After a short intro about your brother (Frank, an experienced climber), who has gone missing while trying to climb Chomolonzo (which translates as “bird goddess”) in the Himalayas, you, being his elder brother (Eric, and a veteran climber), set off in search of him and his fate.
As you survey your surroundings your guide radios to you via the Wii remote – a nice feature that was unfortunately underused! After a few more flashes about your brother, and a bit of climbing you are in the first village, which is deserted, or so it seems.
The first village you reach acts as a kind of tutorial, as the controls are slowly introduced as you make your way through the streets and buildings. Your main weapon is your brother's Ice Axe which you find with some coloured rags tied to it to ward off evil spirits.
This will come in handy for fighting off spirits later on. It can also be used to smash open tall storage jars that sometimes contain incense sticks. These are used at shrines to heal yourself (no Kendal mintcake here!). However, strangely enough, you can't smash open wooden doors or anything else in the environment.
The camera does a respectable enough job of keeping up, and spends most of the time looking over your left shoulder. It does change to a fixed-angle in what I assume is an attempt to try and build suspense. However, it rarely seemed to be useful and ended up adding little to the overall experience. Thankfully pick-ups have a ray of light projecting upwards so you can see them easily, there is also a “free look” option but this can only be used while standing still.
As you progress up (and occasionally down) the mountain you will discover books (diary pages from your brother, journals and writings by villagers) that help to fill in the blanks and give glimpses of your brother's journey up the mountain - as well as the curse that has befallen this majestic landscape and people.
