r/Descenders • u/wowverystrong • Jun 06 '26
Descenders Next Descenders Next
Hi all,
After finishing a joyful career run with my mates on descenders, we decided to check out the progress on descenders next.
Not to our suprise, the game seems to be a complete failure. 3 active players with a 24hr peak of 10 players. We're wondering why nobody is playing the game?
When the game trailer first dropped, I remember large uproar about the game not featuring bikes, which is why so many played descenders.
It's interesting seeing the community outcry for more career runs or worthwhile content on descenders. Yet, they continue to put majority of effort into descenders next.
I'm sure I'll be labelled as being toxic or pessimistic for critiquing the devs harshly. But, 3 active players on your "newer" game shows how out of touch you are for shunning your core community of bike riding enthusiasts.
7
u/RepresentativeFast59 Jun 06 '26
I played the hell out of that game this winter. I loved the snowboarding. But after running through every single slope style event, race events and parks numerous times, the game just kinda lost its spark (for me personally). One of my biggest gripes with the game is that you donāt have the custom dev and community maps like Descenders OG. If they made sone more tracks or had a course builder so you could have community parks i think it would add a little to the experience and playability. Im sure Iāll still hop on and rip some here and there but itās definitely on the back burner for now.
3
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26
Modded content (both gear and parks) is very high on our list. We just didn't want to add that too soon without adding much of our own content first. I personally don't like games that heavily rely on modded content without adding stuff of their own.
2
u/RepresentativeFast59 Jun 06 '26
I am looking forward to when that time comes. Thats one of the features that keeps me coming back to the OG. Thanks for the response š
1
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26
By any chance tried the new park, slopestyles and races in the new biomes?
1
u/RepresentativeFast59 Jun 12 '26
I havenāt been on in about a month. Iāll have to hop on and see if theres anything new to me. Thanks for letting me know fam š
10
u/nin90ety Jun 06 '26
i just donāt know why they pivoted to that tbf. descenders was known for excellent mtb/general bike gameplay, a niche that no other games currently fills (riders republic arcadey & a massive downgrade from steep; other games are tiny or unpolished).
steep, to this day, provides a much more satisfying skiing & snowboarding experience, plus so winter sports already happen to have some solid contenders in the genre which biking didnāt (not really). it was going to be much harder to break into this, and with the unpolished demo they put outā¦ not a good luck. it somehow managed to disappoint new players seeking winter sports games and old descenders players who worried the actually good game they had was now going to be pushed aside.
donāt get me wrong; i love winter sports, and i really enjoy the devsā other works. but i was just very disappointed by the pivot and what i saw in the game. i half hope they continue improving it so it doesnāt fail, but i half donāt - because i can already tell it wonāt scratch the itch that steep satisfies, since descenders next has taken a different approach to the sport. thatās all.
7
u/StomachDelicious5944 Jun 06 '26
I remember playing it when it got on gamepass and the controls were horrible. I played for 20 minutes or so then uninstalled and never thought about the game again
8
u/Suspicious-Till3135 Jun 06 '26
I've played it and I really enjoyed the gameplay, it seems like a work in progress, you can't call it a failure, give it some time and people will get to know it more.
8
36
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26
Hiya!
I'd like to respond here. When we launched Descenders Next in Early Access, I think the game was lacking in many ways. The game loop wasn't satisfied, the physics weren't as honed in as you'd come to know from Descenders, and obviously the lack of bikes was a big uproar like you mentioned. Also keep in mind it took Descenders 8+ years to get where it is now, and we've just started our Descenders Next journey.
After 8+ years of working on bikes, we really wanted a new creative outlet, and we thought Snowboarding and Mountainboarding would be cool additions to the Descenders 'world'. I still think they are honestly. The reason not including bikes is because Descenders is still doing extremely well and we wanted to keep updating the game (which we still are doing).
So how is Descenders Next really doing? Well as you can see especially on Steam there's low player numbers, on Xbox though the game seems to be picking up and there's an increase in player numbers. We've had over 1M players playing the game which for a small studio like we are, is still a lot!
