Steep Reviews
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.
For all its enthusiasm, openness, and Red Bull product placement, Steep can’t overcome a mountain of small problems.
Steep excels in what it sets out to do but glitches, controls issues and graphics inconsistencies during day time (on the Xbox One) drag down the experience.
Steep is a bit like being taught how to ski by an imbecile masquerading as a qualified instructor. Someone like your mate Dave, who has seen snow once in 28 years, but instils a false sense of sensible education. You’ll be fascinated by the beauty, and grow to crave the thrill; but eventually the spiral of incompetence will threaten to kill you, so you’ll throw down your hired polls in frustration and return to the solace of the bar, a more natural environment, and vow never to return.
Technically impressive open world in the Alps, but the wintersports simulation lacks long time motivation and diversity.
Review in German | Read full review
The game works best in how it empowers you to toggle between idle exploration and obsessive score chasing whenever it suits you. However, as time drags on, if that drive to make headway begins to wane, there’s little else to keep players hooked. Then, of course, there’s the ridiculous online-only policy that is bound to frustrate, adding a completely expendable layer to the year’s best winter sports game.
Steep is not a perfect game.
Steep is a very good game, especially for a genre that has gone by the wayside for a while. The paragliding may feel boring to most people, but the skiing, snowboarding and wingsuit diving are exciting and well implemented enough to make up for that inclusion. The emphasis on open-world traversal over conquering specific events makes this a game with a much more relaxed feel, but it still provides tons of exciting moments for those who are open to such a change from the action sports template. Even if the winter sports selection were much larger on the current console generation, Steep would still be worth checking out.
The multiplayer and replay ideas that Ubisoft implemented in Steep were great, and the game looks terrific. It’s held back as a whole, though, by listless controls, a directionless world, and an always-online requirement that brings everything crashing down like an avalanche when the servers decide to act up.
Steep is a fun game that offers players some great ways to tackle extreme winter sports. With four different ways to play plus online multiplayer inclusion, if features relatively sturdy gaming mechanics and lots of modes to help immerse you into this realistic and enjoyable title. Sure some of the controls are a little clunky at times but overall, the gameplay, graphics and audio comes together well.
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 brings a lot of really good ideas and reasonably strong snowboarding action to the table, but it's held back by a lot of little problems with the physics, the UI, and the course design. The final result is ambitious and often entertaining, but also unpolished and frustrating. Hopefully Ubisoft gives the series another chance, because I'd really like to see some of Steep's better ideas fully realized in a sequel. Alas, the initial outing doesn't quite meet expectations.
Ubisoft's wayward winter sports game is at its best in moments of solitude and exploration.
Once you've seen one slope, you've more or less seen them all. Characters don't have much of a sense of personality, and the entire thing feels more like a surface-level experimental photo mode than a fully-formed video game. But, I plan to invest a few more hours into it for the sake of attempting to get a better sense of it before issuing a final verdict.
Steep’s freedom is exhilarating and it looks stunning, but clunky, imprecise controls tarnish the experience.
You won’t have to look hard to find what this game has to offer, from its extreme situations to its more subtle pleasures
Steep is an original game, proud of its own uniqueness. It has many great ideas as well as evident weak spots, but it's a great debut for a new franchise.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Graphically, there’s no argument that Steep is gorgeous.
That’s when it works and everything just clicks. At that moment it’s a fantastic extreme sports game. But I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it because it’s got an unusually high number of flaws that are glaringly obvious. I could easily overcome them, others may find them to difficult to forgive. Basically nothing in Steep is ever quite perfect, but what’s here can potentially be a real joy and the potential for a sequel, with these issues ironed out, is absolutely mouthwatering. See you on the slopes.
Steep looks stunning and offers plenty to do and see, but unfortunately gets repetitive too quickly.