Descenders Review: A Downhill Biking...Roguelike?

Descenders is probably one of my favorite racing games to come out in years even though it plays more like a single player roguelike than anything you'd expect from the racing genre. This is an incredibly smart game that both nails some intense game feel and introduces interesting risk vs. reward mechanics, making it a pretty unique entity on the market. Want to hear me keep singing Descenders praises? Then watch on in this First Five review!
NOTE: I'm a derp and forgot to mention it in the review proper again, but I did receive a review copy of Descenders. So a heads up for you guys and a big thank you to the Descenders team for providing that!
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Twitter: / firstfivereview
You can also check out my (desperately in need of updating) Steam Curator page: store.steampowered.com/curato...
Descenders is available on PC and Xbox One. Check it out on Steam here: store.steampowered.com/app/68...
#FirstFive #Descenders #shortgames

[@4music2power0]

My first thought is actually Downhill Domination

[@kyb9206]

That game was really good!!!

[@ar_no_]

My first and last, and I'm not mad about it

[@pup123434]

Just bought it for my ps2, such a great game

[@raiccoon13]

Bro im so insanely happy that there are people who know and appreciate that game. I Gott it from my parents as my first video game together with my PS2. And it was aweesome

[@4music2power0]

@@raiccoon13 dude fuck yeah. Same thing to me with Beetle Adventure Racing or like the old Resident Evil games. People don't recognize the OG's anymore.

[@ollydickinson2196]

This is the best review of this game I have seen. As a mountain biker I have seen that you have done some research. The only thing I’d have to correct you on is that the racing in this game is called ‘free ride’ amongst mountain bikers. It is downhill, but not timed and you are judged on jumping and hitting berms. Adding onto that, slopestyle is when you are given points on doing tricks off jumps in huge comps, eg, Crankworx. Great video though.

[@FirstFive]

Hey, glad you enjoyed it! Cheers, and enjoy those trails, both in-game and real life.

[@ollydickinson2196]

Thanks for the information on this video too, definitely going to buy it now!

[@ColonelRoge]

May I add as a mountain biker: Curves are burns and s bends are switchbacks 👍

[@SEGAClownboss]

I love how the wide-angle lense the game uses makes everything trippy, it's a true xtreme sports feel.

[@grodius]

your reviews remind me of the golden age of video game reviews around 2003, detailed well written and concise

[@FirstFive]

That's high praise! Thanks for the kind words.

[@kermitthefrog8408]

youre videos are so well made dude, keep it up!

[@jeremylamb12]

Fantastic review. I've watched a few and this one has been the best for me. Subbed.

[@tartgreenapple]

Professional review dude! Super Impressed!

[@ENXGMA_YT]

Excellent review!

[@paulharsh78]

First thought of downhill bike games is Downhill Domination.

[@trankhaendler]

Just found you and left a subscribe. I loved your review. Keep it up man!

[@FirstFive]

Hey, thanks!

[@truearrogantasf]

Just got a new subscriber!! Awesome video I really appreciate it!

[@misteres660]

This looks really promising. PS, I appreciate the 1440p quality upload :D

[@diamondbracelette]

Mountain biker here. Respect to the designers for going there. Needs two things to me stoked: better bike spec (tires too skinny bruhs). We love our spec. And two, the fatal flaw that we see in every single MX game ever made: flat, stilted physics and animations on the landings.

[@TheIncredibleJumpman]

With Descenders going on a free weekend, I decided to check out a review. Glad I watched yours, it's very well done! Subbed, looking forward to watching more content down the line

[@wedkarzkosma]

Incredibly well made review.

[@tytek8188]

Excellent review, You could make reviews for eurogamer, easily. Even if i know this game since it was added into Gamepass, I'll reccomend your vid every time when someone will ask me "what is this game about?". Cheers.

[@emericask8r130]

excellent review! downloading this now on the game pass

[@steampunkerella]

takes me back to middle school with all of us crowding around the computer to play trials

[@bugglemagnum6213]

5:36 this is where our opinions on the game veer apart, i think its insanely stupid to take a game where you can go stupid fast and do dope tricks and make it about holding back or doing whats reasonable. sure, i get it, it's certainly one way you could make a story mode for a game, but imagine if you fell too many times in SSX tricky and they deleted the mountain ._. its super frustrating as a fan of for example skate 3, where you can sit there for hours trying technical tricks and combos, and they take away the map i was having fun on because i got a little ambitious. completely ruins the fun of the game for me. not to mention the instant load back to practice mode with no option to judt retry from the beginning. cold piss/10 from me on what could have been a truly amazing experience. still fun in free ride but im unable to enjoy playing career mode.

