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Reset the timer on the last time you yelled at your friends, because it’s time to dig intoChained Together. A brilliant Indie game from Anegar Games with a simple hook that harnesses you to your pals, Chained Together is a hidden gem that’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s one that definitely needs more people playing.
The map that towers above you for seemingly miles is absolutely massive and it will take quite a while to see all its sights as you scale it. The trials and trail ahead are terrifying and very vertigo-inducing, but it’s worth it to get to the tippy top. To help you climb those chaotic cliffs, here’s what you need to know about the Chained Together Map.
How Tall Is The Map?
When you first spawn into Chained Together androtate your camera up, it’s very easy to feel absolutely dwarfed by therandom assortment of objectshovering miles above your head. It’s a long way to go withsporadically placed checkpointsthat aren’t very forgiving.
Try not to slip.
To track your ascent there’sa little altimeter on the screenthat will show your height. At the very bottom it will read justzero metersand it goes right up into the thousands as youconstantly climb up. In total,the map in Chained Together is 3,600 meters.
So you and your crew have avery, very long wayto go.
How Many Zones Are In Chained Together?
The fun thing about Chained Together, and most jump climbers in general, is that they can getvery creative with the areasyou’ll scramble your way into. Naturally, if everything was made of the samecookie-cutter platformsand propsyou would get very bored pretty quickly.
In Chained Together they’ve added variety by makingeach zone you arrive at unique. Which is great as itconstantly refreshes the climb, acts as a reward for making it that far, and continues to drive you forward as you want to see what comes next.
There areten distinct zoneswith each one offering something new. For example, the types of platforms you’ll be hopping onto, andnew ways to involve the main mechanicof having all the players chained together. Each zone appears once youhit a specific heightand their placement is usuallyevery 400 to 500 metersor so.
So it’s pretty spaced out and gives youlots of time to get used to the zoneyou’re in before you start to crave something different. To give you a little heads-up for what’s in store, here’s anoverview of the zonesthat you can keep to one side to keep you right as you climb.
Height (meters)
0 to 300
300 to 400
400 to 600
600 to 1,100
1,100 to 1,600
1,600 to 2,100
2,100 to 2,400
2,400 to 2,700
2,700 to 3,200
The Garden
3,200 to 3,600
Now that you’ve got thathelpful data to handwe’ll be taking a deeper look to help you and your friends ascend. Here’s abrief rundown of each zoneyou’ll walk into on your way up.
The main zones will appear named on your screen, but the small ones such as Car Race and Subway Station won’t. But you’ll know the area when you get there as it’s very obvious.
The Hell Cliffs
At the burning beginning of the firstzero to 300 metersare the Hell Cliffs. There’s a lot oftreacherous bone scaffoldingand wooden ramshackle buildings clinging to the cliffs.
It’s a nice warm-up and a good highlight of the types of platforms you’ll encounter such as thelaser tripped slidersand dangerously thin walkways. There’s also theconstant screaming of the damnedon a loop, so there’s that.
The Car Race
The Car Race is a cute little moment between300 and 400 metersthat lets your party pack into a small jalopy as yourace up a short slope. It’s very brief but it’s a nicedistraction from the main gamefor a moment. There’s some more platforming ahead along with a new type of interaction with the chain.
If you’re playing as a group you’ll find areas that let youcross gaps using the chain in unique ways, but if you’re solo those won’t appear. It’s short,spikes in difficulty at the end,and is a small sloping start to the mountainous difficulty levels later.
The Whispering Vault
Between400 and 600 metersyou’ll hit the first major indoor section that feels like a dungeon from afantasy RPG. It’s also gota bit of swimmingand is a nice break from platforming for a short while.
It’s a lot ofrunning around indoorsmixed with an interesting puzzle that involves raising and lowering pillars. It’s a short excursion before you’rechucked back outsideto do more platforming over a massive vertigo-inducing drop.
The Subway Station
At600 to 1,1000 metersyou’ll find the Subway Station that’s somehow floating in the sky. In here you’ll have a lotmore room to run around, but the downside is there’s some trains flying around.
It’s a stop-gap before the big introduction to the City zone and achange in sceneryto blue skies and pleasant music. Instead ofbrimstone, burning red lighting, and constant screamingof the damned. The platformings not so bad here, but itgets a little roughahead.
The City
The yelling is far behind you finally between1,100 and 1,600 metersas the cityscape opens up. It’s also avery long way down to fallif you’re playing on Normal or Lava.
Here all the props are city-themed, so it’s a lot of climbing alonggirders and construction equipment. Also it’ll feel like you can gooutside the grid to the cityscape, you can’t unfortunately as it’s just a bit of nice set dressing.
The Harbor
Next, it’s a Nautical theme between1,600 and 2,100 meters. Everything is port-themed, there aremassive cranes around the placeand you’ll often be scaling up the sides of colossal cargo ships.
There’s afun puzzle involving a moving bridge and some boxes. Plus a sketchy bit involves climbing a ladder betweensliding spiky blocksthat will send you soaring off into the void. It’s arelatively short sectionand you’ll breeze through it pretty quickly.
The Temple
Things have gone a bit lost Buddhist Temple at2,100 to 2,400 metersas for the first time there’s plenty of greenery. Big boulders, crumbling tombs, and ancient architecture await ina zone with a bit of explorationand quite a lot of platforming.
The biggest challenge is the section involvinga giant bubble and some temporary platformsthat will phase out of existence when the bubble passes. There’s also someslight puzzlework involved in the platformingbefore you reach the elevator at the end and ascend to the next zone.
The Shrine
It’s Pagodas and Cherry Trees between2,400 and 2,700 metersin probably one of the second most beautiful zones in Chained Together. A relatively short climb before the next zone, The Shrine is an enjoyable area.
However, there is atricky part involving solitary wooden pegsthat will stymie a group for quite a while. There’s an introduction ofrotating jump pads and a laser puzzleright before you leave.
The Deities
Things get a little mythical at2,700 meters and 3,200 metersas the zone takes on a Greek Mediterranean vibe. There are plenty of buildings in white and blue, with anabsolutely massive statue of Zeusas the centerpiece.
This zones relatively easy and there’s one particularlynasty section involving platforms that shrink in sizeextremely fast. So if you’re in a group this will cause a lot of chaos. The zone wraps up with youriding Zeus’s ThunderBoltout and it’s a very cool victory lap before the finale.
It’s a nice calm walk from3,200 onwards until the top at 3,600 meters, at least for the first few feet at least. You get a nice stroll through the most gorgeous zone in the game witha flower-filled heavenly gardento calm you down from all the pulse-pounding platforming that came before you.
However, it’s not smooth sailing into the end zone as there aretwo absolutely brutal challengeslying right at the end of this zone. The first hurdle isa conveyor belt that collapses behind youand has Takeshi’s Castle-style walls to run through along with other obstacles.
After some more platforming that will drive you insane asthe end is so tantalizingly close, you’ll have one lastvery badly controlledthing to do. A horse-drawn cart.
However, it’sno ordinary cartas it handles like a shopping trolley, goes as fast as a Go-Kart. The track hasobstacles along the waythat you may get easily stuck on. Whilst the road you’re onslowly crumbles awaybehind you extremely fast.
It’s a tense section but with the right crowd it can create a lot of laughs before youhit those pearly gatesand end the game by reaching the top of the Chained Together map at 3,600 meters.
