Steep X Games Edition review: It's no SSX Tricky, but it doesn't have to be

Waking upwardly on Saturday mornings to play Coolboarders or SSX Catchy is a pastime that I'll never forget. Fifty-fifty equally someone who has never stepped foot on a snowy mountain, those games were fun beyond their years.

So when I first heard of Steep, I was quite curious about information technology. Is it the spiritual successor to those classic games nosotros've always wanted? Volition I be able to return to the days of pulling off ridiculous tricks that would kill fifty-fifty the most professional of riders? Is it whatever good?

After spending some quality time with Steep after its X Games-themed DLC, well, permit's merely say information technology's complicated.

A Rider's Dream

Steep

It doesn't bring the mountain down, just it comes close.

Steep suffers from pacing and content issues, but it offers a nice alloy of realism and fun.

A faithful ode to riders

Permit's get the most important question out of the manner: is this SSX Tricky or Coolboarders with 2022-level technology? Sadly, no. Merely we're not putting Ubisoft down because of it.

Steep does offer a trick system, but it prefers to err on the side of realism more than anything else. You'll be able to do flips, twists, turns, and grabs, merely don't expect to get enough height to pull off 20 of those things in a single spring.

Instead, it's all about the ride. Information technology's nearly exploring the beautiful vistas of the Alps (and, as of the Ten Games DLC, participating in freestyle competitions in Alaska). It'south well-nigh finding the best lines, jump points, and slopes to get the all-time fourth dimension in a race or the most points in a freestyle run. It's most mountain life, menstruation.

Steep attempts to legitimize the winter sports genre with a realistic approach.

Steep does all of this beautifully thanks to a huge, highly-detailed map — which looks and performs great in 1800p and HDR on an Xbox One X, by the fashion — on which you can explore every nook, cranny, crevice, and scissure. Whether you're basing from a shallow incline or racing down the steepest drop you've ever seen from the peak of the mountain, you tin go exactly where you desire and conquer the fauna in your own mode.

And I loved that it wasn't just virtually snowboarding, either. Steep gives love to skiers, paragliders, and even sledders. You can fly downwardly the mountain in a wingsuit, as well. And in that location's a variant of that wingsuit with a rocket fastened to your back. This is the Buzz Lightyear simulator I've always wanted.

Tricksters will detect the most fun out of the snowboard and skis, every bit the other sports are more than almost traversal and exploration than anything else. Steep tin can seem more shallow than it lets on in that regard, but this articulate separation of priorities actually adds the depth needed to appeal to any type of player.

Although Steep attempts to legitimize the winter sports genre with a realistic approach, Ubisoft took care to ensure the control scheme was intuitive. I don't know how or why moving the analog sticks in opposite directions results in rotating your lath, but it was easy to recollect and easy to execute. Using the left and right triggers to perform grabs with your left and right hands also felt really natural.

Older games in the genre were more than akin to fighting games, tasking you with remembering button combinations to execute specific tricks, only because Steep is firmly planted in the realm of realism and doesn't have dozens of static animations to trigger it took no fourth dimension at all for me to start pulling off cool moves. This also gives you the feeling that y'all're always in control of your rider, which is an important office of immersing you.

Slippery slopes

While beautiful, Steep does have its off-white share of bug. I personally found the physics system to be a scrap inconsistent. The game uses a thousand-force mechanic to simulate the furnishings that loftier-impact landings have on your residue, meaning you have to reel it in a scrap between tricks to ensure the rest of your ride goes smoothly.

I like this arroyo, but I found that the system is a bit too restrictive and sometimes made absolutely no sense. At some points, I could pull off a monster jump and continue roaring down the mountain with no interruption in my momentum, speed, or balance, and 5 minutes later my rider would go nuts on a routine, textbook pillow jump.

Be patient with this frenetic experience and you will detect a very rewarding game.

Managing the arrangement wasn't all bad — information technology takes just a few seconds to get your passenger's head on directly and all you lot have to do is, well, not crash — simply I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if I could rely on anticipated g-force patterns. At that place's no way to turn it off, and then mastering the chiliad-force system will exist a big role of mastering the game that is Steep. Again, not a bad proposition, merely those looking for a more coincidental feel will want to consider this before deciding to spring in. (And even if you tin't get a handle on the mechanics, those who like watching train wrecks volition love witnessing crashes every at present and then.)

