Info about Descenders Next: Official game description: What's Next for Descenders Next? ================================ We're so excited to build the future of Descenders Next with **YOU!** As we go through early access, we'll be taking all your feedback on board and adding in features that the community really want! Here are some of our ideas we can't wait to bring to the trails: About the Game ============== It's time to conquer the world of extreme sports. This is Descenders Next. Grab your snowboard and tackle the steep, snowy slopes, or tear up the harsh, lush terrain with your mountainboard! Feel like taking on the challenge with a squad? Match up with your friends and Descenders players all around the world, and take on the tracks together! The mountain is calling - will you master it? **A re-imagining of extreme sports, Descenders style** ------------------------------------------------------ * Ride your way, every way: Find your own path and attack the mountain in style * Ride solo or multiplayer: Be a lone wolf, or join players all around the world in grinding for those points * Freestyle board controls: Control every subtle movement of your rider, with in-depth physics and trick systems to learn and master * Showcase your skills: Keep and show off your incredible plays - you've got all the tools you need to make the best edits * Build your reputation: A fully-featured character customizer and rep system so you can unlock new threads, gear and boards * Ride to banger after banger: Descend in style to the perfect soundtrack from Monstercat * Become the next Descender: Complete all the challenges the world has to offer, and reach the ranks of the legendary Descenders! **Choose your choice of Biome:** -------------------------------- * Unlock new nodes, each one offering unique terrain & playstyles * Easily change Biomes if you feel like switching up the sport * Explore new areas of the map as you complete nodes * Experience new & fast paced tracks every time **Get your hands dirty with brand new parks:** ---------------------------------------------- * Descenders Next brings a set of all new, high octane parks * Each park brings unique gameplay, catering to your playstyle * Experience new environments, while enjoying the familiar Descenders thrill * There's a park for everyone - find your favourites and jump in with your friends **We're making customisation even better in Descenders Next:** -------------------------------------------------------------- * More customisation than ever before - make your rider your own * A whole new library of unique gear sets, from common to rare * Spend your hard earned DesCents on gear in shops throughout the world * Collect new types of gear, including gear from very real brands Release date: 21 Jul, 2025 Categories: Sports Simulation, Single-player, Cooperative Multiplayer, Character Customization, Character Progression, Procedural Generation, Open-World Exploration, Physics Simulation - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Highly enjoyable and fun gameplay (weight 0.99): Players consistently find the game highly enjoyable, citing its fun gameplay, rewarding progression, and overall engaging experience. Many note that the game becomes even more fun once players master its controls and mechanics. - Satisfying snowboarding and mountainboarding (weight 0.4): Both snowboarding and mountainboarding mechanics are well-received, with players highlighting the satisfying feel of movement, tricks, and the sense of speed. Many consider it superior to other games in the genre. - Responsive and community-focused developers (weight 0.24): The developers, RageSquid, are highly praised for their active engagement with the community, responsiveness to feedback, and commitment to continuously improving their games, including the original Descenders. - Thrilling speed and risk/reward (weight 0.2): The game effectively captures the thrill of high-speed descents and the challenge of maintaining control. The risk/reward system and the satisfaction of nailing perfect landings or surviving difficult falls are frequently highlighted. - Excellent and fitting soundtrack (weight 0.18): The game's soundtrack receives strong positive feedback, with players enjoying its quality and how it enhances the overall gameplay experience, particularly its rock 'n' roll vibes. - Clean and polished graphics (weight 0.11): Players generally find the graphics and visuals to be clean, polished, and impressive, especially considering the game's Early Access status. - Satisfying trick system (weight 0.11): The trick system is well-implemented, offering many possibilities and a satisfying feeling when executing grinds and discovering new lines. - Improved fixed map system (weight 0.07): The new map system, featuring fixed areas with specific objectives, is a welcome evolution from the previous game and provides enjoyable challenges. - Unique procedural terrain (weight 0.07): The procedural generation of slopes ensures that every