1 review
What's great
The rope makes your position a group decision whether or not the group was consulted, and that single choice turns climbing into a relationship. You can be playing perfectly and still get pulled off a ledge by someone forty feet below you, and the game is completely right to let that happen. Looking up and seeing exactly how badly the people above you are doing is information no minimap could give you.
What needs improvement
Losing the host mid-ascent throws away an hour, and it happens often enough that we now check who has the flaky connection before we start. The stamina curve is also unforgiving to whoever is worst — they run dry first, fall first, and then get to feel responsible for the party wipe, which is a lot to put on your least confident friend.
vs Alternatives
Every climbing game that copied this handed each player their own rope, which is a reasonable usability decision and completely destroys the point. If a game lets you climb without anyone else's mistakes reaching you, it is not doing what this does.
