Chickens Don't Fly Review: A Brutal Foddian Climb With a Killer Grapple

A rooster, two plungers, and one very tall pit

Chickens Don't Fly is a solo-developed climbing platformer from Bachware Games starring Cluck Norris, an anthropomorphic rooster trying to escape a maximum security prison complex armed with nothing but a pair of plunger-powered grappling hooks. It's a $9.99 entry into the "foddian" genre, named for Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and defined by punishing, physics-driven climbs where a single mistake can send you sliding back toward the bottom. What sets it apart in the early, entirely positive review sample isn't the premise, it's how good the actual swinging feels, with reviewer after reviewer calling out the grappling mechanics specifically as the best they've experienced in the genre, or in a 2D game period.

The grappling mechanic is the whole pitch, and it delivers

The single most consistent thread across this review sample is unreserved praise for the plunger-grapple system itself. One detailed review called it "probably the closest you will get to feeling like Spider-Man in a 2D game (even compared to official SM games)," crediting the "high degree of freedom over direction & launch power, the realistic momentum behavior, the secondary midair grapple, and the ability to hang in place indefinitely." Another reviewer, writing after their first hour, said the mechanic "feels really great when you start nailing some combinations," and a third simply called it "super fun physics swinging." For a genre where the core verb usually boils down to "climb," reviewers agree Chickens Don't Fly found a genuinely fresh way to make that climb feel expressive rather than mechanical.

Level design draws favorable Jump King comparisons

Beyond the grapple itself, reviewers repeatedly praise how the game's mostly vertical map is put together. One reviewer wrote that "the map design reminds me most strongly of Jump King in that the journey is almost completely vertical, but with some little side paths and NPC fetch quests," adding that the later zones are "arguably being as hard as the toughest ones in JK, or perhaps even more due to this game's controls relying on mouse movement versus just one button." Another reviewer specifically credited the "genius" of the level design to strategic platform placement, describing the persistent tension of "no matter how close you are to the end of a section, you could fall right back to the beginning again," a design philosophy the review sample treats as a feature rather than a flaw of the genre.

Atmosphere and presentation exceed genre expectations

Several reviewers were pleasantly surprised by how immersive Chickens Don't Fly feels for a game built primarily around repeated failure. One wrote that "the ambience, the art, the subtle music fading in and out, it feels super nice and I'm enjoying just being in it (even with the falls)," while others noted the game's mystery elements and biome variety kept them engaged between attempts rather than just grinding the same visual backdrop. For a solo-developed project, reviewers consistently describe the overall polish, both visual and mechanical, as well above what they expected going in.

The difficulty is real, and everyone says so

No review in this sample treats the difficulty as a minor caveat, it's discussed as central to the experience, and prospective buyers should take the warnings seriously. One reviewer described being "stuck trying to pass through one specific zone for hours before finally locking in the required techniques," and another wrote plainly, "This is not for the weak. A strong spirit is required. Extreme mental fortitude," adding they were writing their review "during one of my (many) mental health breaks." A third reviewer called it "infuriatingly difficult" even while awarding it a 10/10, and multiple others describe the game in terms of rage and frustration as a badge of honor rather than a complaint. This isn't accidental difficulty spikes or poor tuning, reviewers frame it as a deliberately uncompromising foddian experience, but it means players who bounce off Getting Over It or Jump King's brand of punishment should expect the same wall here.

A mouse-driven control scheme raises the skill ceiling and the entry cost

Because the grapple system relies on precise mouse movement for direction and launch power rather than a single dedicated button, reviewers note it demands more from players upfront than genre touchstones that use simpler inputs. The same reviewer who drew the Jump King comparison specifically flagged that the later zones are harder in part "due to this game's controls relying on mouse movement versus just one button," a tradeoff that rewards mastery with more expressive movement but asks more of new players before that mastery clicks into place. Anyone coming from stick-and-button foddian games should expect a real adjustment period.

A thin, mystery-driven story sits in the background

Chickens Don't Fly doesn't lean heavily on narrative, and reviewers describe its story content as scattered rather than front-and-center: environmental mystery elements, NPC fetch quests, and a "strange world with mysteries to uncover" per the store page's own description, rather than explicit cutscenes or dialogue-driven plot. Reviewers who mentioned the story treated it as a pleasant bonus layered onto the climbing rather than a reason to buy on its own, and players hoping for a fleshed-out narrative alongside the platforming challenge should calibrate expectations accordingly. The game is also structured as a single continuous level rather than discrete stages, with a "bad ending" available to players who don't fully clear the toughest later sections, a structural choice that fits the genre's ethos but is worth knowing going in.

A confident recommendation for genre fans, a hard pass for everyone else

Chickens Don't Fly earns its Positive score by nailing the one thing a foddian climbing game most needs to get right: a grapple mechanic that reviewers across this entire sample single out as exceptional, wrapped in level design smart enough to draw direct, favorable comparisons to Jump King. The difficulty is genuinely punishing, the controls demand real practice, and the story is more atmosphere than plot, but none of that reads as a flaw to the players writing about it, it reads as exactly what they came for. At $9.99, this is an easy recommendation for fans of Getting Over It, Jump King, and the broader r/foddians community, and a clear skip for anyone who wants their platforming forgiving rather than uncompromising.