Climbing games are having a quiet resurgence.
The recent acclaim surrounding Cairn on PlayStation and PC has shone a spotlight on those gaming experiences built around ascent, decision-making, and respect for the environment.
Unfortunately, Cairn hasn’t made its way to Xbox – at least not yet – but that doesn’t mean Xbox players are short of compelling vertical challenges.
In fact, we’ve got everything, from meditative ascents to survival-driven expeditions, leftfield platforming nightmares, and even cinematic climbing fantasies. You could say that Xbox players have access to all manners of climbing experiences, with something suited to almost every type of gamer.
But whilst we wait for Cairn to – one day – land on Microsoft’s finest box, you’d do well to get your climb on with this little lot. Join us as we dive into the Xbox Store library and uncover the best climbing games on Xbox.
Jusant
If there is one game that defines climbing on Xbox, it’s Jusant.
Developed by the supremely talented DON’T NOD, Jusant is an action-puzzle climber built entirely around the act of going up.
We think it’s about as close to Cairn as we can get, as every movement matters, from alternating your grip with the triggers to placing pitons and managing stamina as you scale a vast, mysterious tower.
Once the mechanics click, climbing becomes almost instinctive. Grabbing handholds, swinging across gaps, rappelling, and shimmying through tight spaces all feel mechanically superb, encouraging patience and exploration.
Slips rarely feel punishing and often reinforce careful planning and tool use.
It’s all helped by the fact that Jusant’s world is visually striking, as you would expect from a DON’T NOD game. Sweeping vistas, bioluminescent caverns, and wind-swept upper reaches all await your ascent.
You aren’t alone either – well not really. See, your companion Ballast subtly guides exploration while aiding with the unlocking of environmental interactions and narrative secrets.
In our 4.5/5 review, we praised Jusant for its serene atmosphere, clever mechanics, and immersive world. For anyone looking for a climbing game that blends meditation, narrative, and challenge, this is the one to play.
Insurmountable
Insurmountable offers climbing, with a ruthless survival twist.
A roguelike adventure, in Insurmountable each ascent devolves into a tense exercise in decision-making.
Procedurally generated environments ensure no two climbs are the same, while permadeath gives weight to every choice. Weather, time of day, exhaustion, hunger, and morale all demand constant attention. All things you would expect of a climber.
Instead of direct hand-over-hand control, you manage risk: push on during a storm, detour for supplies, or trust a random event that might help, or end your climb.
Multiple characters, branching storylines, and deadly peaks make Insurmountable tense, unpredictable, and deeply rewarding, at least when everything finally clicks.
Climber: Sky Is The Limit
For fans of utter realism, Climber: Sky Is The Limit is probably the best bet, mostly as it leans into full mountaineering simulation.
Route selection, weather windows, equipment, food, rest, and stamina management all factor into survival.
When on the mountain, you’ll face blizzards, crevasses, ice walls, and vertical slopes. And that means using tools like ice axes, carabiners, and lifelines correctly is essential to success, as is balancing morale, hunger, and temperature.
The best bit of Climber: Sky Is The Limit? That would be the inclusion of some of the most famous, most iconic of peaks like Everest and K2, helping give the game authentic scale.
It’s methodical, deliberate, and uncompromising. Perfect for players who want a grounded climbing experience?
Only Up To Space
If nerve-wracking platforming is more your speed, Only Up To Space delivers.
You play a stranded astronaut climbing ever-higher platforms with no checkpoints or safety nets. One mistimed jump can send you tumbling back to the start. Dynamic, unpredictable environments keep the climb tense, demanding precision, timing, and composure.
It’s cruel, minimalist, and unapologetic – a leftfield option that tests skill in a way few other games in this genre do.
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
From the makers of Lonely Mountains: Downhill, this snow-covered evolution trades bikes for skis.
Dropping players atop vast alpine landscapes, Snow Riders challenges you to carve the optimal path down. Multiple routes, hidden shortcuts, and sheer cliff edges ensure each descent is tense.
Solo Zen Mode, timed objectives, or online multiplayer add variety and replayability.
While it’s technically about descending, the risk, route choice, and tension are all very much climbing-adjacent, making it a perfect inclusion for this best climbing games on Xbox list.
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders proves that vertical gameplay can be thrilling, no matter whether you’re going up, or coming down.