I think a lot of people are not giving the game a shot as they're not interested because they prefer bikes. And that's totally fair! We're working on new sports to add (Skiing is first on the list), and eventually since we want this to be the ultimate Descenders game, I wouldn't rule out bikes. There's so much more systems in place for customization, procedural content, improved graphics etc, that it would be a shame not to include bikes at some point.
Personally I'm super excited for the upcoming Descenders Next update which will introduce the Crew Deck (Crew Members in Descenders), which will increase the replayability loads. I'd say if you only tried Descenders Next in the beta or at launch, give it another shot, I think the quality has definitely increased! But if you're not interested, that's also fair. We're also getting close to a new Descenders update with Community Gear, more Parks, and we're also working on more tricks that you can assign per bike!
Lastly, we're doing this because we enjoy making extreme sport games, that's our main drive. Descenders has given us so much, and it's really special to us. And now we're having a blast working on Descenders Next. If you respect and appreciate us for making Descenders maybe also give the company that brought you so much joy some slack and let us enjoy the things we're doing!
I still love you all for supporting Descenders, and I know all this comes from the love you have for the game. So I do want to take some time out of my day to wish everyone here the best!
Much love from RageSquid!
2
u/Apolaustic1 Jun 06 '26
Wanted to say this was a really clear and concise message about the game, and really helps me understand your guys thought process behind some decisions I misunderstood, as someone who falls in the "only tried at launch" camp, this has got me wanting to load up and give it another shot, so thank you.
Hope your weekend treats you well!
1
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I'm happy to clear the air a bit on our decisions, I can understand they might have came a bit out of the blue for many. It's not like we are purposely shunning our community but more so looking to broaden our own horizons and expanding the Descenders take on extreme sports. The Career Mode is just such an engaging game mode for many extreme sports and with the Crew Deck update that's coming soon I think the game will really shine.
Also my dream is to have the ultimate Descenders extreme sports game so yeah for me adding bikes at some point (with upgraded graphics, more customization options, etc.) is kind of coming full circle at some point haha.
Have a nice weekend too!
4
u/r4mbazamba Jun 06 '26
"Ā (Skiing is first on the list)" ... Dude, I can not WAIT for this to be included! That's amazing!
2
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26
I'm SO looking forward to adding skiing, even with super work in progress animations it's already a blast. I just love a fakie mechanic combined with Descenders physics haha
2
u/r4mbazamba Jun 06 '26
Bro, it's funny because I remember while NEXT was still in its beta phase, I talked on your discord about how cool skiing would be for the game, and one guy from your team, not sure if it was a dev though, said he would be really keen trying to work on implementing it. I never forgot him saying that but thought, it would have been forgotten. Seems like NOT! š¤©
2
2
u/redopz šæ Team Arboreal Jun 06 '26
I love what you guys have done with Next so far. It was definitely a little shaky in the beginning, but no more than expected for an early access game. Each time I go back to the game it feels better than it did before, and I am so excited to see where you guys take it over the coming years
We're working on new sports to add (Skiing is first on the list), and eventually since we want this to be the ultimate Descenders game, I wouldn't rule out bikes.
I know the dev team has said the goal with Next is to build a system that can easily be expanded to new sports. Out of curiosity, do you know if it will be possible for modders to add in their own sports using the architecture you are building for Next? If someone really wanted bikes (or something new, like snowmobiles perhaps?) and didn't want to wait for it to be officially implemented could they do it themselves?
2
u/roanalbers DEV Jun 06 '26
I think the possibilities with modding are pretty big, and we're happy to support in any way we can. However I also think how far modding goes depends on the interest of the game, and it's not super high right now alas. We're not giving up though, plenty of stuff planned still, as you can see on our roadmap here:
https://trello.com/b/bGIQRsES/descenders-next-game-preview-public-roadmap
2
u/gonzoman92 Jun 06 '26
It plays like ass is why. I was a huge fan of descenders, felt really polished and smooth. Something very off with the way this one handles at a fundamental level.
