Steep
Steep is an open-world winter sports MMO that drops you into a shared version of the Alps and asks a simple question: do you want to chase leaderboards, or just find your own line down the mountain. Between snowboarding, skiing, wingsuit flights, and paragliding runs, it leans heavily on free exploration, recorded rides, and bite-sized challenges that you can tackle solo or alongside other players.
 | Publisher: Ubisoft Playerbase: Medium Type: Open-World Winter Sports Release Date: December 3, 2016 Pros: +Gorgeous, continuous mountain playground. +Accessible controls that are easy to pick up. +Robust replay tools and user-made lines. +Works well as a solo roam or a social session. Cons: -Full-price buy-in feels steep. -Jumping and airtime can feel awkward. -Not a huge variety of challenge types. -Demanding PC requirements. |
Steep Overview
Steep is built around the appeal of a large, seamless mountain space where you can swap sports on the fly and treat the terrain like your personal playground. You can launch from drop zones, drift toward points of interest, and then decide whether you want a relaxed cruise for scenery or a focused attempt at a structured event. The Alps setting is presented with shifting weather and lighting that give runs a different mood depending on conditions, and the game pairs that with a strong selection of music that tends to punctuate your descents.
At its best, Steep is about self-directed goals. One ride might be a careful ski line between trees, the next a wingsuit pass inches above the snow for proximity points, and the next a big air attempt where you try to stick a clean landing. Each run is tracked and saved with detailed stats (time, score, altitude, and more), which encourages experimentation. Once you find a route you like, you can save it as a custom course, share it, and then use the replay suite to capture the highlights from multiple angles, including action-camera style shots.
Steep Key Features:
- Breathtaking Graphics – The Alpine ranges are rendered with impressive detail, selling the scale and beauty of high-altitude terrain.
- Choose Your Sport – pick from snowboarding, skiing, wingsuit flying, or paragliding, each with its own feel and set of challenge types.
- Create Your Own Course – When you discover a great line, you can turn it into a sharable route so friends (or rivals) can try to beat it.
- Replay The Action – Review your runs with multiple camera options, then edit the footage in-game to highlight your best moments.
- Compete With Other Players – take on events head-to-head, compare scores, or race against other players’ ghost runs.
Steep Screenshots
Steep Featured Video
![Steep Gameplay Walkthrough: World Premiere – E3 2016 [NA]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Do5d4PAz4rA/0.jpg)
Steep Review
Steep is Ubisoft’s take on an extreme sports MMO, built around an explorable version of the Alps and four core disciplines: skis, snowboard, wingsuit, and paraglider. Moment to moment, it alternates between peaceful traversal (gliding to a new start point, scouting terrain) and short bursts of intensity when you commit to a line, thread a narrow gap, or try to keep a tricky landing together. Visually it is consistently striking, with snowfields, ridgelines, and valleys that look great from both ground level and the air. At the same time, the setting can feel intentionally sparse, since much of the “life” comes from the player activity and the challenges rather than from a world filled with traditional open-world distractions.
Audio is a strong supporting piece. The sport soundscape, wind, carving, impacts, feels convincing, and the voice work does its job without overstaying its welcome. The music selection fits the genre well, but it is also tied closely to your momentum, it tends to fade when you crash and return when you are back in control. Early on, when wipeouts are frequent, that stop-start presentation becomes noticeable.
Guided First Steps
Your first session is structured around a mandatory tutorial sequence. A handler speaks to you over a radio, introducing the basics of each sport and showing how to navigate the map, reach drop zones, and start challenges. It is a fairly thorough onboarding and generally well paced, but it is not optional, so returning players or those who prefer to learn by experimenting may find it restrictive. Expect roughly half an hour to get through it, longer if you are still wrestling with landings and controls.
Style and Loadouts
After the tutorial, Steep opens up its character options. You can swap between eight preset riders at any time, then customize what they wear and what gear they use. Customization is largely cosmetic, focused on outfits, boards, skis, helmets, and novelty costumes, purchased with points you earn while riding. The scoring system rewards risk, so aggressive lines and close calls pay out dramatically more than a safe, slow descent. There are also special items tied to performance milestones, such as earning gold medals in specific challenges or clearing particular events, which gives completion-minded players something to chase beyond raw leaderboard placement.
Finding Your Own Line
Structurally, the game follows familiar extreme sports rhythms: move to a new location, pick an activity, attempt it, and repeat. The difference is that Steep’s activities are spread across a sizable open world rather than delivered as a sequence of linear courses. You are free to choose how you get to an objective, where you drop in, and what path you carve between points. Some challenges are straightforward time trials, others are trick or scoring focused, and the game also sprinkles in more cinematic rides, including night descents that emphasize atmosphere and visibility.
Progression works whether you play alone or treat it like a social sandbox. You can roam independently without feeling blocked, but the experience improves when you share it. Cruising to the next start point, comparing attempts, and coordinating runs with voice chat gives the mountain a sense of presence that solo play does not always achieve.
Realism, With Rough Edges
Steep aims for a grounded feel, using a physics model that generally supports believable speed and impact, plus a G-force readout that highlights how hard you land. The issue is consistency. The game can be overly punishing in situations that look survivable, triggering wipeouts from small drops or minor collisions. Jumps are also a sticking point, timing and takeoff behavior can feel finicky, which makes big air challenges less reliable than they should be. When everything clicks, the sense of flow is excellent, but those occasional “why did I fall there?” moments can add friction, especially in score-based events that demand clean execution.
Final Verdict – Great
Steep succeeds as a mountain playground you can enjoy in short sessions or long, goal-driven grinds. It is not trying to be a hyper-arcade spectacle, and players looking for constant speed boosts and exaggerated tricks may find it calmer than expected. What it offers instead is a beautiful open world, satisfying traversal across multiple sports, and strong replay and course tools that support self-made challenges. The drawbacks are real, particularly the demanding system requirements, uneven physics around landings and jumps, and a premium price point that can feel hard to justify. Taken as a whole, it is a great winter sports MMO, but it is easier to recommend on a discount than at full price.
Steep System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 or Windows 10(64bit versions)
CPU: Intel Core i5 2400s at 2.5 Ghzor AMD FX-4100 at 3.6 Ghz
Video Card: GeForce GTX560Ti or Radeon R7 260X
RAM: 6 GB
Hard Disk Space: 22 GB
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 or Windows 10(64bit versions)
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K at 3.5 Ghzor AMD FX-8350 at 4.0 Ghz
Video Card: GeForce GTX970 or Radeon R9 390
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk Space: 22 GB
Steep Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon!
Steep Additional Information
Developer(s): Ubisoft
Publisher(s): Ubisoft
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Game Engine: Custom in-house
Closed Beta Release Date: Q4 2016
Open Beta Release: November 18, 2016
Official Release: December 3, 2016
Development History / Background:
Steep is a buy-to-play 3D winter sports MMO developed and published by Ubisoft. Ubisoft has a long track record across major franchises and long-running series, and Steep was positioned as its take on an open-world action sports experience. The title was revealed during E3 2016, later ran an open beta starting November 18, 2016, and then launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on December 3, 2016.