run feels unique, enhancing exploration and replayability, while also realistically replicating mountainboard handling. - Good early access launch (weight 0.07): Players appreciate the game's early access launch and the procedural generation of levels, which adds to replayability. Common complaints: - Unresponsive & floaty controls (weight 0.96): Players consistently report that the controls feel 'floaty,' 'slippery,' or 'wonky,' making precise movements difficult. The lack of an effective braking mechanism exacerbates this, leading to uncontrollable speed, frequent crashes, and an inability to perform tricks or navigate challenging terrain. - Inferior to original Descenders (weight 0.53): Many players feel this game is a step back from the original Descenders, lacking its flow, mechanical depth (e.g., braking, tweak mechanic), and variety in environments and content. It's perceived as a less innovative or complete sequel, with some elements feeling like a 'degraded version' or a 'copycat.' - Limited & broken multiplayer (weight 0.43): The multiplayer experience is a significant downgrade from the previous game, lacking essential features like group functionality, co-op progression, and the ability to play with friends. The new 'open world' node system in multiplayer is confusing and detracts from the social aspect. - Overpriced & low quality (weight 0.38): Players feel the game is overpriced for the content offered, which is perceived as limited and lacking compared to the original. The overall presentation, including graphics and general feel, is described as 'cheap,' 'clunky,' or like 'shovelware,' not justifying the price point. - Mountain boarding needs work (weight 0.37): Mountain boarding, a new mode, is widely criticized for feeling underdeveloped, monotonous, and too similar to snowboarding without adding unique value. Its tracks are often too steep, making control difficult, and it lacks interesting objects or variety. - Short & bland tracks (weight 0.18): The generated tracks and maps are frequently too short, preventing players from getting into a flow or enjoying the ride. They are also described as bland, small, and lacking variety, with some terrain generation issues on steep levels. - Unfair bails & jump placement (weight 0.13): There are issues with jump placements often leading to immediate crashes, and the game frequently misregisters landings as bails, even when executed correctly. This leads to frustrating and unfair health loss. - Limited customization options (weight 0.09): Players are disappointed by the very limited options for customizing their character and equipment, which detracts from personalization and replayability. - Unsatisfying speed mechanic (weight 0.07): The current speed-gaining mechanic (tapping 'A') feels jarring and lacks smoothness. Furthermore, the open-world design offers little strategic depth in route selection, as simply going straight often yields the fastest results. Gameplay feedback: - High skill ceiling (weight 0.19): The game presents a significant learning curve, especially concerning speed management, carving, and maintaining lines. It's easy to pick up but difficult to master, requiring players to learn many technical aspects to excel. - Intuitive trick controls (weight 0.17): The control scheme utilizes both sticks for movement and tricks, allowing for creative maneuvers once mastered. Tricks are fluid, and there's plenty to learn to perform cool stunts. - Features new sports (weight 0.16): The game introduces two new sports: snowboarding and mountain boarding. Players race down various terrains, with the gameplay leaning towards an arcade style rather than strict realism. - Expansive open world maps (weight 0.16): The game offers a large, open map with numerous procedurally generated and handcrafted routes. Players can choose their path through various nodes, connecting different parks and points of interest. - No brakes, requires carving (weight 0.14): A key gameplay mechanic is the absence of brakes, forcing players to rely on carving and skidding to control their speed. This adds a layer of challenge, especially when navigating elevated curves. - New campaign and features (weight 0.1): Unlike its predecessor, the game includes a campaign mode with save stations, eliminating the need to restart upon death. It also features a replay system, enhancing the player experience. - Multiplayer party system (weight 0.1): The game includes a multiplayer party system, allowing players to invite friends and create crews. However, it currently lacks a campaign mode that can be played with friends. - Unique board handling (weight 0.06): The handling of the boards is distinct from bikes, and mountainboarding, in particular, can be challenging for new players to adapt to. - Missing career mode (weight 0.06): The game currently lacks a dedicated career mode similar to the original Descenders, and players are hoping for its inclusion in future updates. - Flexible progression system (weight 