Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders

When I think about skiing video games, the ones that come to mind are SSX, Steep, and Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games. All of these experiences lean into the extreme side of the sport, with crazy tricks to pull off and a good helping of Red Bull energy. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, the newest game from Megagon Industries, also has heaps of excitement while managing to capture the beauty of nature much more effectively than the previously mentioned titles. 

This difference in priority is noticeable as soon as you press start. Every level begins with you alone on an untouched mountain with only the sounds of your rider and nature to accompany you. There is no music, no one giving you instructions, just a simple list of goals you can choose to go for or ignore. This is a really bold choice that is successful, due in large part to the stellar sound design. The chirping of birds, the whooshing of the wind, the rush of a waterfall—all these things really add to your journey downhill, and there was definitely more than once I just closed my eyes and listened. This tangible openness and vulnerability really sets the game apart from its contemporaries and gives it more staying power than I expected. In this way, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders explains its choice of title. You are meant to feel isolated while playing, with your conflict coming from the harshness of the mountain as opposed to a large pack of racers. I remember playing Mario Kart Wii as a child and being hit with this same feeling of isolation when playing a timed solo race. The track that was usually filled with 11 other racers and a bunch of chaotic items became noticeably empty and a little bit eerie. This solitary focus is what I like most about Megagon Industries games. Their previous work, focused on mountain biking, also contained similar elements, but I feel as though the winter theme present in Snow Riders strengthens every aspect of the game, especially the visuals.

Chunky polygons are the name of the game here. They are simple and crisp, providing an amazing foundation for some of the more detailed textures to shine, with the biggest of these highlights being the snow. The way it reflects sunlight is breathtaking, and its interactivity is impressive as well. Depending on your speed, the depth of powder, and even in what manner you crash, the snow will react accordingly and stay distressed until the end of your run. This not only looks amazing but also gives a helpful visual indicator of previous routes that may or may not have been successful. Really great stuff that breathes life into each run, like your signature carved into a snowy canvas with bruises and broken bones. 

As this last statement implies, the routes you have to ski down are very treacherous, with obstacles around every corner just waiting to eject you into orbit the second you bump them at the wrong angle. Thankfully, I never found this to be overly infuriating. mainly because of how funny the crashes look. Let me set the scene. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and everything is as it should be, UNTIL a reckless skier with no regard for his own life plummets down a gorge, hits a rock, and fully ejects from his skies, ending up in a painful snow angel some ways down the mountain. This humour provides a levity that really takes the edge off some of the more annoying sections in the late game, which is good because the difficulty present here is nothing to scoff at.

The camera during gameplay is isometric, with your left & right controls changing depending on which direction you’re orientated in. This was a bit of a struggle for me at first, but after an hour of play, it began to feel natural and responsive, which immediately skyrocketed my enjoyment for the remainder of my time. As a whole, I’d say patience is an important thing to take with you into this experience if you want to have a good time. My tendency with speed-based games is always to strive for perfection on the first attempt, retrying until I get a decent run, which wasn’t an effective strategy here. I found it always worked better to do a slow run-through first, relying heavily on braking, and then to go back and try to hit some of the speed goals once I was more familiar with the layout. This went against my instincts but was critical in avoiding the rage that can easily come from difficult games. 

As for where you’ll be skiing, there are 3 separate locations, each with 4 slopes apiece, totalling 24 runs if you include the blue and black variants. Each area is broken up by checkpoints that must be hit sequentially before you reach the bottom, with each one showing the amount of seconds you took to reach it. The way the game spruces up this potentially dry formula is through the inclusion of shortcuts and alternative routes that naturally reward exploration and experimentation. Thankfully, these shortcuts nail the balance of being discernible while still making you feel as though you discovered something unintentional. They aren’t just little skips either; there was some serious work put into making them difficult, unique, and fun, and I was consistently impressed! A small concern I had going in was that all the locations would feel very similar, but Megagon Industries did an incredible job differentiating them through sound, colour, and design. I won’t spoil the particulars here, as discovery and exploration were a large part of my enjoyment with this game; just know it was handled well! 

One thing I have yet to mention is the online functionality. Included in this package are two multiplayer modes, Racing and Team, but unfortunately, when I played the game, there weren’t a whole lot of people queuing up for matches. Even with this being the case, the single-player content completely satisfied me and is strong enough to support the experience by itself. I look forward to diving into this competitive side of the game more in the coming weeks.

Verdict

4.5/5

Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is a fantastic game that mixes addictive gameplay with stellar sound design to create a very faithful encapsulation of skiing. Though the difficulty might be a turnoff for some, with a little patience, there is so much enjoyment to be found within these wintery dioramas. 

Release Date
21st January 2025
Platforms
PC, XBOX Series S/X
Developer
Megagon Industries
Publisher
Megagon Industries
Accessibility
Controller Vibration Strength, Screen Shake Intensity.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.