[@justinmiller2132]

I play the game off Xbox Gamepass, really smooth flowing experience all around. I was mostly interested in the Procedural Generation it had touted rather than the Mountain Biking itself, but I'm glad to have installed it and given it a go. So insane to navigate down slopes attempting pitch turns and maneuvers only to hit that RED speed and go flying off into the horizon. Pretty much every aspect of the game is awesome, however some of the Boss Jumps get absolutely ridiculous in how precise you need to be, Peak wanting you to launch yourself off a ramp through a flaming ring onto a really narrow walkway that'll take a miracle to survive. I had an unlucky situation on the Desert Map where the Boss Jump wanted me to do a backflip over it, however it's a Pyramid that slows you down as you cycle up with a flaming ring at the top that prevented me from getting enough space to do the stunt. Sometimes the Objectives on the Boss Jumps just get absolutely ridiculous.

[@FirstFive]

Y'know, I had a similar problem, but I've taken to just bunny hopping off of every jump, and it helped a lot there.

[@Jackdonovan883]

Great vid I learnt a lot from you

[@ChipsA17]

This looks cool. Getting this tomorrow.

[@ErikBrabantsPianist]

This is such a great review, to the point and all the info we need. Subbed!

[@matrixslapsstreamingacc6854]

You deserve more subscribers for this

[@davenunya]

Downhill Domination is still the king of biking games

[@R3GARnator]

Good review.

[@therealhumanguineapig7537]

After playing for a few hours, the main thing that kills this game for me is the lack of any secondary trails/lines to follow. To be clear: every "race" has only one main path to follow - from the top to the bottom. Even tho you are not penalized for leaving the boundaries of the track and can do so freely, the land that is randomly generated outside of that one main trail is very generic, IMO. Was personally looking for something more like Lonely Mountains Downhill with the Descenders-style viewpoint/camera angle honestly. Now I wait for Riders Republic, I guess!

[@jeliaspa7905]

Very helpful 🤟🏻

[@cavemann_]

Steep also has a great sense of speed and momentum, in fact this really reminds me of that game.

[@ViVaLaRan]

My first thought is downhill domination

[@Str33tballa]

Right, can we just get a remake

[@kurosakidaisy518]

i'm so pissed off your channel has only less than 7k subscribers! the review is well made and the montage is great and your voice is great.. this is a professional level review hope your channel gets 10M someday, you really deserve it.

[@personman4011]

I really wanted to like this game, but it's attempt at variety just didn't work well enough for me. 2 hours in, doing my 30th Superman Backflip just didn't feel exciting anymore.

[@dystrophic]

Nice video. I don't understand how it's like a roguelike though? If you run out of lives, do you start over from course 1? Are there any unlockables in the game?

[@FirstFive]

Yes. And everything, from the courses to the overworld maps of which courses you can go to, are entirely re-randomized. There are unlockables, but they're all cosmetic, pretty sure.

[@tacti-cool4022]

I was introduced to mountain biking recently & probably put on 50 miles since & you dont go mach 5 because your not a jet, otherwise this is cool. Maybe riders republic will be accurate considering their title steep & its a new ip so they wont/cant ubify it..maybe..

[@ndb6ndk99]

Love it

[@tristanwegner]

Nice. A racing game, that you can also play in a relaxed manner

[@Zim5.0]

I think I'll get this game and just play it while waiting for other games to download, maybe I'll even enjoy it a lot, who knows? I loved downhill domination back then so let's see ...

[@louissss.7652]

I think we need downhill mtb game which is very realistic, say like there was the proper world cup circuit and you can do different levels of braking and different types of whips, for example like scrubs and moto whips not just the usual whip. (I think moto games implement this well). Also there needs to be difficult technical riding to do and you can like pull up over gaps and has good graphics. (You can also implement like crankworks events and have proper bike brands and cool custimization, like picking teams and kits) (Coming from a mtb rider in real life this is what i'm looking for in a game). idk really just a cool suggestion I though of.

[@louissss.7652]

and I think proper braking can be a good thing as in descenders it is annoying just sliding around the place

[@paulgreen2401]

I'm currently downloading this, and as 40-mile-per-week xc (cross-country) rider, I'm really excited about trying this on Saturday with my bestie. I'm gonna tear up those trails! UPDATE: For me, mountain-biking does not translate to a successful gaming experience. At all. I can force myself to play this for about 10 minutes after which I'm bored/frustrated. Steep has ruined me for performing tricks whilst airborne, and the movement of the snowboard is just so much more intuitive than the bike, although I suspect that snowboarders might find the same frustration in playing simulators of the real experience as well. Unlike a bike in reality, the bikes in this game just feel awkward and unwieldy, which ruins it for me. I'll keep exposing myself to this, but I really can't see me keeping it. Looks like I'll return to genres I prefer - FPS, RPG, horror-survival, etc.

[@flaminghead1va]

You forgot to mention how the save system works, which perks were permanent, and just how far you DID get in 5 hours, but good review :D

[@FirstFive]

-As a roguelike, there's not much to talk about as far as save systems go. If you want to get into the real nitty gritty, you unlock a cosmetic after every run and if you beat a region, you can skip ahead to the next one in future runs (kind of like how Spelunky does it). -During my time playing, I didn't come across any permanent perks. And if I'm missing something, neither Google nor the Descenders wiki are helping me. -I saw six of the eight regions (three out of four in each set), but ymmv. If you're better than me, you might just see them all in that time, and vice versa. Hope that helps!

