BETON BRUTAL

This is one of those instances, where I'd wish Steam review could be something else than binary positive / negative. I'm leaving a positive review for many reasons, but some of those reasons are beyond this game - I wish that indie games succeed in general and clearly this game has a passionate background, both in its making as for it's fans.
It's also very reasonably priced which means I think I got for my money's worth, despite me coming to an conclusion I won't probably ever finish this game.
So what's the reason for my ambivalence? Here's the thing - before going into this game, you REALLY need to ask yourself - do you have plenty of time to spare for a game that by design, doesn't respect yours - despite that I believe for many finishing it might be a rewarding experience.
If you're like me - average gamer, I'm in my 40s - I've been playing games since 80s, ever since Super Mario Bros and I can take on challenges when it comes to video games but still my time and energy for them is limited. Then you'll get much more out of this game, if you accept that the only first 300 metres of the 500 metres of climbing is for you - but the rest 200 metres isn't. The last 200 metres is for gamers who have time to play all through the night or have the willingness to try over and over again, hour after hour practicing.
I enjoyed the first 250 metres immensely, the atmosphere, the stakes in the jumps etc. Once I got to the point where there are bouncing pads, it was the first "red flag" so to speak - the game stops being a simple parkour game and becomes a parkour game with mechanics that start to feel bit gimmicky and the progress becomes much, much much more slower. I'd say even the general atmosphere of the world starts to change- first half of the game feels more "organic", like climbing some real place, but the latter half starts to feel like an designed obstacle course. Which it is, but you get my drift - first half, I'm not thinking the game world is an "obstacle course" but something else.
I loved the first 250 metres and for the 5 € price, the 3-4 hours that I got with that price were definitely worth it and that experience is why I'm going to leave a positive review.
At first I was quite heavily disappointed on how the game seemed to change on how it creates it's difficulty around the halfway point and I kinda understand that the developer needs to push the envelope. After reading other people's experiences, watching playthroughs regarding elements like the bouncy pads, "nails" on the walls, and jesus s. christ the sloped surfaces and the odd ice "boosting" surfaces - I just realized that I have plenty of other games to play and the last 200-250 metres aren't just meant for me, as a guy who has to work 9 to 5.
So in a way, Beton Brutal is like two games - the simple, beautiful game with wonderful atmosphere and hand-sweating jumps - and the second part is more about....well, still hand-sweating jumps with stakes but more repetition, more practice, more challenge that goes beyond what a gamer like me is willing to experience. I'm leaving this review for that first 300 metres but with that caveat - if you recognise yourself in what I'm describing here, please do experience this game but set your expectations so that for you, this climb isn't 500 metres - it's 300 metres and that way you'll get the most enjoyment out of this.
Oh and sneak button is your friend, especially with ladders. You can traverse fairly safely between ladders by using it.
The problem with the sneak & ladders however is that it's inconsistent mechanic. For example, you can "sneak" safely between single ladder elements that are next to each other but if you have a knee-high section of two ladders, suddenly this superhuman parkour protagonist cannot traverse between them. When in reality, it should be just even safer and easier to move between ladders if they are higher than a single step. There's a lot of small little jumps between ladder elements like this that with all the repetition isn't just all that fun.
Ladders would be a better mechanic if they wouldn't feel inconsistent. A little bit more leniency on sneak-traversing between ladder elements in regards whether their height would be great.