0.06): The game allows players to progress at their own pace, without a rigid or lengthy progression system. This supports diverse playstyles. - Terrain-based acceleration (weight 0.06): Acceleration in the game is heavily influenced by terrain, and players can easily gain excessive speed, making speed management a critical skill. - Unlockable cosmetics (weight 0.06): Cosmetic items can be unlocked and purchased using in-game currency, which is earned through gameplay and reputation. - Sponsor team objectives (weight 0.05): Players can undertake tasks to join sponsor teams, which likely provide different objectives and challenges. Performance notes: - Good performance across devices (weight 0.1): The game generally performs well across various hardware configurations, including high-end PCs and the Steam Deck. Players report smooth gameplay even on ultra settings with specific GPUs, and it's noted to be easily playable on portable devices. - Optimization still needed (weight 0.08): While significant optimization improvements have been made since the beta phase, there is still a consensus among players that further optimization work is necessary. This suggests ongoing performance issues for some users despite the progress. Recommendations: - Early Access State & Value (weight 0.68): Many players feel the game is currently incomplete or in an early state, leading to mixed recommendations. While some see potential and are excited for future updates, others suggest waiting for more development and content before purchasing, especially given the price point. - Strong Positive Recommendation (weight 0.29): A significant portion of players highly recommend the game, praising its fun factor and potential. They view it as a worthwhile purchase and a positive step forward for the series, often giving it high scores. - Niche Appeal & Core Gameplay (weight 0.18): The game is recommended for fans of extreme sports, particularly those who enjoy fast-paced gameplay, tricks, and the core loop of the game. It appeals to players looking for a casual, 'mess around' experience. - Player Refunds/Uninstalls (weight 0.06): Some players have decided to uninstall or refund the game, indicating dissatisfaction with its current state. This suggests a strong negative sentiment from a subset of the player base. - Bring Back Original Bikes (weight 0.03): There is a specific request for the return of bikes from the first game, indicating a desire for content or mechanics from the predecessor to be included in the new title. - Specific Gameplay Strategy (weight 0.03): One player described a specific gameplay strategy involving maximizing point multipliers before banking points, which could indicate a particular approach to progression or scoring. Other player notes: - Early Access with strong potential (weight 0.35): Players acknowledge the game is in Early Access and express confidence in the developers' ability to improve it, citing their positive track record and commitment to future content and features. There is a strong sense of anticipation for the game's evolution. - Steep learning curve (weight 0.08): Some players admit to struggling with the game's mechanics initially, particularly with controlling speed and avoiding crashes, even in the tutorial. This indicates a learning curve. - Anticipating multiplayer and mods (weight 0.06): Players are eagerly awaiting confirmed features like multiplayer sessions with friends and spectating options. Mod support and additional sports are also highly anticipated. - Need for a brake button (weight 0.06): A common request is for a dedicated brake button or a more intuitive way to slow down, beyond just carving. This suggests a desire for more precise control over speed. - Snowboarding needs more depth (weight 0.06): Feedback suggests that the snowboarding aspect could be more fleshed out, with a greater variety of maps and a stronger emphasis on unique stunts to differentiate it. - Controller improves gameplay (weight 0.06): Several players indicate that using a controller significantly enhances the gameplay experience. This suggests that controller support is well-implemented and preferred by some. - UI needs clearer indicators (weight 0.06): Players are requesting clearer UI indicators for specific achievements, such as whether an 'off-piste' section was ridden or if special cosmetics have been unlocked after completing all park objectives. - Reputation needs more benefits (weight 0.03): Players want more tangible benefits from earning 'rep' beyond just in-game currency. They suggest unlocking brands, parks, or races at specific reputation milestones to add more progression depth. - Adaptation to faster gameplay (weight 0.03): Players report that it takes about an hour to adapt to the game's faster-paced gameplay style. - Active online player base (weight 0.03): The game currently has a healthy number of online players, indicating a good initial community size. - Moon jumping removed (weight 0.03): A specific gameplay mechanic, 