GIRP – New Game From the Creator of QWOP

If the link you just clicked made no sense to you, don’t worry, that’s to be expected. QWOP is a flash game which gained notoriety online for being next to impossible. It’s a ragdoll physics game in which you control a runners limbs individually and attempt to reach the finish line of a 100 metre dash. Dashing isn’t really the games strong suit. I’ve never managed more than about 5 metres personally, though there’s an odd compulsion to keep going back. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a go here.

Or, even better, try creator Foddy’s new game, GIRP. This time you only control the arms of your character as he tries to scale a cliff while rising water threatens to engulf him. To climb you must hold a key corresponding to an onscreen ring, slowly moving up by holding control or shift to swing from ring to ring. It sounds more complex than it actually is, though that’s not to say the game is easy.

While it never reaches QWOP levels of insane frustration, it is quite hard to climb in GIRP. It’s also tremendously addictive, as you get just a little higher each time and keep going back for more. The closest comparison to another game would be, bizarrely, twister. No, not some obscure retro game, actual body bending, socially awkward party game Twister. Except with fingers and keys instead of hands, feet and coloured circles.

It may sound strange, and there really isn’t anything like it, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. GIRP is a fine way to waste an hour or two, and a serious challenge. Try it here.