Pacing can also be an effect with certain fringe sports. Paragliding sounds absurd, just the slow floats to the footing are apartment-out dull (unless your thought of fun is taking in breathtaking setpieces, in which case, rock on). Sleds give you a nice change of perspective and a unlike sense of residue, just you'll frustrate yourself trying to find even cruise-level speed down some of the more than moderate lines.

I'd also being a disservice if I didn't mention the game's careless onboarding procedure. After a brief tutorial showing you how to change sports, navigate to different parts of the mountain, and pull off a few cool tricks, Steep kind of throws everything else at you in one fell swoop. Immediately upon finishing the tutorial, my map was populated with tons of picayune icons I didn't understand. I never got a articulate sense of what I should be doing, nor how I should exercise it.

And I had to learn about some of the game'south more than complicated systems by diving into menus and doing outside research. I didn't even get a single pop-up explaining the basics of g-force and why it mattered. That'southward a big oversight for a game this unique. Those who aren't immediately turned off past this corybantic experience will find a very rewarding game, and I tin can't really blame the rest who will want to close information technology off subsequently 5 minutes.

Everything's amend with friends

Steep tin can feel a fiddling empty at beginning. After all, yous're on a huge mountain, mostly lone, and — at least, at first — you have no inkling what to do. In that location'south no career fashion, nor is there a single thespian campaign. You lot are merely dropped onto a mount and told to ride.

As such, the game is essentially a massive collection of races and challenges. There are lots to practise in Steep in that regard, but none of it feels peculiarly meaningful. Heading into the menus to check off challenges one past ane tends to get pretty boring after a while.

It wasn't until I realized that Steep is a game meant to be played with friends that I understood why Ubisoft designed it this mode. Simply as with a real trip to the mountains, Steep is meant to be a game where you assemble with your peeps and shred the slopes, collecting tons of gear for your character and competing with your friends to see who can expect cooler going down the mount.

Steep is a game meant to be played with friends

Unfortunately, I didn't have the benefit of playing with friends during my review period. The game does drop y'all into a shared world with other riders, and yous'll run into them carrying on and doing their own matter from time to fourth dimension. Some of those folks will gladly invite you lot to a riding session, and that'll be your ticket to finding friends to savor the game with.

But I'll warn you that the community has seen improve days and it doesn't feel similar the sort of game that'due south budding with user activity. Some of my sessions were completely empty, and the ones which weren't had people who were seemingly dying for interaction as I received nonstop invites from others.

The people you discover on Steep at this bespeak are likely to be diehard fans, though, and because the community is more tight-knit you'll find a passionate group of folks who are more than than happy to get new players upward to speed. None of this is a direct knock on Steep, but it's worth mentioning seeing equally how the game places a huge emphasis on playing with others.

Verdict

Steep attempts to go on people coming back with regular content, including new challenges, gear, and events. In the example of the X Games DLC, they even added authentic winter sports competitions such as the Superpipe and Slopestyle. That level of support is a testament to Ubisoft's commitment to making its "games as a service" strategy piece of work, but some of the same issues oasis't helped Steep make the impactful improvement that Rainbow Six: Siege and For Honor were able to.

A Rider's Dream

Steep

Information technology doesn't bring the mountain down, but information technology comes shut.

Steep suffers from pacing and content problems, but it offers a nice blend of realism and fun.

Pros:

Cute open world.
Freedom to ride wherever you want.
Intuitive control organisation.
Deep customization options.

Cons:

Frustrating physics arrangement.
Some winter sports feel similar afterthoughts.
Not beginner friendly.
Relies too heavily on multiplayer.

But if y'all're someone who doesn't demand a huge community to play with — and if y'all can come to grips with the intricacies of realistic riding — Steep volition feed your animalism for extreme winter sports just fine.

Steep Ten Games Edition is out now on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

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This review was conducted on an Xbox One X, using a copy provided by the publisher.

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