When it comes to biking games, there aren’t a lot of options on current-generation hardware. Until just recently, basically anyone that wanted to play a biking game would need to check out a game in the Trials series, and while Trials is plenty fun, some may be looking for something a little different. Lonely Mountains: Downhill is a decent alternative to Trials that’s just different enough to standout on its own.
Whereas the Trials games are known for their intense tracks, platforming challenges, and stiff difficulty, Lonely Mountains: Downhill is much calmer and laidback. The games play similarly in that they’re checkpoint-based and players have to be very careful to avoid wrecking their bikes, but Lonely Mountains puts an emphasis on actually riding a bike instead of just doing ridiculous jumps and stunts.
Lonely Mountains: Downhill players have four main mountains to ride their bikes on, with each mountain having distinct paths to follow. The game’s laidback nature is apparent throughout the entire experience, to the point that the game is relaxing on the less difficult paths. The art style is nice, offering plenty of pretty views to look at, and the game runs perfectly fine even when players decide to barrel down a cliff at top speed. Despite the polygonal look of the characters and the game world, the sound effects sound very realistic and the game still does a great job of immersing players.
The main goal of each Lonely Mountains: Downhill mountain path is to reach the final checkpoint, but players are encouraged to stray off the beaten path. Each path has hidden rest stops that players can find, though reaching them will sometimes require serious creativity on the part of the player. Each path is also full of shortcuts that players can utilize to shave time off their runs, though using these shortcuts is often a dangerous endeavor. Figuring out the right way to ride the bike down the sides of cliffs and over dangerous terrain adds a puzzle-solving element to the experience, and mastering all these shortcuts is very rewarding.
Shortcuts are necessary for players to succeed with Lonely Mountains: Downhill’s challenges, which are actually the weakest part of the game. To unlock new tracks, customization options, and bike parts, players have to complete challenges that consist entirely of getting through a path with only a certain number of crashes or finishing a path in a certain time. These challenges only become available after completing a path for the first time, so players have to go through the same path repeatedly to unlock new ones.
Tying progression in Lonely Mountains: Downhill to completing challenges brings the game’s momentum to a screeching halt. Having to replay the same paths makes the game feel stale before too long, especially if players are stuck on a certain challenge. Not to mention it takes forever to unlock enough bike parts to unlock any new bikes, to the point where it’s virtually a non-feature for the bulk of the game.
Having more variety in these challenges would have gone a long way in making them not so dull in Lonely Mountains: Downhill. Unfortunately, players will be stuck doing the same thing on the same tracks so that they can progress to new paths and unlock new content. However, if one were able to just play through the paths linearly, Lonely Mountains: Downhill would be an especially short experience, as there’s just not a lot of to the game. Even with having to repeat tracks, most players will be able to play through every path at least once within a few hours. Lonely Mountains: Downhill was partially funded through Kickstarter and doesn’t have a big budget at its back, so its lack of content is understandable, but still worth noting.
The lack of content and the progression in Lonely Mountains: Downhill are admittedly big problems, but the core gameplay is fun enough that there will be those who aren’t bothered by the repetition. Mastering the game is rewarding, and players will find themselves speeding through paths that they once slowly rolled through cautiously. Memorizing where the shortcuts are is a fun challenge, and there’s also value in just ignoring the path and exploring each mountain for hidden areas. There’s the bones of a fantastic bike game here, so it would be great to see this concept expanded on in a meatier game.
Beyond completing the paths and unlocking everything, Lonely Mountains: Downhill also has online leaderboards that players can try to climb. However, we imagine it would be much more fun just competing with friends instead of random strangers. Speaking of playing with friends, there are no dedicated multiplayer options that one might expect from a game like this, though that would have went a long way in boosting its replay value.
One final thing to note about Lonely Mountains: Downhill is that the game is currently available to those subscribed to the Xbox Game Pass service. Those who are subscribed to Game Pass should certainly give the game a look for themselves, especially if they like mountain biking or are into these kinds of games. We tested the game through Game Pass and also using a Steam code, and found that the game controls infinitely better using a controller. Those that do decide to play Lonely Mountains: Downhill will definitely want to use a game controller, as the keyboard controls are a nightmare, though not really through the fault of the developers. Trying to properly control a game like this with a traditional mouse+keyboard setup just doesn’t seem all that possible.
Lonely Mountains: Downhill has great core gameplay, but it’s light on content and its progression forces players to deal with a lot of repetition. The game looks great, sounds great, and controls great (with a controller, anyway), so hopefully the developers get the opportunity to expand on it in a sequel.
Lonely Mountains: Downhill is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version also in development. Game Rant reviewed the game on Xbox One.
