criticize the game's numerous bugs and the absence of a save feature, making it a polarizing experience overall.

    • “This upward journey is a test of precision, patience, and perseverance, as the game’s punishing difficulty and unforgiving mechanics require players to carefully time their jumps and navigate narrow ledges.”
    • “The gameplay cycle is addictive as each 'level' presents new challenges, rewards, and power-ups that motivate the player to keep climbing to even more challenging heights.”
    • “The vibrant visuals and engaging mechanics have truly captured my attention.”
    • “The mechanics are absolutely terrible; I've seen better mechanics on a Sega Dreamcast. The game crashes, you can't adjust sensitivity without it changing back to default, the jump button is terribly inaccurate, and to top it all off, you can't save the game (in 2023).”
    • “The game mechanics are so unresponsive and clunky for a game that requires precision and fluidity to beat it.”
    • “Game control feels very clunky, and the whole game is me fighting against the game mechanics and not the obstacles themselves.”
  • stability
    118 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous players reporting severe bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder gameplay. Many users describe the experience as frustrating due to unpredictable mechanics, collision issues, and frequent freezes, leading to lost progress and an overall sense of an unfinished product. While some find the glitches amusing or part of the challenge, the consensus is that the game is currently unplayable for many, making it difficult to recommend.

    • “The gameplay has little to no glitches.”
    • “If you're gonna make a game where you can lose over an hour of progress, make sure it's actually bug free first.”
    • “Game is hard to start; I'm not bad, but it wasn't complete. Even the version in Fortnite has more players and fully complete models, no glitches, etc. If it goes on sale, get it.”
    • “This game is a buggy, awful mess, made by a sleazy cash-grabbing developer piggybacking off of developers/artists who truly worked hard to publish their works.”
    • “It's so buggy and broken it's actually unplayable.”
    • “Game is unplayable due to bugs and glitches.”
  • graphics
    105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the unique and surreal art style, while others criticize the poor optimization and performance issues, leading to lag and low frame rates even on high-end systems. Many users express disappointment over the removal of certain artworks, resulting in repetitive environments that lack polish. Overall, while some find the visuals captivating, others deem them inadequate and frustrating due to technical shortcomings.

    • “Visually, the game has a unique, almost surreal art style that gives each level a fresh, intriguing look.”
    • “The graphics and assets looked nice, and they were placed very deliberately to create certain types of terrain that posed new challenges to the player.”
    • “Engaging gameplay, beautiful graphics, and a captivating story.”
    • “The graphics are awful even on high settings, and the third-party assets give the game a really 'garbage bin' feel.”
    • “Between the terrible godrays, awful textures, crude mapping, and the fact that graphics are swapped from other games in places says there's nothing of value here.”
    • “I've seen mobile games with better visuals than this so-called 'next-gen' catastrophe.”
  • music
    89 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its ability to enhance immersion and provide a relaxing backdrop, while others criticize its repetitiveness and lack of variety. Many users express a desire for separate audio sliders to adjust music, sound effects, and voiceovers, as the current setup can lead to frustration, especially with the frequent looping of certain tracks. Overall, while the music can contribute positively to the experience, its limitations and implementation detract from the enjoyment for many players.

    • “The sound design and ambient music add to the immersion as you focus on making that next leap.”
    • “Chilling game, especially with music in the background.”
    • “The music fits perfectly to the type of anger you feel after falling and hours worth of playtime, so it just kind of adds to that will to beat the game because you are mad at the game rather than at yourself.”
    • “Also, you will hear the same music over and over and it gets very repetitive.”
    • “After a few runs, I honestly just turned down the volume and played music or a podcast.”
    • “The music gets very annoying after it repeating as well.”
  • optimization
    69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting severe performance issues, frequent bugs, and inadequate graphical settings that fail to deliver a smooth experience. Many players experienced significant frame drops and had to lower settings drastically to achieve playable performance, leading to frustration and disappointment. Overall, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, detracting from its otherwise enjoyable gameplay.

    • “The game itself is super fun but it's poorly optimized.”
    • “Jokes aside, the game is fine but wish the performance was better for a game like this...”
    • “Could be great, but poorly optimized, mechanics are not the best, feel there isn't enough initial routes to keep it interesting.”
    • “A good idea but very poorly done, it is full of bugs, extremely poorly optimized, not worth playing for more than 15 minutes.”
    • “The game is not optimized at all, within the first 10 minutes I'd re-triggered the same audio track at least 5 times, and the text-to-speech narration style feels ridiculously cheap and only good for a quick laugh before then getting obnoxious.”
    • “The actual challenge of this game is how horribly buggy and not optimized it is.”
  • story
    65 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players finding it minimal and poorly executed, often relying on a monotonous text-to-speech narration that detracts from the experience. While a few appreciate the underlying themes of struggle and perseverance, many criticize the lack of emotional depth and coherence, leading to a perception of a hastily assembled narrative. Overall, the story fails to engage most players, overshadowed by gameplay mechanics and technical issues.

