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Atan by Goober Inc. 🏹🌠

Take on the role of a man on a journey to climb a giant rock colossus! Will he be able to reach the top and save all the goobers? Toe Bean Rating at the end!

An indie video game about platforming, adventure, and rope mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707360/Atan/

🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹

Cryptic Paw Gaming Website: https://www.crypticpaw.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/CrypticPaw_Official

Become Part of the Pack!

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Atan by Goober Inc. 🏹🌠

Take on the role of a man on a journey to climb a giant rock colossus! Will he be able to reach the top and save all the goobers? Toe Bean Rating at the end!

An indie video game about platforming, adventure, and rope mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707360/Atan/

🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹

Cryptic Paw Gaming Website: https://www.crypticpaw.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/CrypticPaw_Official

Become Part of the Pack!

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Atan by Goober Inc. 🏹🌠

Take on the role of a man on a journey to climb a giant rock colossus! Will he be able to reach the top and save all the goobers? Toe Bean Rating at the end!

An indie video game about platforming, adventure, and rope mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707360/Atan/

🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹

Cryptic Paw Gaming Website: https://www.crypticpaw.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/CrypticPaw_Official

Become Part of the Pack!

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Atan by Goober Inc. 🏹🌠

Take on the role of a man on a journey to climb a giant rock colossus! Will he be able to reach the top and save all the goobers? Toe Bean Rating at the end!

An indie video game about platforming, adventure, and rope mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707360/Atan/

🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹

Cryptic Paw Gaming Website: https://www.crypticpaw.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/CrypticPaw_Official

Become Part of the Pack!

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Atan by Goober Inc. 🏹🌠

Take on the role of a man on a journey to climb a giant rock colossus! Will he be able to reach the top and save all the goobers? Toe Bean Rating at the end!

An indie video game about platforming, adventure, and rope mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707360/Atan/

🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹🎮🕹

Atan by Goober Inc.

Atan is a third-person platforming and puzzle adventure developed by Goober Inc. that centers around the act of climbing a colossal mountain structure. Through its emphasis on verticality, rope physics, and environmental puzzles, the game delivers a sense of scale and quiet mystery that feels far bigger than its development scope would suggest. While Atan keeps its narrative intentionally vague, its mechanical design and environmental storytelling do much of the heavy lifting, creating a focused experience rooted in exploration, momentum, and mastery of movement.

Level Design

The level design of Atan takes place at varying heights as the player steadily ascends the mountainous colossus. This sense of elevation is reflected visually through the horizon assets, which sink lower and lower relative to the player as they climb higher. The horizon itself is artificially extended through the skybox texturing, an effective solution for both blocking out the void and reinforcing the illusion of scale, especially for a game developed within a limited timeframe.

Each level feels distinct not only through changes in rock formations and greenery, but also through the types of puzzles presented. While the primary mechanic revolves around climbing textured rock walls, the surrounding challenges evolve alongside the environment to ensure that each section introduces something new. Climbable surfaces are clearly communicated through a specific rock texture, keeping navigation readable without hand-holding.

Limited stamina plays a key role in traversal, forcing players to rest and plan their climbs. This ties directly into the anchor mechanic. Players can place up to two anchors anywhere in the environment, while also making use of naturally placed anchors along the route. These anchor points are visually emphasized with red flags so they stand out against the muted rock walls. From an anchor, players can attach rope, recover stamina, rappel downward, or swing outward to reach new areas.

Rope physics are central to both traversal and puzzle solving. The rope can be lengthened, swung, and combined with the bow and arrow system. On its own, the bow is used to clear obstacles like hives or activate switches. When paired with rope arrows, it allows players to create new swing points by attaching rope to wrapped bars in the environment. Giant cogs and electricity conduits further expand the puzzle variety, requiring thoughtful timing and spatial reasoning.

Whenever a new mechanic is introduced, it is gradually escalated in difficulty. This creates a strong learning curve that allows players to experiment and gain confidence before being pushed further. There are occasional technical hiccups, such as clipping through walls when standing between moving objects. Thankfully, the inclusion of a “last checkpoint” option in the pause menu acts as a stress-saving feature, especially given the extreme platforming on display. Frequent checkpoints further encourage experimentation without fear of harsh punishment.

Sound Design

The sound design in Atan includes sound effects for nearly every player action, which helps ground the experience and reinforce immersion. Background music appears primarily during transition moments, emphasizing shifts in mood or environment. These musical cues are soft and mystical, complementing the mystery of the protagonist’s journey.

