Climber

Progress is vertical and losing it is instant. Falling near the top costs you everything you built up, which is precisely why getting past that point the next time feels like it was worth it.

Climb Up! is the most direct - straightforward controls and an obvious goal, so you can learn the timing before trying the versions that add momentum or drawing.

You draw the shape of the legs your character climbs on, so the puzzle is designing something that can handle the terrain rather than executing a jump. It is climbing solved on paper first.

Closely related but narrower. A platformer usually moves you sideways through a level, while these are built around going up, which changes what a mistake costs you and how levels are laid out.

Yes, all of them play free in your browser with no download and no account, so you can start the ascent again as many times as you need to.