Steep launched on Xbox One in 2016, offering something long missing from the extreme-sports genre: a vast open mountain world you're free to roam. The Alps are assembled here into one continuous territory of glaciers, forests, passes, and valleys, and you move across them on snowboard, skis, in a wingsuit, or under a paraglider. You can switch between disciplines at any time, so a downhill run can flow seamlessly into a jump off a ridge and a glide over the valley. Races, trick challenges, and timed descents are scattered right across the landscape and unlock as you discover a new peak and scan the surroundings with your binoculars from there.
The core of it all is the feel of movement. Snow reacts to your lean angle, powder slows you differently than a packed trail, and speed on a steep slope keeps building to the point where the smallest rock means an ugly wipeout — which the game happily replays in slow motion. On Xbox One the mountain terrain looks convincing largely thanks to its scale and lighting, since a descent from a summit can take long minutes and the view into the valley is different every time. The sound design is unusually calm: the whistle of wind and the hiss of snow under your board or skis dominate, with music serving more as an atmospheric backdrop. Out on the mountains you also encounter ghosts of other players, so the world never feels empty.
Reviews praised the freedom of movement, the scale of the mountains, and the well-realized feel of riding, while criticism targeted the thin progression structure and the requirement to stay connected online. Even so, Steep became the foundation Ubisoft later built Riders Republic on, and helped revive the whole genre after years of decline. As a game for relaxing, it works beautifully — you can play without competing, just riding down slopes and finding new ways down. On Xbox One it remains the best choice for anyone who wants to ride the mountains without being confined to a marked course, with a view over a genuinely vast landscape far removed from the usual backdrops.
Game 108 of 204 for Xbox One
