Argentine Video Games: Hack and Climb, the Little Axe That Climbs

The last time I wrote about an Argentine game here, it was about a platformer where the protagonist wasn’t the fantasy hero, but rather the lowest-level enemy.

Well, surprise: now I'm going to write about a game where you’re not the fantasy hero, you’re his weapon. And your goal isn’t necessarily to avenge your former owner.

Hack and Climb is a platformer developed by Kodachi Games, specifically programmed by Felipe Ishimine with graphic design by Mica Karaman, where the player takes on the role of the weapon belonging to the hero who has just been taken out by the Evil Wizard® and falls to the bottom of the deepest cave. What’s your mission? Climb. Climb and climb until you reach the top.

Hack and Climb is a platformer developed by Kodachi Games, specifically programmed by Felipe Ishimine and with graphic design by Mica Karaman.

A 16-bit aesthetic (yes, I admit it, I have a very specific type) that makes full use of dynamic lighting combined with a present sound design (which, thanks to good execution, doesn’t fall into being repetitive or annoying) provides the perfect backdrop to develop the game’s main mechanics: aim, calculate, and pray.

Pray that the physics are on your side, of course. Hack and Climb makes excellent use of the physics engine to calculate where and how your weapon will land. Will it land edge-first against a dirt wall, getting stuck? Or maybe it falls awkwardly, handle-first against metal, causing it to bounce and go in the opposite direction you intended? It’s a true exercise in faith and hope.

The controls are simple: you aim in the direction you want to go, grab the weapon from one of the ends or the middle, and give it a push to send it flying. This can be done with either a mouse or a joystick, although the game itself recommends starting with a mouse to better adapt to the engine. The joystick is for pros.

Undoubtedly, in this sense, the game draws inspiration from some classic mobile games like Flippy Knife and combines elements from renowned platformers, like the metal surfaces in Celeste.

While it doesn’t have a linear story or a very marked progression like other games in the genre, Hack and Climb features two elements that add a good amount of flavor to the experience. First, all the weapons you can find and use as your main tools for advancement: you start with the axe, which has no special abilities, but you can come across things like a spear that, with a click in mid-air, gains momentum, a boomerang that alters its trajectory significantly, and even a sword that can change direction mid-flight. As a second colorful element, the game offers many modifications to customize/complicate the player experience. You can remove the markers that indicate where the weapon might land, or add a clock to keep track of all your failures.

Additionally, a good number of achievements accompany the game flow, generating that always welcome rush of spontaneous gratification. The necessary dose of Dopamine 12.

That’s a crucial factor of Hack and Climb: it’s incredibly addictive. While playing it to write this review, I found myself repeatedly bouncing off walls that were definitely not in my plans. I spent my time trying again and again different ways to reach hidden areas to find other weapons; first with the boomerang, then with the spear. Over and over again, and the hours just kept slipping by.

The game draws inspiration from some classic mobile games like Flippy Knife and combines elements from renowned platformers, like the metal surfaces in Celeste.

I, entertained. Wanting to give it another go.

Without a doubt, it’s a game that, with few elements, presents challenges and countless ways to overcome obstacles or levels, depending on each player. A personal experience that generates something that, in my book, is considered part of the magic of video games: it makes watching others play enjoyable. Seeing how someone else overcomes this or that level, using this or that weapon, in many or few moves. One of those short games that are great for measuring up against someone else.

Hack and Climb is not only available on the Steam virtual store, but it’s also available to play in a “lite browser demo” version from the Kodachi Games page, right here, right now. What a service.

To wrap up, with the previous article by Axel Bosso on Applecalypse, we kick off the Sunday reviews of “Argentine video games.” If you have a published project or a demo, you can leave it in this form for us to check it out :)