However, much of the game is experienced without background music, including the main menu. While the silence can occasionally enhance the sense of isolation, the overall lack of ambient sound or music makes the world feel emptier than it needs to be. Sound plays a large role in making environments feel alive, and Atan would benefit greatly from subtle ambience or musical presence during exploration.

Character Controller

The character controller supports both keyboard and gamepad, opening up accessibility for players. Movement feels powerful and intentionally exaggerated, with long jump distances and a slight float at the peak of each jump. This works well within the game’s focus on extreme vertical platforming and helps the player feel capable of performing daring maneuvers.

The rope physics are especially impressive and feel comparable to the systems seen in high-budget titles. Swinging momentum, rappelling, and rope tension all behave intuitively, making traversal feel dynamic and satisfying. Overall, the controller gives the player a strong sense of control and freedom, elevating the spectacle of the stunts they are performing.

User Interface

The UI features a futuristic tribal art style that extends to its font, reinforcing the game’s themes and hinting at the protagonist’s cultural background. This aesthetic becomes even more fitting as ancient architecture and advanced technology begin to coexist within the world.

An options menu is present, which is always a plus for player agency. A checkpoint indicator appears in the corner of the screen to notify players when the game autosaves, easing anxiety during difficult platforming sections. Loading screens are filled with cute animated visuals and playful phrases, keeping the player engaged rather than presenting a blank pause.

The stamina bar is one of the most important UI elements, as it also displays how many anchors the player is currently carrying. Context-sensitive button prompts appear whenever the player approaches an interactable object. When using the bow, the UI clearly communicates whether a normal arrow or rope arrow is equipped through icon opacity changes and color-shifting aiming markers.

The tutorial UI is particularly well executed. Its subtle fade-in and fade-out behavior allows it to blend seamlessly into the world, making it feel like a natural part of the environment rather than an intrusive overlay.

Easy to Understand?

Yes. The pop-up tutorial UI clearly communicates mechanics and controls as they are introduced. The escalating level design ensures that players must master existing mechanics before being asked to learn new ones. The textured climbing surfaces also keep players aligned with the critical path without relying on excessive markers or guidance.

Fun Factor

I had a great time playing Atan! Platforming and puzzle challenges are right up my alley, and this game delivers both in satisfying ways. The rope physics alone are incredibly fun to experiment with and added a lot of joy to simple traversal moments.

Character Design

The character design of both the protagonist and the goober creatures is thoughtfully executed. The man’s clothing emphasizes utility over fashion, with items like hooks integrated naturally into his outfit. His lion headdress and body markings suggest a deeper cultural significance, whether tied to rank, occupation, or tradition.

The physics applied to his clothing and braid give him a strong visual presence in motion. His hair even functions as a gameplay element, as goobers cling to it when collected until they can be returned home. The goobers themselves are simple in shape but undeniably adorable. Their cuteness immediately builds empathy and motivates players to rescue as many as possible, while their odd presence hints at deeper world lore.

Story

Atan’s story remains intentionally vague. Players know they are climbing a massive rock colossus and eventually undergo a bathing ritual at the summit, but the motivation behind this journey is unclear. Themes such as coming-of-age are implied, but never confirmed.

Environmental storytelling appears through rock paintings, snippets of text between levels, and the existence of the goobers. However, these elements are not substantial enough to fully piece together the protagonist’s purpose. Expanding on this narrative, either visually or through clearer lore delivery, would strengthen the emotional connection between player and character.

Replay Value

Would I replay Atan? Yes, to a degree. Casual replay value comes from collecting all the goobers and enjoying the platforming and rope mechanics again. The upgrades tied to goober collection provide an incentive to explore thoroughly.

However, there is currently little replay appeal for hardcore players. The introduction of the bow and arrow strongly suggests eventual combat, yet no such systems exist. Expanding into combat or advanced challenge modes could significantly increase long-term replayability.

Final Thoughts

Rating: Four out of five toe beans! 🐾🐾🐾🐾❌

Atan is an impressive showcase of what a focused student team can achieve when mechanics, level design, and presentation align. Its vertical exploration, rope physics, and platforming systems feel polished and empowering, while its UI integration enhances immersion without distraction. Although the game would benefit from stronger sound design, clearer narrative motivation, and expanded replay options, its strengths far outweigh its shortcomings.