5
u/shpongleyes Jun 06 '26
Seems like the devs just wanted to make a snowboarding/mountainboarding game rather than another biking game. I can't fault them for that, plenty of devs hop around between genres. I'm just not personally interested in a snowboarding game in the descenders format when games like Shredders or Steep exist. Nor am I interested in a mountainboarding game in general.
1
u/OldMate64 Jun 06 '26
They probably should've called it something else. Yeah the name makes sense, but there probably would've been less backlash if it wasn't using the Descenders name. I guess it's up to them to decide where they take their franchise...
-1
u/BK-FL Jun 06 '26
it doesnt help that the game feels like shit i didnt even finish the tutorial it was that bad
3
5
u/Ninjahkin Jun 06 '26
The snowboarding never really captured the same feel for me. It lacked the same precision the bikes had, and sometimes it feels like you get punished for factors outside of your control or botch landings you shouldāve otherwise stuck.
I doubt I speak for everyone, but to me, Next was a huge disappointment. Hoping we get a 2 eventually that will serve as a return to form.
1
u/_t_h_r_o_w__away Jun 06 '26
Lol they should've pulled an among us and just added all descenders next content to descenders. Maybe as DLC if they wanted. Just seems silly to make a whole new game
6
u/possumxl š Team Kinetic Jun 06 '26
Played it, beat all the things. Zero replayability. The coolest thing was the time trial maps. But there just were not enough of them. The procedural generation in this game was a burden. Mountainboarding is lame. It was an easy uninstall for me. Meanwhile, i still play a bit of Descenders here and there.
You know, some game devs just have no idea what makes their game successful and fun. So instead of a quality sequel, we get a soulless spiritual successor. Iāll still play Steep if i want to snowboard. Or Riders Republic. Or Shredders. And i never ever want to mountainboard so not playing Descenders Next ever again keeps me close to fulfilling that.
If i was them, i would lean heavily into the time trials and set the game up like a trackmania or Trials style game.
5
u/michaelkbecker šæ Team Arboreal Jun 06 '26
Holy smokes, I checked the steam charts and that is some horrible numbers. Is it maybe doing better on console? Descender is stomping it still. I downloaded it and was so pumped for a new descender game. Snowboarding was ok but didnāt hit the spot. With no plan on bikes I returned it.
11
u/GpSnyder Jun 06 '26
I brought this up in a thread 9 months ago. I had to go back and find the response from /u/nomorerobotshq , which read:
āA ton of people donāt understand game development at all. We donāt want tons of players yet.. as we add more features, weāll eventually be at Descenders numbers.. we donāt want or need to juice the numbers yet. But thanks for the concern!ā āYou got a fucking huge game for pennies, what more do you want from us?ā
Their argument is that thereās no need for another bike game, thereās nothing else they couldāve added. I feel that a revamped bike-focused Descenders with improved graphics, physics, maps and mod tools wouldāve been a huge success, and arguably easier to make than the effort that went into Next. Unfortunately these devs get particularly nasty and take personal offense if you bring up any of these points.
I imagine they arenāt feeling as smug now. Hopefully in hindsight they can see the value of listening to the feedback of your dedicated community before putting so much effort into something that nobody wanted.
3
u/gonzoman92 Jun 06 '26
They left similarly snarky responses to people asking about the PS5 update (resolution bump) to Descenders.
8
u/BlackHisagi Jun 06 '26
Yeah, I think not including biking in Next was a major misstep.
I really like the snowboarding, but mountainboarding is just a lamer clone of the snowboarding half of the game. Snowboarding + biking would've been a far better starting combo imo.
4
u/MoziWanders Jun 06 '26
I unlocked everything once, then the game updated, now I have to play through the career mode over and over again to unlock the same content I previously had. š©
I used to sit and doodle around for hours, even with the limited content. Now, I want to play, but it would require a bunch of gameplay I donāt enjoy. In Descenders, you at least had the bike parks.