Ubisoft’s Steep is an open world game based around four-winter extreme sports paragliding, snowboarding, wingsuit jumping and skiing. The premise of Steep is that you can conquer the mountain by competing in various challenges such as freestyler, where you have to try and get as many points as possible, pro-rider, where you are attempting to be the fastest to complete the challenge given to you, and extreme rider, where you find yourself navigating an extreme course.

While completing various challenges on the map is fun, there is also a lot of fun in just exploring the mountain. Personally, I loved jumping from the top of the mountain in my wingsuit, and when I landed, I would just snowboard or ski the rest of way down the mountain, pulling off as many tricks as I could. In many ways Steep reminded me of my first skiing experience, when I first put on a ski I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but as I got used to it I loved the sense of speed as I travelled down a mountain. Skiing in real life was an exhilarating experience, one that Steep did a decent job of recreating. Exploring the map also helps you find new challenges and drop zones.

What also helped draw me in, was the fact Steep has seamless online play, which means you might be going down the mountain and encounter another skier, but that skier isn’t just an NPC, that skier is another player. While I didn’t see much of a reason to group up with my fellow players their appearance did increase the immersion aspect of the game.

Now, let’s talk about some downsides. The major downside for me was the lack of trick variety in the game. The tricks you can do are pretty much flips, spins or grabs. While it can be fun to combine all three types of moves, it just doesn’t feel as exhilarating as it should be. Maybe, I was spoilt by the likes of SSX series, but the tricks you can perform in Steep never truly blew my mind.

For those wondering, the game does have a form of story. The story is that you are new to the world of extreme winter sports and you are out to prove yourself as one of the beset by competing in various challenges and taking part in various events thanks to your agent. There is also a story regarding the mountain’s secrets, as special quests will see the mountain whisper to you. Honestly, the story isn’t vital to enjoying the game.

Now, I think it is important to talk about the mountain. You can explore the entire mountain without any loading screen, which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you can go anywhere, the curse is that the mountain looks lifeless, there is very little tree cover, and when looking from the sky there is nothing that really stands out.

Conclusion

Steep is a fun open world winter extreme sports game. The game lets you fully explore the mountain and take on many of its challenges. However, tricks feel lacking and the mountain looks a bit bare.

Score: 7/10

Pros	Cons
+ Seamless online multiplayer	– The mountain looks a bit bare, especially from above
+ A large number of challenges	– Tricks feel lacking
+ The mountain is fun to explore

 

Developer	Publisher	Genre	Rating	Platform	Release date
Ubisoft Annecy	Ubisoft	Open World	12+	PS4, XBOne, PC	December 2, 2016

*A review code was provided by the game’s publisher.*

For more information on Steep, visit http://steep.ubisoft.com/game/en-US/home/.