Feedback from a long time Lonely Mountains fan

[Darkmending]

Background:

I bought Lonely Mountains almost as soon as it came out and have put about 100hours into the game. So far i have put 18 or so hours into the Snow Riders demo. I would like to provide feedback on the demo, improvements on the previous game and implementations from the previous game.

Currently I enjoy Snow Riders even more than Downhill.


Controls:

The controls feel alot smoother in Snow Riders than in Downhill. I typically would use the left/right control method, however I found the screen based controls could be more precise once I got the hang of it.


Tracks:

The Snow Rider tracks feel alot more accessible. A part of this is probably due to the tracks being wider than in the previous title. There is plenty of variety in each track. Sometimes it is clear that a path is slower, however often these paths can be more fun due to jumps, movement and change of camera angle. Due to this, exploring is more fun than it was in Downhill, as the slower directions were often less fun than the faster paths.

Weinwelder Weld - Black slope. Great course, however, I did notice in multiplayer that alot of people were unable to make the big ravine jump without having several or more attempts. While I think this game is more accessible than Downhill was, this part of the demo was the exception.


Races:

Multiplayer races were enjoyable. Sometimes I'd race vs other players within the top 50 and go as fast as possible, or if it was clear the lobby was full of newer players, it was fun to kick back and do tricks or ride backwards. It is also a fun way to manage the track if you crash and it's clear you can't catch the leader. I found others in the community would have a similar approach.

I only had issues with the server/lobby host. If the server/lobby host had a bad connection, sometimes it would be very difficult to play. I'm not sure how the host is selected, whether random or not, but a stable connection seems a must.


Daily Ride:

The daily ride was a feature that kept Downhill playable. Rather than just grinding faster times, it was a good way to keep the tracks fresh.

I would like to see this implemented again in Snow Riders. However, as it is also a multiplayer game, it would be good to see a rotation of daily ride, daily race and daily co-op. This would help to keep the multiplayer community alive as once most players hit level 10, it become increasing more difficult to find a lobby.


Ski equipment options:

You've probably heard this before, but every time I was forced to do a Javelin run to complete a challenge to unlock a new trail, I would get frustrated. The bike wasn't good at turning, could barely stay on the ground on most terrain and couldn't jump most jumps and land safely. To sum up, it was the only negative part of Downhill for me. If a set of skis in Snow Riders is going to be just as debilitating, I recommend not locking challenges to a particular set of skis, or instead, create Challenges for every set of skis per trail. That way you can come back to complete the challenges and aren't locked in to using a set of ski's to progress.

Moving on to the positives. Each new bike (other than the Javelin) created a new perspective of each track, unlocking new ways to go in search of the fastest route. I am looking forward to see how this is implemented in Snow Riders. It felt like the default skis became slower after next fest started so it would be fun to use a faster set of skis again that is maybe harder to land or a set that is better at tight turning, ice skating etc.


Thank you:

Can't wait to see the full release.

[ABLSR]

Thanks for taking time to give such detailed feedback! :) Happy to hear that you enjoy the game so much.

We are polishing the trails based on what we saw during next fest.

And for challenges: The challenge-system in LMSR will not be connected to the skis. You will be able to attempt every challenge with every ski.