| Only Up! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | SCKR Games |
| Publisher(s) | SCKR Games |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5[1] |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | May 24, 2023 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Only Up! is a 2023platformer game developed and published by SCKR Games. It was released onSteam on May 24, 2023, and permanently removed in September of that year following controversy over theuse of copyrighted assets. Players control the character Jackie and must reach the moon through a series of obstacles consisting of real-life items.
Only Up! was praised for its difficulty but criticized for its graphics and level design. It was compared to difficult climbing games such asGetting Over It with Bennett Foddy.Only Up! became one of the most popular games onTwitch shortly after its release and was nominated for the firstVtuber Awards andThe Streamer Awards.
Only Up! begins in ajunkyard where theplayer character, Jackie, must run, climb, jump, andvault through assorted objects and platforms. Around the map, there are beds the player can use as trampolines to skip portions of the obstacle course. The player must reach the top of the map to win the game and may slow down time to control Jackie's movements.[2][3] There are nocheckpoints, and the player cannot save their progress.[4]
Only Up! was created by the solo developer SCKR Games and released viaSteam on May 24, 2023.[5] It was partly inspired by the folktale "Jack and the Beanstalk".[4][6] On June 15, 2023, SCKR Games updated the game to addcamera controls like switching betweenfirst- andthird-person perspectives and centering the camera. The update was criticized for removing "all the fun of watching streamers suffer".[7]
Only Up! was removed from Steam on June 30, 2023, after numerous assets in the game were found to becopyright violations.[8] This notably included "Blanket in the Wind" by Aboulicious, a3D model of a girl released under anon-commercial license.[8][9] The game additionally containedsound effects fromFinal Fantasy VII andMinecraft. SCKR Games consequently removed all copyrighted material and relaunchedOnly Up! on July 1.[10] They also contacted Aboulicious for the creation of a replacement of their model.[5][11]
On September 7, 2023, SCKR Games removedOnly Up! from Steam permanently, citing stress.[5][12] The solo developer said they needed "peace of mind and healing" and sought to move on from the game.[3] Additionally, SCKR Games announcedKith as their next game, saying it would be vastly different fromOnly Up!.[13]
Blockchain games that buy and sellnon-fungible tokens (NFTs) had been banned from Steam since October 2021.[14]Only Up! placed images from the Goblintown NFT series on the player character's shirt and as one of the masks found in the starting area.[10][15] The NFT series later sold clothing based on the game.[15] As Truth Labs had released Goblintown under aCreative Commons 0 license, which allows for commercial use, it is unknown whether SCKR Games had partnered with Truth Labs.[16]
Only Up! garnered popularity shortly after its release. By late June 2023, it was among the most popular games onTwitch, avideo game livestreaming service, at 85,000 total viewers.[17][18]Livestreamers andspeedrunners shared themselvesrage quitting after falling down and losing progress from the absence of asave system.[17][19]
Many reviewers felt thatOnly Up!'s gameplay was stressful—which is what made the gamego viral[17]—and that it was similar to the platform gameGetting Over It with Bennett Foddy.[20][21][22] Ayuo Kawase ofAutomaton Media praised the "high feeling of tension" players felt while in the game.[2] Writing forTechRadar, Elie Gould believed thatOnly Up! could give the player "a slight adrenaline boost" with the thought that they could lose their progress by making a simple mistake.[20] Ben Lyons ofGamereactor noted the lack of checkpoints and wrote that players must figure out a way to navigate obstacles without falling.[21]Dexerto's Rishabh Sabarwal summarized the "captivating" gameplay, writing that the player, when close to winning, could fall at any moment, thus losing significant progress.[22]
Most critics felt that thegraphics ofOnly Up! were poorly constructed. Christian Harrison ofTry Hard Guides, Gould, and Lyons felt that the obstacles and overall design were not polished.[20][21][23] Lyons and Sabarwal stated that the hiddenEaster eggs in each section could surprise the player.[21][22] Although Kawase wrote thatOnly Up! was "poorly optimized",[2] Harrison noted that the game's graphics settings were set to their maximum.[23] Harrison considered it a "rushed cash grab".[23] Gould, Lyons, and Sabarwal expressed similar sentiments and felt thatOnly Up! was not unique.[20][21][22]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Vtuber Awards | Stream Game of The Year | Nominated | [24] |
| 2024 | The Streamer Awards | Nominated | [25] |
OnlyUp Fortnite is a customFortnite map created by a user known as ARMY. The adaptation shares most gameplay aspects with its predecessor while addingFortnite references.[26] With eight times the player count of the originalOnly Up!, theFortnite version had over 100,000 players in early July 2023.[27]