For all of the climbing games and any of the sorts that presents its players with a high level of challenge (think Jump King on the precise platforming end or Getting Over It as far as less conventional control schemes go) in order to test their skill and patience, learning the ins and outs of how to grasp the basics whilst slowly mastering the game as the level design becomes increasingly more brutal that pushes them to reach new heights, certainly you could say that I am exactly that kind of person who is eager to reach new heights as far as these types of games are concerned!
However, in all of that time, I can't say I have ever actually tried out a true 'parkour' game of the sorts until rushing head-first into what I would classify as being a climbing game in its own league as BETON BRUTAL thrusts the player down the bottom of an octagonal tower as they are tasked to make their way out of a 500 metre tall pit with increasing precision and bravery as the jumps become more daring and the safety gaps growing slimmer!
To begin, how you control your character is what will largely determine just how far you get into such a behemoth of a skill-based game here as BETON BRUTAL lets you loose with no tutorial of the sorts to ease you in at first, trusting the player to figure it out slowly for themselves as they make their way up from the very beginning. Seeing as the directional buttons (WASD) are used to guide you to where you need to be and coupling this with the space bar to jump over the many, MANY gaps will ensure that you can at least get some ways up without too much issue.
Eventually you'll find certain leaps that are practically impossible to make without the use of the sprint via the Shift button to get that boost of speed needed for much of the later places where big jumps are common-place alongside being thrown into new gameplay elements that will demand nothing short of proficiency to progress further, although it should also be noted that a few tricky spots further up will be of great benefit to the player if they make use of the sneak function by pressing CTRL to slow down but, more importantly, allow the player to lean off platforms without risking falling down below.
As far as how it feels to play BETON BRUTAL, for anyone who has played Minecraft at either a casual level or at a skill ceiling of those who have played various extreme parkour maps featuring a lot of running and jumping over challenging obstacles up in the air, they may feel a strong sense of familiarity as to how this indie feels to control as far as the overall playing experience goes. Whilst some may attribute this to parkour games all borrowing from the same genes and DNA of the niche genre, I strongly feel that BETON BRUTAL does such a good job at replicating the exact feeling and controls of how Minecraft would play that I'm almost tempted to say that it may remind one of Minecraft itself were it not for the vastly different graphics and artstyle.
On that note, the game's visuals is certainly one of its more intriguing aspects for me personally as BETON BRUTAL is presented in a dark, gloomy world that delivers a rather foreboding and eerie aura that only aids in the real danger and perils involved with the parkouring upwards and across the frighteningly-tall tower. Even taking into account the choice of separating each of the five sectors into five colour-coded segments that help to distinguish each section of 100 metre climb from the next as the leaps involve bigger risks and ever-more daring leaps of faith!
Though to touch upon the obstacle side of things, I do quite like how the tower's level design (note that I am basing this entirely on the original map and not the free 'BETON BIRTHDAY' or the paid DLC 'BETON BATH' maps) eases the player into the parkour experience without being too overwhelming, at first anyhow, given how the introduction of wall-mounted iron ladders is key for making the much bigger jumps even remotely possible for parkour players alongside pipes that narrow in size as you progress higher and higher acts as a simple yet effective way of exploring the sheer thrill of parkouring.
Later on you come across bounce pads that, whilst not to everyone's cup of tea, I didn't find to be a bad addition after learning how best to utilize these whilst soaring in the air as shortcuts is a speciality of the parkour genre and BETON BRUTAL is no different in that aspect as some of the biggest skips can be made via these coloured trampolines that begin showing up in the 200m sector, which I firmly believe acts as an 'intermediate' gap between the relatively-easy platforming seen below 200m and the much more brutal obstacles seen above.
Naturally this leads to what I am confident is a key criticism of many players new to the genre as the 300m sector marks a serious step-up in difficulty that caught even myself off-guard. For reference, it took me about 3 and a half hours to reach 300m and be introduced to not only the new variant of ladders, these 'nail-like' climbing grips that can not be stood on top of like their iron ladder counterparts, but also a thin version that dangles from the air as a wired pole to dial up the difficulty to 11 as this is where the game REALLY starts to live up to its name given how I spent more time just trying to make some progress towards the 400m mark than I did actually reaching the 300m sector!
No doubt this will have turned off casual fans of the precise platforming genre when the heat got turned up from spending too much time in the 200m segment of BETON BRUTAL that they jumped right out of the 'frying pan' and straight into the fiery fire that would make that part look like a cakewalk by comparison! And that goes without saying that this game also lives up to a subtle horror aspect in the form of that unusual 'Vertigo' parameter that rises whenever you stare directly above or below for too long alongside making jumps with big falls that makes it shoot up, as having this be above a certain percentage for too long will result in this game's 'shadowy figures' begin stalking you as they appear in places where you least expect them as well as generally making an already tense game even more likely to put you on edge as you make the climb, this perhaps proving to be too much for some trying to make the climb upwards.
Honestly, going into this game without much knowledge of what it was about or the challenges it truly entailed, I can safely say that this is one of the hardest climbing games that I have personally played thus far as it probably doesn't help that I'm not accustomed to 3D precision platforming as a whole. Though no doubt it is also quite the satisfying platforming game to master once you *really* get into the swing of things as previously daunting obstacles early on become child's play as a huge fall down becomes less of an multi-hour drag back upwards and more of a simplified obstacle course from the lens of a now-experienced climber!
It is a pity that I'm having to take a break from the game and review this earlier than I would have liked to, seeing how it isn't just the mental burnout of having tried a single segment of the game for several hours on end but also the physical strain too. Usually I'd have fixed by making use of a controller instead but unfortunately they are simply not as responsive to the quick and precise movements you'll need to make when leaping in the air compared to the good old keyboard and mouse as far as what I have practiced between the two.
Having said all of this though, I can recommend BETON BRUTAL to anyone who is looking for a good challenge on the scale of Jump King that combines the aerobatic thrills of the parkour genre in the 3D realm as, although I'm giving up for now, I do firmly believe that it does wonders to take a good break when you aren't making any progress and to come back with renewed vigor and determination for such arduous challenges as these!

instagram reels ahh gameplay, we should lowkey popularise it

It's exactly what it looks like and very fun. You're getting a lot for $7, granted you enjoy these kinds of games in the first place. Any negative reviews complaining about tedium or bad level design with less than 100 hours of playtime are completely useless and should be ignored. Any time I thought there might be a section that was unfair or completely up to chance, a few more hours of practice would teach me that I was just doing it wrong. This is a game about getting good, and if you don't want to spend time doing that, why'd you buy it?

at its current price, this game would be easy to recommend with just he first map in mind. considering that there is a second free map, paid dlc on offer as well as an incredibly in depth map editor: this game is an incredibly easy recommend for foddian game fans. BETON BRUTAL is quite literally one of my favourite purchases on steam

this game is so goddamn hard, they're releasing like one map a year and it's still faster than i can complete them. 10/10

Minecraft parkour and beyond. Great movement game, comes with a level editor, leaderboard, replays, and lots of custom content.