Lonely Mountains: Downhill

The perfect time trial game for quick burst sessions!

Gameplay is tight, challenging, and incredibly satisfying to pull off. Global leaderboards with complete rankings make it a real fun game to chase good times on, and with 16 (+4 free DLC) trails across 4 mountains to choose from, there's a lot of room to flex your creative insanity. The level design is fantastic: It typically features a singular main path for a safe but slow way to reach the end, but also several side paths, some intended by the devs & some not, that may come with a lot more risk, but potentially huge time saves as well. There's also a daily challenge that mixes a trial up with a few modifiers (like mirrored mode or extra obstacles) that helps to keep things fresh.

Progressing through stages & their associated challenges rewards you with higher tier trials, cosmetics, and bike parts, which can be used to unlock a total of 6 bikes. Each bike has its own distinct playstyle: Some are suited to going as fast as possible on stable ground, some are all-rounders, and others are better at taking on big jumps or tight corners. My favourite, Geronimo, is built almost exclusively for bombing down near vertical drops & sticking the landing, which allows for some really creative shortcut taking, further demonstrating just how strong the level design is here.

The minimalist visual presentation is beautiful, though turning depth of field off feels like an absolute must. There's really solid visual variety across the 4 mountains, further enhanced by a rather beautiful night mode. The lack of an OST pairs with the visuals perfectly, though the sound design as a whole is still very good. The sounds of birds, braking, skidding, and even crashing, all come together to form a really pleasant atmosphere.

As good as the overall experience is, I do have a few minor gripes. Annoyingly, if you've only unlocked the beginner challenges & set an expert challenge time, the expert challenge isn't automatically completed once you unlock the expert tier: Once I'd figured this out, my beginner runs became a case of "why bother trying for a good time if they're not going to count anyway" which is a shame, though the levels really are fun to replay, so it's not a MAJOR issue. Audio options don't exist outside of a single master volume slider, which is irritating because there are a few things, like waterfalls, that are just deafening compared to the rest of the soundscape. I understand the developers are going for a consistent ambient experience, but it would still be nice to be able to normalize the levels just a little bit.

Still, the pros vastly outweigh the cons, and the end result is one of the best time trial games I have ever played. If you're looking for something sporty to play in short spurts on a Steam Deck or on the couch, consider pairing this with titles like "Super Video Golf" and "Super Woden: Rally Edge" for the ultimate pick up and play burst gaming library. Me? I'm going to check out "Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders" from the same developers - It's time to ski!

I love this game!
It goes from a chill ride in a beautifull park to an adrenaline-filled, tryhard challenge in a smooth curve, all while jumping across canyons and splashing through waterfalls.

Genuinely such a blast to play. Great to just pick up, do a daily ride and/or some challenges and then put down. The camera angles can sometimes be a bit annoying, but they're hardly gamebreaking like some dudes say. Play the demo, if you enjoy it, get the game.

I haven't put a huge amount of hours into this game though I don't really have to, to say this is honestly one of the best games I've played.
The mechanics and gameplay are simply, get down the mountain however you want but this is what makes it special, it's simple, exciting, frustrating and absolutely brilliant.
Playing on the Legion Go S Z1 and the game runs and looks incredible. It takes me back to the ps2 era, there's skill involves and a hell of a lot of luck.
Honestly credit to the dev. Free DLC to! Do yourself a favour and pick this game up. Wish I picked it up sooner!!

An unexpected gem, a perfect mix between competitive and casual.
Man, I didn't expect to like this game this much. I can't really remember the reason I bought it in the first place, it really does not show his value in the store page. The way everything blends to create a perfect experience without any flaws.
First of all, this game sets up its environment really well. The menus are polished, and the font they use throughout the whole UI works really well. The graphics are great, every model is drawn in very high-quality low-poly models that just work well together. The environmental sounds, and the overall sound design, really make their presence felt here. They provide great feedback to the gameplay, have personality, refine great levels, surprise you in unexpected moments when dealing with a new scenario, and provide a real sense of calmness and wellness.
The gameplay just clicked for me (it even made me buy a controller just to try it). The first 1-2 hours were miserable, having no control of my ride whatsoever, but after getting the hang of it, it became extremely satisfying. It felt really responsive, and if any mistake happened, I know it was on my part. I also know that there are mixed feelings about the controls and the camera, but I did not encounter those problems. There are 4 different mountains to explore, each representing different environments, creating new playstyles, introducing new obstacles, and requiring different approaches. There are 4 trials down every mountain, and you have to try to reach certain milestones (fewer crashes, lower time) to progress through them. Since the gameplay is so reactive, making the player have to always be inputting multiple keys, and fair, it creates a really well-balanced experience with the perfect mix between competitive and casual approaches. The different styles of milestones help make this come true by having you focus on trying to achieve different goals in different runs. Also, iirc, every trial was less than 3 minutes, with checkpoints along the way, giving you plenty of actual playtime. There are also free DLCs that introduce more content.
But where it really shines is in its details. The way they give shortcuts on longer paths, even if it's obvious there's a faster but harder one. The well-placed checkpoints and the fact they pause the clock at the beginning of each try while also giving you leeway to build up speed. The random birds chirping and the sound of a waterfall getting close. The innovation throughout the game, the pride it gives when completing a hard challenge, but also the extreme calmness when casually exploring a mountain. The "daily rides" give something fresh to pick up every day but I wish there was a way to get access to more content, either a random map generator (hard to be good) or a map editor (great with community support).
I don't know, perhaps it's just a great introduction to this style of game or maybe it just gave me a safe space to take a break from high action and stressful games.

Really enjoy this as a beat-your-own-time racer. No other bikers, just bike around and explore. Definitely a bit stressful to get the faster times to unlock certain things, but it's pretty forgiving about unlocking new areas with lower times and goals. Great game.

This game is great! It may look simplistic but it has great physics and it's incredibly fun to play. Great vibe and outstanding sound design.