Lonely Mountains: Downhill is the Perfect Nature Escape…in your living room

You know what’s better than a global pandemic? Closing your blinds, turning off all the lights, and replacing the cold painful place we call reality with video games. Lonely Mountains: Downhill is the perfect escape. Its immersive environments had me immediately hooked and the punishingly difficult gameplay was frustrating in the best way possible.

I usually take the most efficient path to beating a game and then, minutes later, couldn’t be bothered to spend another second playing. Not Lonely Mountains Downhill. As of today I have played for 40 hours and am at 82% complete. I almost never 100% complete a game, but I can’t see myself stopping until I’ve completed every challenge Lonely Mountains Downhill can throw at me. Keep reading to find out why.

Gameplay

LMD was released earlier this year and is available for Switch, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Mac at $20. If you purchase the game for PC or Mac make sure to play with a controller and not your keyboard. The precision offered by the joysticks is necessary if you want to have a fun time. I played with my Nintendo Pro controller, which connected to my Mac with no trouble.

What immediately stands out about LMD’s gameplay is how incredibly punishing it is. You will crash over and over and over and over and over at first. You will feel frustration. You might even feel like you’re not having fun. But quick respawns and frequent checkpoints will keep you coming back for more.

In order to complete each of the game’s 16 trails you will need to use every tool at your disposal, and that includes your brakes. The best players in the world skillfully manipulate their bicycles through the treacherous environments with grace and precision over raw speed. You too will need to learn these skills if you want to unlock every one of LMD’s beautiful levels.

Each level has 7 challenges to complete ranging from not terribly difficult to “why do you bring me such pain?!” In order to unlock each of the game’s four mountains, 16 trails, and 8 bikes you will need to complete these challenges. Sure, completing trail #1 with the full suspension Geronimo is a piece of cake. But you have not felt pain until you have completed Sierra Rivera trail #4 on the Javelin, a single speed road bike with drop bars, in 7 crashes or fewer.

Environments

There are 4 mountains in LMD, each with unique flora and fauna and a new set of challenging terrains. Redmoor Peaks is a temperate forest in perpetual autumn in which you will slog through mud, over felled logs, and through shallow creeks. In contrast, Sierra Rivera is a desert landscape with massive cliff drops, steep downhill sections, and plenty of epic gaps. Each mountain will challenge you in a new way.

While the graphics aren’t “realistic”, the game is beautiful with tons of attention to detail. Birds spread their wings and jump to the sky as you ride by, butterflies flit around in circles in peaceful glades, and the tasteful tilt shift gives the feeling like you’re really there, without feeling beat over the head by how “real” the game is.

The audio, too, is worthy of praise. If you chill and listen you’ll hear the sounds of birds chirping, wind rustling through leaves, and distant waterfalls thundering onto rocks. As you start riding you’ll hear the dirt crunching under your wheels and the sound of your freewheel clicking. When you hit an uphill section you’ll here the rider downshift. When you’re blasting down steep inclines and hit the brakes you’ll hear the roar of your tires battling rocks and dirt.

The way the levels are paced is another essential ingredient in this game’s successful execution. There is no level that’s just a breakneck downhill bomb from start to finish. Every level has its twists and turns, so to speak. You’ll often face the hardest challenges a trail has to offer just before its most tranquil flats. This really amps up both the feelings of relaxed contentment and sweaty palm excitement.

You can almost picture yourself in this idilic setting, riding your trusty steed back to your campsite and taking a pause to enjoy nature and the feeling of wide open (and unforgiving) nature.

Conclusion

LMD is a must have game for bicycle loving gamers. It’s not just a fun bicycling game, it’s a fun game. If you’ve found yourself pining for nature and a new game to play I can’t recommend it enough.

To the creators of Lonely Mountains Downhill: how can we get Warren Karrs into the game??

Warren Karrs On a mountain bike adventure