What Makes DESCENDERS So Exhilarating? 

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As a mountain biker i can't watch off-track bits at this speed - my mirror neurones screaming all at once - You are dead! (upd - oh my god it has first person view)

Game Pass is the best thing to happen to gaming in many years tbh. gaming media never explain that cos they dont have to pay for their games so they dont care, but for the average consumer it's' a godsend.

I don't know if I've seen any game use FOV as well as this one.

Needs a VR update so I can experience the terror of nearly dying from the comfort of my couch.

Easily one of the best games of this generation. Descenders > Eastenders

I really don't play a lot of sports games, it is rare for me to play games which require training and repeapting gameplay, but I loved Descenders. It just felt so good

3:25: The fact that they call trick of jumping the Cristo Redentor copy "Redeemed" is a detail I want to draw attention to. I like it. That is all.

This reminds me a lot of Downhill Domination on the PS2, minus the violence, and the edge, and it looks less competitive, in fact, I'm positive the devs of Descenders were inspired by it just by how similar the game looks in the video at least. Downhill Domination was basically Road Rash with bicycles instead of motorcycles while going downhill constantly, I've always wanted a sequel, or an online version of that game, guess I finally found it. Oh, and if you don't know what Road Rash is, it's basically an arcady racing game that features a combat system that is simple yet satisfying (if you're playing the right road rash). Nothing beats kicking an oponnent onto oncoming traffic and seeing him and his bike flying, and then running him over while he's still sliding across the asphalt, if it sounds too gruesome, don't worry, the game is pretty over the top and doesn't feature blood or graphic violence, it's just dumb fun and metal af.

Descenders is a fantastic game, I have over 100h in it.

I wanted to leave a comment here thanking you for recommending this game. When I was a kid, I fell in love with a jet ski racing game called Splashdown, and I've been looking for a similar feeling to that game for like 15 years. And thanks to this game, I think this is it. In a different way, it made me recapture similar feelings of speed, control and cozy familiarity. Probably has a lot to do with the music as well. So again, thanks.

I love this game! I play it a lot and make videos aswell. Just a great gameplay feel when you ride along the tracks!

Can’t wait to see speed runs of this.

I’m a sucker for momentum and anything having to do with BMX or dirt bikes since the classic THQ MX games. Decenders is a massively fun time

With roguelike games I always like to imagine that the player character is in purgatory, unable to escape this endless loop of gameplay. So in Descenders they can hang out in the lobby area with other people trapped in the loop, or they can choose to ride through a unique track, giving them a fleeting and exhilirating sense that they are finally escaping, before either dying or completing the run and being dragged back to the lobby. Their fate is to be endlessly taunted by the impression that they're fleeing to freedom, only to end up back where they started. They see an infinite number of landscapes, each one different to the ones they've seen before, but all made up from the same ingredients, until gradually they start to seem like one homogenous track. Even the relative escape of riding through these unique landscapes, giving the false impression of seeing new sights and escaping to freedom, is gradually taken from them as each track starts to seem more and more like the tracks they've ridden through before. Just an interesting thought I like to have.

You know what? You convinced me. This is a PS+ game and I wasn't even going to bother before I watched this video. Thanks!

Gave it a shot, wasn't a fan. Everything about the game - the graphics, the soundtrack, the controls - felt so mediocre.

Never been a fan of BMX games, actively dislike games with procedurally generarated levels but.....I LOVE Descenders. The sense of speed is honestly unmatched. Own it on my Series X and Switch and play it on both consoles all the time. It is just fantastic fun. Also the soundtrack is fantastic and just adds to the great chill out vibe the game has (despite also being terrifying).

Loved this game! Was so stoked when it dropped on PSN

Did you ever play Excitebike 64? I know the prospect of "go from up to down on a bike" isn't the most novel experience, but there's a cheat code in it that can let you do Hill Climb as a descent that this reminds me of. The weird terrain, the freedom of expression, the silliness of seeing your biker careen into the distance if you crash... maybe it served as inspiration.

I discovered Descenders via game pass too. Ended up picking it up in a steam sales later too. It's amazing.

i haven't played Descenders (yet), but i've been doing mountain bike racing for a few years when I was younger, and from what I see and how you describe Descenders' handling the feeling of speed... Yes. Seems to feel very accurate to reality.

One of the few games I've seen that give such a great feel of speed. Reminds me of those NFS Pro Street races, but with bikes

I find the procedural generation really frustrating and creates really poor track design. Along with the limited live system, I just found that that game encourage you to go slowly, instead of having risk reward, there's mostly just risk. And the "boss levels" often aren't possible due to being procedural. Perhaps I'm just more critical because I paid £18 for it off steam.

I imagine a VR version of this game being perfect to present to drunk friends and older family members during parties

This was the first gamepass game that I got hooked on. It's sooo much fun.

I noticed that the rep score at the bottom is showing the level rep, not the complete run rep (can be changed in settings). At 4:29 the rider has a score of 12,000, with only 3 seconds of air time so far. That has got to be the run rep at the point, right? Please tell me there is no way that is possible for a single level.

Kinda looks like it has similar concepts to Road Redemption - another semi-randomized racing game. Also one of the few PC splitscreen games, they are ridiculously rare.