    • “The story of the game takes place in the year 2035 when North Korea officially ends the ceasefire for the Korean War and launches a series of surprise attacks on the United States of America and South Korea.”
    • “This dystopian city and a little bit of dark backstory were really interesting.”
    • “The story is very captivating and the voice acting is amazing.”
    • “The plot is paper thin, obviously not seriously worked on or considered in the making of the game.”
    • “The story is sparse, mid, and depressing.”
    • “The weird story dialogue killed the game for me.”
  • humor
    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is polarizing, with many players finding it genuinely funny, especially during multiplayer sessions that lead to shared laughter and frustration. However, some criticize the humor as lacking depth, with AI-generated narration and unoriginal jokes failing to resonate. Overall, while the game can elicit laughter through its chaotic gameplay and absurd moments, it also frustrates players, leading to mixed feelings about its comedic value.

    • “Whole group of friends bought this game, sharing screens in Discord has had us crying laughing.”
    • “It's a hilarious mess that will leave you questioning your life choices, but hey, at least you'll have a good story to tell.”
    • “Took too long, voices in this game makes me laugh and the random animals that discourage you are way too funny.”
    • “I bought this game thinking it would be funny, but it was not. It's so frustrating that after 10 minutes, you'll be asking yourself why you bought this game. Was it really worth 10 dollars? No, it's not worth it. Do not spend your money on this; you will regret it.”
    • “This game is not funny at all. It's just a waste of time and money.”
    • “If you want to avoid depression and live a happy life, do not buy this game.”
  • emotional
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players describe the game as an emotional roller coaster, filled with intense highs and devastating lows that often lead to tears and frustration. Many express feelings of heartbreak and stress from the challenging gameplay, while others highlight a sense of relief and accomplishment upon overcoming obstacles. Despite some criticisms regarding its execution, the emotional impact of the game resonates strongly with players, making it a memorable experience.

    • “Lies in its addictive challenge and the emotional highs and lows that come with every attempt.”
    • “Tear jerking, heart wrenching, and soul crushing with a tinge of hope lingering at the end of an extremely long tunnel.”
    • “An emotional roller coaster with the highest of highs followed by the lowest of lows when you fall (pun intended).”
  • replayability
    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews on replayability are mixed; while some players find the game highly addictive and enjoyable with infinite replayability, particularly for speed runners and content creators, others argue that the game lacks substantial replay value due to repetitive sections and a decline in community interest. Overall, the game's appeal seems to hinge on individual play styles and preferences, with some players thriving on the challenge while others feel it offers limited long-term engagement.

    • “Although I've only played this for a very short time, I can say it's very fun, very addicting, and very replayable. I watch streamers have so much fun with this and also get really mad when they fall.”
    • “Equal parts frustration and love, infinitely replayable.”
    • “There's a lot of replayability, and especially after you beat it the first time - you start getting that confidence.”
    • “Was worth the money no doubt, but for me, there is no replay value.”
    • “The replayability of this game is very short; a lot of sections have 2-3 minute parts where you just hitch a ride on a random object and pray you don't clip through said object.”
    • “Unless you are a speedrunner, there is effectively no replayability factor, and even if you like speedrunning, the temporary hype and popularity this game got seems to have died down, so you're only really competing against yourself.”
  • monetization
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy of this game has been widely criticized as exploitative and focused on promoting NFTs, with many reviewers labeling it a "cash grab" that prioritizes advertising over gameplay quality. Players have noted the presence of numerous NFT advertisements throughout the game, alongside microtransactions and loot boxes, which detract from the overall experience and suggest a lack of genuine effort in game development. Overall, the monetization approach is seen as a major flaw, overshadowing any potential enjoyment of the game itself.

    • “Ultimately, this game just comes off as a soulless advertisement for NFTs.”
    • “This feels like a massive cash grab, one that tries to capitalize on the popularity that the successful 'Getting Over It' brought to this genre.”
    • “The game is riddled with microtransactions and loot boxes, turning what could have been a mediocre experience into a blatant cash grab.”
  • grinding
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players consistently find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and unrewarding, often describing it as a mind-numbing experience that detracts from overall enjoyment. Many express frustration over lost progress and the repetitive nature of obstacles, which can feel trivial and overly drawn out. While some see potential for improvement, the current implementation leaves much to be desired, particularly in terms of quality of life features like checkpoints.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “It is vacuous, tedious, and unrewarding.”
    • “Lost progress is tedious to regain, with most of the climbing being dull and trivial.”
    • “However, as many already said, the game lacks some proper quality of life features such as checkpoints, especially since getting back up is so tedious thanks to slow climbing animations and poorly implemented music/voicelines.”
  • atmosphere
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its impressive design, with well-crafted models and stages that significantly enhance the overall experience. Users consistently highlight the game's strong atmospheric presence as a key positive aspect.

    • “Great atmosphere.”
    • “It adds to the atmosphere.”
    • “The models, stages, and atmosphere are very well-designed and impressive.”
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50%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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7h Median play time
9h Average play time
5-11h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 35 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Only Up! is a casual platformer game.

Only Up! is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 9 hours playing Only Up!.

Only Up! was released on May 24, 2023.

Only Up! was developed by Indiesolodev.

Only Up! has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Only Up! is a single player game.

Similar games include Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, Jump King, Pogostuck: Rage With Your Friends, Chained Together, A Difficult Game About Climbing and others.