One Step Further Review (PC)

Contrary to popular belief, most, if not every “fan” of Getting Over it With Bennett Foddy are not, in fact, over it. It pains me to admit it, but I don’t think I will ever be over it. There’s a storm brewing—a storm that’s actually been churning for years, even. And as “luck” would have it, One Step Further has made a conscious decision to prod the wisps of the aforementioned storm with its own off-brand iteration of Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy. Go figure.

Oh, I knew all too well that it wouldn’t be a barrel of laughs. Like jack-knifing up a vertical incline with nothing but a hammer and dead weight, the idea of ascending a monolith of a bitterly cruel mountain was never going to be a good time, much less an enlightening moment that would fill me with pride and gratitude on completion. Again, it didn’t take much to realize the nature of the game; it was so abundantly apparent, in fact, that the initial portion of the journey invoked that exact same two-for-one emotion of regret and frustration. Yet I clambered on — not because I wanted to, but because I felt that I had to.

One Step Further doesn’t need a storyline to coerce you into picking up the pitons and slack; it simply dangles a small incentive over an apex and, like a moth to a flame, or a rabbit to a carrot, tells you to chase it. It doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it fill your head with knowledge as you grasp each foothold en route to the pinnacle. Instead, it laughs at your incompetence, and it heckles you as you slowly tear the hairs from your scalp in utter disbelief. For that, I thank you, One Step Further.

If You’re Going to Be Dumb, You’ve Gotta Be Tough

One Step Further isn’t massively different to the likes of Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy. The only striking difference between that and this, of course, is the protagonist. Unlike ol’ Bennett, One Step Further chooses to cast its web over a new hero—a drunken hero, at that, who wishes only to find a new purpose in life. To obtain such a feat, however, the intoxicated hiker must essentially travel to the highest point of the “Tower of Wishes”—a painfully long and gruelling mountaintop that houses all sorts of jumbled set pieces and other questionably placed obstacles.

The idea here is as simple as they come: take to the reins of the drunken hiker, and nudge them to the apex in an attempt to have their greatest wish granted. That’s the easy part. But, the process of booting them up the tower, however, is another story, and quite frankly, one that I myself am still trying to comprehend. Again, fans of Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy ought to know where we’re coming from with that one. Yes we digress, annoyingly.

Insurmountable Feats

One Step Further isn’t a mechanically perplexing game, though it is one that is awfully difficult to master. Like your traditional physics-based sandbox IP, one quick mistake here can ultimately lead to a rather unfortunate downfall. In One Step Further, in particular, you not only have the task of navigating the ruthless terrain and all its cruel curveballs, but also operating the drunken hero’s arms, legs, and other flimsy ligaments. Walking, for example, requires both patience and perseverance just to travel a few yards. Climbing, too, tasks you with manually alternating between two hands to carefully locate a grappling point and make small but seemingly solid progress. Add the fact that moving, in general, is also burdened by brittle and, quite frankly, painfully janky gestures, and you’ve got yourself quite the insurmountable feat.

Aside from it being all rather mentally taxing and rage inducing, One Step Further does actually come clean with a lot of silver lining embellishments—a surprisingly good-looking world design with a lot of interesting biomes and set pieces, being its standout USP. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an absolute pain in the backside to explore. But, like all physics-based sandboxes that dangle that sparkling carrot on the end of a stick, exciting things do come to those who wait long enough just to get a nibble. Here, that same carrot dangles on a mile-long string. Is it something that you want to chase? Sometimes, yes. Is it all worth the time and effort? That depends. Did Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy make it all worthwhile? Some food for thought there, folks.

Verdict

One Step Further is the exact type of hair-pulling, disaster-emitting dopamine fuel that drives us both off the wall with rage and provides us with a tediously satisfying sense of accomplishment in the rarest of occasions. It’s the sort of game that we absolutely love to hate—a game that you would happily watch your worst enemy (or closest friend) sift through, but at the same time, would hate to slug through if the roles were reversed and it was you who hopped behind the wheel to take the drunken moron for a spin. To that end, you can’t really win; it’s as likely to induce rage as it is a well-needed belly laugh. I suppose it just depends on who’s playing, and who’s more likely to throw a temper tantrum at the smallest of inconveniences.

Let it be said that, if you do enjoy mindlessly entertaining and ravenously difficult obstacle courses with questionably illegitimate mechanics and shoddy overlays, then I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll get a good kick out of One Step Further and its stupidly frustrating mountainous feats. If you’re somewhat quick to anger, though, then I imagine you’ll soon find yourself at wit’s end and just about ready to sober this sucker up the old-fashioned way — with a bucket of cold water and a good ol’ slap to the forehead. For me, eh — I wish I had chosen the latter long before agreeing to fulfil their deepest desires. You live and you learn though, I guess. *sob*