What is Only Up!, the climbing game blowing up on social media?

If you’re a gamer in any capacity, your cup is probably overflowing with great games to play right now. There are hits like Diablo 4, FinalFantasy 16And The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, to name a few. But many people, from big influencers to humble players, choose to give their time to an unlikely candidate: Only up!

Only up! is similar to Getting over it with Bennett Foddya surreal platform game in which the player takes on the role of a shirtless man who crouches in a cauldron and uses his mighty sledgehammer to climb a magnificent and surreal mountain peak. Only up!, developed by SC-KR games, is a 3D platform game with a similar premise. The player must climb past giant disembodied feet, Shiba Inu balloons, and vast networks of oil tankers and jetties. The game took off in China and was eventually streamed by Ludwig Ahgren, gaining huge popularity on Twitch and TikTok.

As Ludwig points out, most of the reviews at the time of shooting his video are in Chinese. The game piqued his interest, and he gave viewers a tour of the surreal dreamscapes, wild dialogue – often delivered by an unseen narrator, but sometimes it comes from a dog, and it’s never explained why – and incredible views.

Only upstairs is a great game for streamers because it has plenty of “oh no” moments where the player drops dramatically back to Earth. The game isn’t afraid to challenge you either; at one point there is a crown and a congratulatory message. Is that the end of the game? Absolutely not, idiot. You absolute rube.

Despite the game being unmistakable foreign, it has received a lot of attention on Twitch. Influencers like Pokimane, xQc and DrDisrespect all have the stunning vistas of Only up! It also has built-in timers, which is like catnip for speed runners. This all led to it Only up! climb the rankings; as of June 26, it is the fifth most popular game on Twitch, casually chilling with titans like League of Legends And Diablo IV.

The success of each game has a luck factor, and Only up! seems to have encountered incredible mainstream success. It’s a profoundly strange experience that constantly throws the player into surprises, and if you miss the heyday of Get over itthis is the closest thing to a renaissance.