Steep

Steep refines the winter sports template in a way that no other title has managed to this extent; skillfully marrying open-world and social aspects to create one of the freshest genre entries around. Steep is the most fun I’ve had on the digital slopes in a long time.

Without the pure granular gratification of its tricks, Steep's feast resides in its many moments. Enjoying a beautiful vista, surviving a suicidal bombing run down the side of a mountain, or uncovering a new area and being rewarded for it – this is what keeps me coming back.

There’s a different kind of emergent gameplay that surrounds Steep, and it’s the game’s strongest component, and it falls back into that freedom gameplay pillar I mentioned earlier. You couldn’t possibly have this playspace with linear, game-directed objectives. And while Challenges offer you pathways to complete them, and obviously have finish lines, the freedom you have to just do all of the things, as you please, is the game’s number one strength.

The missions are as varied as they are challenging, while the mountain panoramas are just beautiful. Nonetheless a lot of potential remains untapped.

Steep is the most realistic extreme sports simulator we've ever played. It shows four different ways of exploring The Alps, lots of time and score challenges and big customization options. The point is that maybe it's too realistic for people that have never stepped into a couple of ski boots, who may seek another kind of fantastic sport experience.

Gorgeous, but disjointed. Despite the bumps, Steep's winter thrills are well worth riding out. [Jan 2016, p.66]

Steep is a solid experience that accomplishes what the developers set out to do. They have a created an impressive world that is both fun to explore and addictive to conquer. The multiplayer feels like a bit of a letdown due to a lack of variety but it is still fun exploring the world with friends.

As a free playground for winter extreme sports lovers, Steep is a good experiment with fun challenges and a lot to explore, on the other side the game probably should have been more explicit on its objectives and include a limited offline mode.

Steep is not a game for gamers, but it is a game for mountain lovers. With gameplay that's easy to learn but hard to master, immerses players in a huge environment full of challenges. Great first contact waiting for a more refined second chapter.

The Alps in Steep are both exciting and relaxing. It is so much fun to spend hours and hours on your snowboard in these amazing looking mountains. There is not a lot to complain about, apart from the paragliding which is just not the same as going skiing or snowboarding.

Steep sets itself apart by never holding players back and never slowing down. Across hours spent with the game, I was free to throw myself down the mountain as many times and in as many ways as I wanted. As it turns out, that made for a damn good time.

With huge and beautiful summits to explore, varied locations and events and the best snowboard and ski free riding any game has offered yet, Steep is a welcomed and satisfying extreme sports experience.

If you fancy spending some time flying around craggy mountains or crashing down snowy slopes… Steep is your best choice. Whether played alone or with friends, it’ll meet your extreme sports needs and more without the risk of breaking an arm or a leg.

Steep is a fresh breath. Fun, frantic and innovative, manages to combine the thrills of illustrious predecessors in the genre, like the SSX series, with more modern formulas.

Steep is a fun game, with open world features and extreme sports where players can exploring and completing challenges in the stunning panorama of the Alps.

Well executed and a breath of fresh air into the world of digital winter sports, even though it would have been nice with a more solid feeling of meaningful character development.

I enjoyed just about every minute I spent playing Steep. Grandiose, attractive environments serving as the backdrop to varied, intense challenges are enough on their own to make this wintry playground somewhere I was always delighted to go back to and spend more time in - a feeling I still have even after finishing the bulk of the content, though the lack of mechanical customization and progression makes it harder to find reasons to return.

Steep delivers great fun for winter sports game fans, although it can be a little difficult to find amongst a huge map and confusing tutorial/interface. What Ubisoft has tried to accomplish is mostly successful, and fans of winter sports games will find a lot that they recognize and a lot that improves on the genre in this mountain range.

Steep still has a few drawbacks with controls and balance, but in its way it’s a fascinating and enjoyable experience of extreme sports.

Steep isn't perfect, but it's a great experience. Doing challenges or just navigating the maps, it's easy to enjoy the game. If you like the genre, give it a try.

It does show that Steep is a game born of passion in a studio located at the feet of Alps, so it is easier to turn a blind eye to some of its flaws, like faulty collision detection. It’s not a perfect game, it will not have a following as strong as SSX 3 did, but if you’re looking for a game that will let you hit the slopes, there’s a chance you’ll be returning to Steep often. [02/2017, p.50]

STEEP is a decent game that takes a huge risk in this genre, but makes it with a properly general idea. The control is far from being comfortable and easy to adapt, but after 10 or so hours it becomes a great experience. The main problem is the execution of its main ideas.