Steep is an open-world extreme sports title set on a mountain range. You can ski, snowboard, wingsuit and paraglide your way into the extreme sports record books – accruing a few broken bones along the way. After playing the closed beta, I was hooked. It’s not hard to see why. Steep is a beautiful game which opens an expansive world up to the player. The sky is literally the limit and here are my top 5 things about Ubisoft’s Steep.
The open beta is running from today (18/11/2016) through to Monday 21st November. So if you’re not yet convinced, read on, and I’m sure you’ll want to give it a go.
5. The mountain is yours
Steep really doesn’t limit you in what can be done. They plonk you on top of a mountain, give you your equipment, and let go of the reins. At first you might stumble and fall at the simplest of lines, but luckily there isn’t too much of a steep (ha – sorry) learning curve. You’ll be launching triple flips and wingsuiting through impossibly tight gaps in no time. Steep is an open-world game before it is anything else. It gives you the tools to create your own legendary lines as well as playing the developer created challenges – giving you an objective and a course, giving you a goal and cheering you on as you smash the points target.
4. Everything is rewarded
Steep’s progression system is one of the best I’ve seen, ever. There are six different playstyles in which you progress naturally through the game – Explorer, Freestyler, Extreme Rider, Freerider, Bone Collector (it’s exactly what you think it is), and Pro Rider. You will naturally level up these skillsets as you take on challenges and explore the open world. It says a lot that after the beta my highest level was in Bone Collector – apparently my mantra is to crash, crash hard, and crash again.
3. Relive exhilarating lines and challenge your friends
One of the biggest philosophies of Steep is that it’s for sharing. Not only do you share the mountain with other online users, but you share your challenges. After finding a good spot for a ski-run, or maybe a super challenging wingsuit plummet, you can go into Mountain View and create a challenge for all of your friends. Throwing down the gauntlet like this is a brilliant way to connect with people, as you all vie for top spot.
2. Visually stunning
As someone who grumbles about the cold as early as September, I’ve never really fancied subjecting myself to the torturous chills of a skiing holiday. So Steep is probably as close as I’m going to get to one – and its visuals are so stunning that you can lose yourself in them entirely. There is a great contrast between the extreme sports and the tranquillity of the mountain, which you can explore via paragliding at a nice, safe pace. There’s even a chilled out playlist designed for you to relax and take in the landscapes. The only suggestion I have to make this better would be the option to turn off the HUD entirely.
1. Steep is funishing (that’s a mixture of fun and punishing)
Steep does what so many games fail to. It makes failure fun. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve replayed a challenge, just so that I can hit that one trick, or get that high score. It’s addictive. While the controls take a while to get used to, they are incredibly rewarding when you get it right. Steep is an incredibly difficult game to put down, and when you get into the swing of things – you’ll wonder where it’s been all your life.
I can’t wait to spend the weekend playing the Open Beta before picking up the full game on Xbox One come December 2nd 2016. Maybe I’ll see you on the slopes – I’ll be the guy repeatedly crashing into a rock.
I flat out refuse to play the beta, but am so looking forward to the full game. Seriously hope Ubi deliver. Not that there is any reason why they won’t.