Starting with snow- and mountainboarding.
Image credit: RageSquid/No More Robots
Developer RageSquid has unveiled Descenders Next, an extreme-sports-focused sort-of-sequel to 2018’s acclaimed downhill biking hit Descenders, which is aiming to be “the only extreme sports game you’ll ever need” when it comes to Steam and Game Pass sometime in 2025.
The original Descenders was all about exhilarating mountain biking across a procedurally generated world. Descenders Next, though, is doing something a little bit different, expanding its scope to include as many extreme sports as it possibly can over the coming years.
As per its reveal announcement, RageSquid’s goal with Descenders Next is to capture the “same feel, the same sense speed” as its predecessor, but across numerous disciplines, beginning with boarding sports on release.
“Players will learn to conquer the snowy caps through tight, effortless snowboarding action,” the studio explains, “before taking to the highlands with the grittier feel of mountainboarding. Each sport will feel and handle completely different to the others, meaning players will have to learn to tackle and master every nook and cranny of Next.”
All this plays out across procedural off-piste mountains chaining into “tight, winding parks and vistas”, where players can attempt speed challenges, trick-focused challenges, even scavenger hunts. There’s talk of “multiple huge biomes”, as well as full multiplayer support, and players can earn rep used to buy new boards, kits, helmets, goggles, and more as they play. RageSquid even promises a “banging” soundtrack form Monstercat.
Ahead of Descenders Next’s release in 2025, RageSquid will be running a number of online Test Sessions later this year, and interested parties can sign up via the game’s website.
