Rock climbing equipment.

[DrankManPLEASE]

Ropes, pitons, pulleys. Carry a chest full of stuff up a cliff face with a rope and pulley. Or climb it yourself using pitons and ropes, basically like a ladder. I have no experience in game development so this might be a ridiculously difficult to implement but it sounds cool in my head 

[cjc813]

I really like this idea!

Rope ladders are nice, but a bit tedious. Some sort climbing system would actually be pretty neat.

[Thorfinn]

Are you thinking quasi-realistic or fantastical? Do your belay points have to be close enough that drops are survivable, or merely that they keep you from bouncing off the rocks below?

Either is doable. Someone recently posted a similar idea of freeclimbing using a mechanism involving grip strength, but there wasn't really enough to go on, and when asked, said, sure, you should add some form of protection that keeps you from freeclimbing in certain locations.

Got anything fleshed out a little better?

[Crick]

I think it would be really cool if rock climbing were added to the game as a standard mechanic.

The way I would implement it is by adding a special kind of rock to the sides of steep mountains or cliffsides, reminiscent to mushrooms on trees. Those rocks would function as any other kind of ladder or could be broken off into small stones. Some of them might be cracked or unstable, so once the player passes over them, they would fall apart beneath them. These rock climbing stones could even be crafted by players to be placed anywhere.

I think this would solve the issue of outright adding climbing for every kind of block, while adding some extra mobility to early game exploration, especially cliffy areas. Perhaps certain kinds of gloves could even increase the player's climbing speed.

[Ivan Stamenov]

As a side note, currently you can climb/descent any height in the game by using only 2 pieces of rope ladder. It is tedious, but it is completely doable.

[Dilan Rona]

I do the same when climbing flat mountain faces. Only difference is I rely on 6 rope ladders.

[-Glue-]

I think a rope climbing system could be a really cool idea if balanced correctly. Though, they would likely need a huge overhaul to the rope physics.

Personally, I think a simple system would work best. Perhaps something similar to how it works in Death Stranding. You place a post with a rope, and toss it over the edge of a cliff to rappel down. You could also use it to climb back up. Would be perfect for those vertical shafts that go miles into the ground!
Descending would be faster than a ladder, climbing is about as fast as a ladder when against a wall, but when free climbing with no wall to walk against, it would be slower. That way it won't be an easy in and out. Maybe to add further balance, if you take damage while on a rope, you fall. Unless wearing a specific climbers belt.
The post/piton should be only iron and above, so you can't just climb everything day one, and need to work for it.

I also think a grappling hook would be cool. You could toss it up a wall to climb, with the same rules as above. Only iron and above, it would have durability, and could only be picked up by the hook, so you can't just magically get it back. However, a late game mechanical version could have a release button, so you could detach it from a distance to use it for more advanced traversal. I think it would be awesome to be able to use them to swing across gaps.

14 hours ago, Crick said:

I think it would be really cool if rock climbing were added to the game as a standard mechanic.

The way I would implement it is by adding a special kind of rock to the sides of steep mountains or cliffsides, reminiscent to mushrooms on trees. Those rocks would function as any other kind of ladder or could be broken off into small stones. Some of them might be cracked or unstable, so once the player passes over them, they would fall apart beneath them. These rock climbing stones could even be crafted by players to be placed anywhere.

This actually isn't a bad start. Perhaps a type of cracked stone could be climbable, albeit slowly. The risk of it crumbling or breaking would make climbing tall cliffs too risky. However, you could craft pitons to place in the sturdy stone walls as you climb, which, with ropes, act as checkpoints. So if you do fall, it catches you, stopping you from taking damage or dying. Though, this would require wearing the aforementioned climbers belt. Placing pitons in cracked stone, dirt, or other such materials would mean they have a high chance of coming lose when you fall.
In my head, you climb the rock, place a piton, hammer it in, attach a rope. That secures you, and you can continue climbing safely. Rinse and repeat until at the top. You could maybe even craft climbing shoes, or gloves, to make climbing faster, or reduce the chance of falling. I really like the idea of specific gear for specific tasks. So long as its not super RPG like.

You could leave the rope where it is, and use it to quickly climb and descend that rout whenever you please. Great for people living in a mountainous areas, or who want their caves to be easily traversable. However, we would need a way to balance out ladders. Why go through all this trouble when you can just place ladders, which will be faster and easier to set up? I could probably think of ideas for that, but this post is already waaaaaay too long.

Personally, I just think having pitons and ropes hanging off cliffs and caves would be a really cool aesthetic. It would look like you are well set up, or actually delving into an area you shouldn't be. Making your presence more grounded, rather than everything being covered in ladders, or having convenient stairs carved out.

Edited March 21, 2025 by -Glue-