Our 4.5/5 review highlighted how Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders thrives on the same core principle as great climbing games, that of risk versus reward, asking players to read the mountain, choose their route carefully, and commit to every decision on the slope.
Celeste
We’ll do anything to get the stunning Celeste into a list, even if this one takes a more abstract, platforming-focused approach to climbing. With inclusion on Game Pass, it near demands a play.
Every dash, jump, and wall grab requires precision. The mountain in Celeste is a metaphor for mental and physical challenge, and mastering it demands patience, skill, and perseverance.
Despite its punishing difficulty, each successful section feels deeply rewarding, making it one of the most emotionally satisfying vertical experiences on Xbox.
Our review described Celeste as a genius piece of game design, combining flawless platforming, emotional storytelling, and one of the most memorable climbs in modern gaming.
Assassin’s Creed Series
No climbing roundup would be complete without Assassin’s Creed, so pick your favourite from the franchise and go from there, scaling the highest heights and clambering over the most intense of spires. For us, we’re going with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, just because it’s the most recent. Black Flag was pretty much AC at its very peak though.
From leaping across Renaissance rooftops to scaling colossal monuments, the series captures cinematic vertical freedom like few other games.
While much more forgiving and scripted compared to some others on this list, there’s genuine thrill in planning your path, navigating obstacles, and reaching viewpoints.
For players who enjoy climbing as part of a broader adventure, any of the Assassin’s Creed games should be seen as a must-play.
Egging On
Yes, even eggs can climb.
If you thought climbing games needed arms, grips, or even a vague sense of balance, Egging On exists purely to prove you wrong. This brutally unforgiving Xbox and Game Pass offering stars an egg – fragile, wobbly, and filled with sloshing yolk – attempting to scale absurd vertical environments where one mistake can undo minutes (or hours) of progress.
Egging On is a ragebait climbing experience that thrives on awkward physics and player suffering. Eggs are not round, they are not stable, and they absolutely do not behave how you want them to. Every roll carries unwanted momentum, every jump needs perfect timing, and falling often means tumbling right back to the bottom, shell-first.
What makes Egging On stand out is just how committed it is to its central gimmick. Egobounds nails the sensation of being an egg; the wobble, the inertia, even the sense that the yolk inside is actively conspiring against you. You’ll need to master rolling, pivoting, and jumping point-first to gain height, all while navigating hostile environments packed with chainsaws, angry roosters, and platforms that feel deliberately placed to ruin your day.
There are concessions for sanity, including drone checkpoints that can scoop you up and return you to previously reached helipads, though they’re optional, sparse, and cruelly disabled by default. Choose wisely, because Egging On without them is about as welcoming as a cracked shell on concrete.
In our 3.5/5 review, we called Egging On exactly what it wants to be: a beautifully made, deeply frustrating rage game that rewards mastery but demands patience, resilience, and a tolerance for repeated failure.
It’s not for everyone – far from it, in fact – but for players who enjoy the battle between control and chaos, it’s a uniquely maddening climbing experience.
Which Climbing Game Should You Play First?
- For Meditative Precision: Jusant
- For Ruthless Strategy: Insurmountable
- For Realism Lovers: Climber: Sky Is The Limit
- For Brutal Platforming: Only Up To Space
- For Narrative Platforming: Celeste
- For Cinematic Verticality: Assassin’s Creed Series
- For Snowy Risk And Reward: Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
- For Ragebait Physics Chaos: Egging On
Why Xbox Is Still A Great Place For Climbing Games
While Cairn may have skipped Xbox for now, preferring to traverse the worlds of Steam and PlayStation, there is still a surprisingly diverse range of climbing experiences available.
From the near-perfect serenity of Jusant, to the survival tension of Insurmountable, the realism of Climber: Sky Is The Limit, the punishing precision of Only Up To Space, and the cinematic or abstract climbs of Celeste and Assassin’s Creed, there’s something for everyone.
Even Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders proves that vertical thrills can come in unexpected forms, whilst Egging On rolls into a life of frustration.
Whether you want challenge, strategy, or spectacle, Xbox’s mountains, cliffs, henhouses and towers are ready to be conquered.
But let us know what your favourite Xbox climbing games are. Has this list covered the finest or is there a significant omission we need to consider? The comments are below.
