Developer: Joe Fender, Andrew Fender
Platform: PC
Genre: Action, Adventure
Publisher: Future Friends Games
Sunset Summit is a co-op climbing game developed by brothers Joe and Andrew Fender, the developers behind DEVOUR, which has sold over 7 million copies, and published by Future Friends Games. Available on PC, the game lets you team up with up to 8 players as a group of elderly hikers attempting to reach the summit before sunset. This review was played on PC.
From the beginning, it seems like the game features four floating islands, each with four different routes to take, giving you a total of 16 handcrafted climbing routes to explore. I didn’t expect to enjoy this game as much as I did, but I really did, and it’s definitely worth your money. The whole point of the game is that you need to reach the summit within a certain amount of time, essentially before sunset.
What’s so funny about this game is that you’re playing as a group of elderly people who are part of a hiking club, and it’s amazing to see how well-equipped and active they are to be taking on such challenging climbs.
Essentially, it is a climbing game, but what I especially liked was the variety of items and tools you have at your disposal, which makes the gameplay super fun. You have your climbing axes to help you scale the mountains, ropes to help your friends out, and even some more unusual items like pogo sticks and booster pills. The charged jumps you can pull off also make for some amazing moments, especially when you’re trying to reach a platform that seems just a little too far away.
The drone might have been one of the most useful and enjoyable items in the game. You can use it to check out the routes around you whilst also communicating with other players. It acts like another set of eyes, and it’s even better because you can use it as a camera to snap some pictures along the way. The controls are pretty straightforward once you get the hang of climbing and using your tools, although you still need to be careful with your movements, as one wrong step can send you tumbling down the mountain.
Sunset Summit can be enjoyed with friends, and personally, I felt that’s the best way to play it, as it calls for some unforgettable moments. I mean, when else would you see an elderly lady eat a can of beans and toot her way all the way up to grab onto a ladder? The game can be played with up to 8 players, and you can select your server to best suit you and your friends. We had no issues or lag playing on an Asian server whilst based in Europe, which was great.
I will say I like how forgiving the game is. We played on Normal difficulty, and there were several checkpoints that you could reach, which came in handy. If you fall, you can respawn and try again without having to start the entire climb from scratch. Additionally, the game drops a fair amount of items that can help restore your stamina, give you charged jumps, and more. That being said, we didn’t end up reaching the peak on our first attempt.
This game relies heavily on your own climbing skills, if that makes sense. You can help your friends by informing them about different paths, placing down ropes, or even using item delivery drones to get equipment to them. But if I were to bring something over from PEAK, it would be the ability to grab your friends’ hands and pull them up when they’re struggling to get over an edge. I think that would make the co-op experience even better, especially when someone is just about to fall.
Nonetheless, the game is enjoyable and perfect if you want to play something different every once in a while. There are quite a few maps and routes that you can try out, so you won’t run out of new challenges anytime soon. For instance, the first route we did had an hour-long time limit that matched real time, so you really need to keep moving if you want to reach the summit before sunset.
The climbing axes, radio, rope, drone and camera are all handy, and the proximity chat and walkie-talkies make it even more fun to communicate with your friends along the way. There’s also something funny about the contrast between these elderly hikers taking on such dangerous climbs and the ridiculous situations you can end up in. The game does a great job of making falling part of the fun rather than something that just gets frustrating.
With the new update, there are also three new items to mess around with. The grappling gun is probably the most exciting addition, as you can fire it at a surface and get pulled towards it, which sounds like a great way to reach tricky spots. Fireworks have also been added as a visual alternative to the whistle, alongside a new camping radio that plays old-timey tunes. These are nice additions that give players even more ways to have fun during their climbs.
We were provided a few codes to try the game out with friends, and one of the players, Vroggo, had the following to say: “I played Sunset Summit together with 2 other friends and it was a delightful experience. There weren’t any obvious bugs or delays while playing in multiplayer, and I find it surprising that the game can hold a total of 8 players.
There is some difficulty to the level design, but it doesn’t feel impossible to course through, especially with the consumable items. Some items are so broken, though, that they make some difficult level designs easier to manage and more fun. The balancing-on-boards feature just takes pure skill to get through. Not super difficult, but it is nerve-wracking after reaching so far in a course. Plus, the checkpoints are convenient too, with the caveat that all players have to reach them to activate them.
The game itself is very picturesque, so it was nice that there was an actual camera with adjustable settings to use to take lovely pictures of your friends. It would also be nice, though, if a camera stand was available to be able to take group pictures. The drones feature does have a camera as well, but the gear on oneself isn’t as aesthetic in group pictures, unfortunately.
Overall, a decent, fun, and semi-relaxing game to play with friends. I give Sunset Summits a 7/10.”
Sunset Summit is definitely a great climbing game that ended up giving us a lot more laughs than I would have thought. Whether you’re playing with friends or taking on the climb solo, there’s plenty to enjoy, and with so many routes and items to experiment with, it’s absolutely worth checking out!
Overall: 7/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
