Getting Over It became a Twitch sensation because watching someone rage is cathartic — but watching them fail, get philosophical, and keep trying is transformative.
Streamers like Markiplier, Sodapoppin, and even Japanese Vtubers spent weeks on single climbs. In China, the game inspired custom obstacle courses in other engines. Someone even built a real-life mechanical version using a crane arm.
Why? Because the game is pure metaphor. The cauldron is the body. The hammer is willpower. The mountain is any long, lonely struggle — learning an instrument, writing a thesis, recovering from trauma. Foddy quotes Kierkegaard: “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” Every time you choose to keep climbing after a terrible fall, you exercise that freedom. Getting.over.it.with.bennett.foddy.macosx-hi2u Extra Quality
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is a punishing climbing game created by Bennett Foddy (known for QWOP and GIRP). Released in 2017, it became an instant cult classic — not because it’s easy, but precisely because it’s one of the most frustrating, rage-inducing, and yet strangely philosophical games ever made.
The premise is deceptively simple: You are a man named Diogenes (half-naked, sitting in a cauldron) holding a Yosemite hammer. Using only mouse or trackpad movements, you must climb a gigantic, chaotic mountain of scrap metal, rocks, trees, houses, and random objects — all without any checkpoints. Getting Over It became a Twitch sensation because
One slip, and you can fall all the way back to the start.
At first glance, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy seems like a parody of a video game. You are a man named Diogenes (the famous Cynic philosopher) stuck in a metal cauldron. Using only a Yosemite hammer, you must climb an endless, chaotic mountain of debris, broken furniture, and absurd obstacles. One slip can send you hurtling all the way back to the start. If no UI, edit the config file directly and save a backup
Yet since its release in 2017, the game has sold millions of copies, spawned countless live-streaming meltdowns, and become a case study in game design, frustration, and resilience. For macOS users, it runs natively — no complicated workarounds required.