Lonely Mountains: Downhill

Lonely Mountains: Downhill is a delightfully simple looking game from its exterior, but sneaks up on you with its challenging core. You play as a nameless (and faceless, might I add) character whose one true goal is to tackle all of these mountains and their exciting, twisted trails. 

Each level has a few different difficulties, and different challenges that go along with those. This can be something as (seemingly) simple as completing the track under a certain time, or with fewer than x amount of crashes. Sometimes these can seem quite easy, but instead prove to be a little more difficult once you factor in the stress of some areas on the tracks that are trickier than others.

As well as the main track, there are a vast selection of off-the-beaten-path type routes to the finish line. Some which can simply shave a few seconds off here and there, while others can drastically reduce your overall time. Half of the fun of Lonely Mountains: Downhill is finding these alternative routes and doing everything you can to not only survive (since they're generally harder than the main track) but to perfect them, and get your time - and number of restarts - as low as possible.

There are good customisation options, allowing you to alter the look of your rider as well as your bike. You can change between male and female, different hair style and colour options and tweak the skin tone to how you wish. New costumes and bike parts can be unlocked by satisfying the conditions of various challenges laid out for you.

Visually, the game is gorgeous and has a very pleasing aesthetic. Locations are beautifully crafted and the lighting just adds another layer to the look. Sound design is fantastic also, with really catchy tunes to go along with your peaceful journey. The controls felt great for the most part, with only a few minor gripes where turns felt less responsive than they should, but this didn't make the game feel unplayable at all.

In the end, we really enjoyed Lonely Mountains: Downhill and have decided to give it the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.

What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thanks to Thunderful Games for the Lonely Mountains: Downhill Xbox One review code!