[@flaminghead1va]

@@FirstFive THANK you. I actually own Spelunky too, but I never knew that, lol. But I digress... yeah, that's cool. I bought the game, just did my 1st run last night. but it's nice to know what to expect. I like games that have skip ahead features. I just worry it's too much to ask for beating a whole map/area per session. I don't usually have that much time. but maybe it balances out to be "easier" as your bonuses stack? Not sure but it's one of those things I'll tell over time. Thanks for the detailed reply. :D

[@romanades4993]

I love this game!

[@bugglemagnum6213]

its like skate 3 if when you bailed in career mode they fucking deleted the spot you were skating forever...

[@thegreatpoo2electricboogal318]

Excellent review. I've been looking for a mountain bike game after playing the Riders Republic beta.

[@SaschTheDash]

The Riders Republic Beta is over, so I play this until Release 😂

[@XenittX]

Thanks! Good review.

[@SirViolentDeath]

You sir are spot on your game. New viewer here and now new subscriber with the bell enabled.

[@FirstFive]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@nintendude794]

“Pull tricks off on” should’ve been written “pull off tricks on”. And the narrator bit would’ve made more sense as narration than as a caption, just pitch/slow down your own voice digitally to achieve a different timbre, either in audacity or in your editing software. Other than that, decent video.

[@gamex4759]

Super video. But I think, in 2022 Descenders needs new review

[@mrbananoid]

has it changed much?

[@raiccoon13]

I say Downhill Domination

[@eddebrock]

Here from Adam Millard.

[@Iggins420]

i miss Skate.

[@josegamerz4947]

Tiene multijugador? decírmelo porfavor

[@LaLtheGaL]

I am also a mountain biker who has raced downhill for a number of years and have done some amateur slope style events. Most mountain bike games I've seen can never seem to get the physics right. That is, the rider always looks so stiff. This game looks the best of all mountain bike games I've seen. It's nice to see that the rider actually moves independently from the bike, for example, shift the hips for cornering, and performing 360s looks more realistic as a result. I'm tempted to get this game. My question is... can you do any other tricks other than flips and spins? Can you do whips, no handers, can cans, etc? I think the one thing that made me laugh, is the word "stunts". I've never liked that word, it makes me thing of some old homeless guy that maybe stole a bike, hanging out at the skateparks, asking the kids... "hey man.... can you do any stunts?" haha, I don't know. I know that's random. Anyways, this is the first video I watched from you. I really liked your attention to detail and narration. I also like the concept of your videos, 5 hours plays and thoughts. I'm going to subscribe and continue checking out your videos. Cheers!

[@FirstFive]

Hey, thanks for tuning in. It's been a while since I've played, but yeah, I remember there being different tricks beyond just the flips and stuff.

[@denn7s]

this is like "lonely mountains: downhill" but 3d

[@billieeillish1052]

Is there free ride?

[@joneswalter5869]

Better than an IGN review

[@ericg5485]

I do not have any friends to play with.

[@orozabs4162]

You forgot community made maps

[@albertoeinsteino8852]

Plzz Someone!! Make a downhill domination game for ps4!!!

[@ipgames]

This is honestly one of the best games ever. I already got 1000 hours played! :D

[@user-wc1ld5ur6t]

Wow

[@barry9184]

First person is DEATH

[@tzeneth]

But if I hit the subscribe button again, it'll ask me to unsubscribe! :P

[@FirstFive]

The secret is to triple tap.

[@jackbudgen8858]

So it’s nothing like downhill domination?

[@charliewilson5480]

How much?

[@mixios7798]

Wait so random generation = infinite races

[@Timothymukansi]

0:58 "kinetic motion" is tautology. Don't ever say it again. Other than that, awesome review.

[@RandomGuitarist7]

I wonder if the physics are good, looks great from here...

[@jimbujold5586]

Great video review. Kind of disappointed with the game unfortunately (not for me I guess)

[@modesiko]

you didnt go to bikeparks, they are very very good

[@hipsterdoofus1332]

Most of the trials games weren’t downhill, it was up and down with stunts, so no I don’t think of trials when you say downhill biking in video games.

[@stevenewart3873]

Wanted this game for a long time but it's far too fast. I ride mountain bikes and they are not as fast as this...😭😭😭

[@hatepurrpp2651]

Try riding a mountain bike down a trail like the ones in game irl. You will definitely go that fast. Its not that the bike “isnt fast” its about the trails

[@Heraclatian]

First impression is horrible. I want a refund. However I'll give it more of a chance. It feels empty and shallow. Coming from Steep, it's hard to compare.

[@bugglemagnum6213]

you're fundamentally misrepresenting it by calling them races, races are for speed, this game is for points and tricks. like a skateboarding game for example. speed is a factor but you're never racing against other people to be in first place