Key Takeaways
1. Engaging Gameplay: SNØ offers addictive arcade-style skiing and paragliding, reminiscent of Tony Hawk: Pro Skater, with fast-paced scoring through combos and tricks.
2. Variety of Game Modes: The game includes three modes: Infinite and Score Attack for competitive play, and Zen for a more relaxed experience, with updates enhancing safety in Zen mode.
3. Exploratory Mechanics: Players can independently discover gameplay mechanics without extensive tutorials, allowing for a more immersive experience.
4. Replayability Features: Catching glowing rabbits while skiing provides players with cosmetic rewards and score boosts, adding to the game’s replay value.
5. Continuous Development: Regular updates and events, including new skins and planned content like snowboarding, indicate ongoing support and improvement from the developers.
SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding is one of those games that once you start playing, you find it hard to stop. In this review, I’ve spent nearly ten hours diving into everything this game offers. SNØ is an arcade-style game that reminds me of Tony Hawk: Pro Skater. As you ski or paraglide down slopes that are generated on the fly, you can earn points that pile up faster the longer you maintain a combo. You can score by narrowly avoiding trees or rocks, doing 360 spins, or pulling off tricks by pressing a button while airborne. But watch out! If you mess up your landings from spins or tricks, you might crash.
Game Modes to Explore
Currently, the game features three modes. The first two, Infinite and Score Attack, are perfect for arcade fans like me who aim to achieve the highest scores possible. The last mode, Zen, caters to players wanting a more laid-back experience as they ski down SNØ’s endless mountains. In one of the initial updates, the developers made Zen mode safer, reducing the danger level so players can dodge obstacles with greater ease for a more relaxing time. Speaking of relaxation, you can pause the game anytime to enter photo mode, which lets you take almost any camera shot you desire. You can toggle the game’s UI on or off, so you can either showcase a score combo or simply capture a beautiful landscape. From stunning sunsets to moments where snow sprays around you, SNØ’s photo mode is great for capturing various scenes. The only downside is that the camera focus can occasionally be a bit unresponsive, despite your attempts.
Discovering Gameplay Mechanics
One of the aspects I appreciate most about SNØ is the lack of hand-holding. After demonstrating the controls at the mountain peak, the game leaves you to discover everything else on your own. It shows you how to deploy your paraglider, the button for spinning or tricking, and how to glide down the snow, and that’s about it. All the scoring techniques and navigation through trickier terrain are left for players to explore independently.
Adding to the game’s natural replayability, SNØ has a fun loop where a glowing rabbit can appear, running down the mountain alongside you. If you catch it, you earn a cosmetic item. The first rabbit on each mountain gives you a cosmetic that matches the mountain’s seed, along with a temporary score boost. You can keep catching rabbits on the same mountain, and they spawn more frequently the further you ski down.
Continuous Updates and Events
The developers have organized an event celebrating their hometown, Trondheim, which introduced new skins. The game is regularly updated, improving control schemes and optimizing for devices like the Steam Deck. Studio Gauntlet has also indicated plans to add more content, like snowboarding and new environments such as snow parks.
Overall, SNØ feels well-polished, with clean graphics and balanced controls. Occasionally, you might crash into a rock or tree, which can feel unfair, but these instances are relatively rare, and the physics are well programmed. On the flip side, you might get lucky and pass through something, though this also happens infrequently.
I would rate SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding an 8 out of 10. It’s incredibly enjoyable and reminds me a lot of the Tony Hawk series with its tricks and creative ways to earn extra points. You can grab it on Steam for $12 or try the demo for free.
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