Have you played Lonely Mountains Downhill? It's another indie arcadey racing game on Game Pass, i had a lovely time with it

The fear I felt when flying at 90kmh mid air in forest was something I could only feel irl. This game and it's soundtrack are addicting

i adore descenders. zen is absolutely the perfect way to describe it.

When you were talking about the sense of insanely dangerous speed, it reminded me of playing Need for Speed: Shift. There was a track were you get to drive a high-end supercar along a very long one-way course (rather than doing laps). Near the end, there's a (nearly) straight-away that was several km long. So I'm doing like 400 km/h, scared to even tweak my steering for fear of flying off into space.

Imagine playin this in VR

Glad to see that your rider has successfully installed VLC media player.

Who’s here after ps plus announcement?

arcade physics, when done right, are the number one reason we play video games... descenders, mario, gta, f-zero, trackmania, call of duty, celeste, tony hawk, forza, doom, halo, mirrors edge, the crew, just cause, dying light, red dead, spiderman, far cry, crackdown, borderlands, marvel vs capcom, tekken, street fighter, vampire survivors, redout, wreckfest, rocket league, etc...

Content on this channel is great. Your recent Dishonored 1 video got me to try the game and I loved it, so thanks!

I bought it for less than half of the price of Gamepass monthly subscription. I say, buy the game, support the devs directly.

I didn't really gel with Descenders and was about to uninstall it.. but after watching this I'll give it another few tries, cheers!

Discernment and discretion advised. Any resemblances to Alēn(s) are/is coincidental. exit (1)(2).

I love descenders glad to see someone covering it! It’s such a fun thing to shut your brain off and play a round or 2

I found the controls really unintuitive. But that's just me. Not a bad game though.

I thought it got boring after a couple of hours personally. The procedural generation gets really repetitive.

Random objectives are fun

One of the best game I've played and this was a great vide9 about why it's so fantastic.

As a person who has been playing for over 400 hours, I fully agree in what your saying

I mean this game is fun don't get me wrong, but it looks more fun when your watching someone thats good at it

my game doesn’t start like in the beginning it loads to about 80% then it just closes

The limited lives ruined this game for me unfortunately.

I have almost 150 hours in this game and its still entertaining

The crashes you have in this game are insane

10 bones on the eshop welp guess it's time to give it a go, cheers boys.

I was playing the game while listening to this and that feel that

I just bought this game on switch, it is stupidly fun

Sooooo It’s steep but no snow

heh looks like it shits all over riders republic, good one.

This review sold me on the game. thanks.

I think I'd call this as much of a racing game as Snakeybus lol, but I get the appeal.

Has anyone played downhill domination?

Yes put can a ride in a giant hamster ball?

POV: You turned the light on 1:46

You deserve a lot more suscribers.

Awsome but when can we get a new bmx game

This game is what Steep wanted to be

Gamepass isn't worth keeping around even for Descenders when you can just get the steam version instead which has support for user created maps and gear. why pay 10$ a month for a service you are only keeping around for 1 or a few games when you can just buy those games outright?

This dude forgot about the many, many custom maps made by the community! Like, way more content than the base game!

I think I spent the first 20 minutes of this game laughing at myself and others ragdolling in the lobby, thanks for the recommendation Also 5:29 you'd think scissoring a cactus at 60 km/h would be a two health loss

I saw 'Supraland' in there. It is, bar none, the best first-person Metroidvania that isn't 'Metroid Prime'. Which isn't that competitive of a field but it's still really good.

The sheer quality of games on game pass is so staggering. Thank you for sharing your personal experience with this game, I'll add it to my long list of "get to it later." :)

Thanks for the vid

The pleasure you get from Descenders makes me think about what I get from Art of Rally.

Very well put together review, you definitely captured the spirit of descenders in all of its intricacies - if you ever get the chance to pick up the steam version i would also very much recommend that you do so for the modding capability that opens up a world of new maps to play. If you ever feel like testing your capabilities at speed then keep an eye out for the next official competitive racing event we host :D

Omg how do you land so easily I almost always die from big falls! + Another bonus of this game is that even if you get sick of the main maps and campaign (which is highly unlikely) there's is tons of in-game mods to check out.

Sorry to be a bother but does anyone who owns a copy of the Xbox version have a glitch where the hud disappears? I get a weird white screen before the game loads then I can’t see anything :(

This is quickly becoming my most-played game it’s so freaking addicting

The game that had the top spot for "making me feel like i'm going super fast" was for Star Wars Racer, one of my favourite racing games with the only downside of being waaaay too easy

freakstyle anyone?

Love this channel

I’ll be honest I just want trackmania on PS4

Fast you say?

Good review, clean and simple. Keep it up :)

You might like mx vs atv reflex too

Thx

reminds me a bit of the last SSX- looks fun!

Thanks for the tip, this seems like a game for me.

Fantastic analysis ! It really makes me think about Steep, which I absolutely loved !

What’s the game at 0:42 seconds?

If only it had VR support

Sonic better be taking notes, lol.

This game is awesome!!! So happy they gave it for free

I wish I could like this game. As a mountain biker myself I'd love a great mountain biking game. Interestingly though the speed of the game combined with it's uncanny animations totally take me out of it. For me personally I find the game really hard to look at.

Confused as to how this has no comments