'moon jumping,' seems to have been removed or changed from previous titles, which some players have noticed. - Potentially divisive sequel (weight 0.03): The game is anticipated to be a divisive sequel, drawing comparisons to other games with significant changes from their predecessors. - Cycling left behind (weight 0.02): The developers' decision to move away from cycling in the new title is noted, with the understanding that it was done to keep the previous game relevant. - Character faces disliked (weight 0.02): Some players prefer to use full-face helmets in customization to avoid seeing character faces, suggesting a preference for anonymity or a dislike of character models. - Game is 'goated' (weight 0.02): A highly positive, informal sentiment indicating strong approval of the game. - Watch out for trees (weight 0.02): A humorous or cautionary note about environmental hazards within the game, specifically trees. Emotions: - Satisfaction (weight 0.28): Players are highly satisfied with the game's overall quality, fun gameplay, and technical stability, particularly praising improved physics, visuals, and the feeling of speed. The game's ability to capture the charm of the original while offering new, rewarding challenges and control mastery contributes significantly to this positive sentiment. - Disappointment (weight 0.17): Disappointment stems primarily from the game's current state compared to its predecessor, Descenders, citing repetitive tracks, missing content, and a perceived lack of flow. Issues with multiplayer changes, performance, and a shift away from roguelike elements also contribute to this negative feeling. - Excitement (weight 0.12): Excitement is driven by the game's fun, challenging, and addictive gameplay, especially the thrilling sensation of speed and the high skill ceiling. Players are also highly anticipatory of future updates and the game's overall potential. - Frustration (weight 0.11): Frustration is largely caused by problematic controls, particularly 'floaty' mechanics, uncontrolled acceleration, and difficulty braking effectively, leading to constant falling and an inability to manage speed. Bugs, poorly aligned ramps, and issues with online multiplayer features also contribute to player frustration. - Joy (weight 0.07): Players experience joy from the game's smooth gameplay, enjoyable soundtrack, and the overall fun of riding and exploring. The freedom to experiment, learn from crashes, and successfully complete runs also contributes to this positive emotion. - Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Enjoyment is derived from the game's core gameplay, new features, and a top-notch soundtrack. Players find enjoyment even when failing, appreciating the overall experience of mountain boarding. - Anticipation (weight 0.03): Anticipation is focused on the potential for future improvements and content updates. Players have high hopes that developers will address current issues and expand the game's offerings. - Hope (weight 0.03): Hope is tied to the game's future development, including potential updates, mod support, and the addition of more sports. Players are optimistic about the game's long-term potential. - Love (weight 0.01): Players express love for the game's controls, diverse movesets, and the overall experience it provides. - Thoughtfulness (weight 0.01): Thoughtfulness arises from players comparing the game to its predecessor, Descenders, and reflecting on the differences in gameplay and design. - Trust (weight 0.01): Trust is placed in the developers due to their responsiveness to feedback and their established reputation within the gaming community. - Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the developers for being active, caring, and responsive to community feedback, demonstrating a commitment to improving the game. - Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stems from difficulty understanding and mastering the game's mechanics, as well as the absence of basic multiplayer features expected in modern titles. - Concern (weight 0.01): Concern is raised regarding the developers potentially splitting their focus between two games and the game's high RAM usage, which could impact performance. - Relaxation (weight 0.01): Players find the gameplay to be a relaxing experience, contributing to a sense of calm while playing. - Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is directed at the developers, stemming from a perceived misunderstanding of freeriding principles and specific design choices that displease players. - Amazement (weight 0.01): Players express amazement at the game's overall quality and polish. - Irritation (weight 0): Irritation is caused by encountering specific bugs within the game. - Nostalgia (weight 0): Nostalgia is felt for features and elements present in the original Descenders game that are missing or changed in the current title. - Awe (weight 0): Players experience awe at the very existence of the game and how good it feels to play.}