With the Olympics going on right now, I’m often finding myself glued to my TV screen watching some extreme sports I wouldn’t normally think about in any other given month. I can’t help thinking now would be a great time to announce a new extreme sports game… Oh, would you look at that – say hello to Descenders Next, the ambitious sequel to the downhill cycling game Descenders that, at launch at least, is going to be swapping bikes for boards.
In a similar vein to Ubisoft’s extreme sports game Riders Republic, Descenders Next is going to have multiple disciplines, rather than a focus on just one like the original game. That’s bold, because Descenders did surprisingly well (and still achieves a few hundred concurrent players today on Steam, despite being over five years old). However, publisher No More Robots seems confident that branching out into multiple new sports is the right move.
“Descenders Next is the natural evolution of the original experience,” it says in a press release. “We asked ourselves: ‘Where do we go from Descenders? How do we deliver the same feel, the same sense of speed, but expand beyond mountain biking?’ From there, the idea of perfecting the fluidity of numerous sports was born.”
At launch, there will not be a single bike in sight, and instead Descenders Next will focus on two board sports – snowboarding and mountainboarding. From there, developer RageSquid will gradually add more sports over time. I’m sure there’s scope for mountain biking to return at some point the future, but it’s certainly a brave choice to launch the game without it given how much people enjoyed it in the first game.
From the get-go, there will also be full online multiplayer support, “multiple biomes”, a vast array of tricks, and lots of customization options too. In terms of the courses you’ll be racing down, Descenders Next will consist of procedurally-generated off-piste mountains which will all “chain together into tight, winding parks and vistas”.
What’s even better is that Descenders Next will be launching in 2025 as a day-one addition to Game Pass, so for millions of you out there, it won’t cost you an extra penny to give it a try. The game is also going to be purchasable on Steam, and you can wishlist it here.
While you’re here, why not take a look at some of the best racing games and best multiplayer games that will get your heart pumping just as fast as Descenders’ downhill action.
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