Lonely Mountain: Snow Riders + Highlands DLC glides onto PS5 with an air of calm confidence, the sort usually reserved for things that know they’re about to hurt you. Building on a well-liked downhill formula, it promises serenity, challenge, and tasteful misery wrapped in fresh alpine scenery. What it delivers is certainly memorable, though not always for the reasons you might hope.
Gaming Heaven
At first glance, it’s difficult not to admire the presentation. The mountains are clean, minimalist and undeniably striking, with snow that records your repeated mistakes like a quiet judgement. The Highlands DLC adds warmer tones and new environments, from golden forests to misty swamps, all of which look lovely moments before you crash into them. Audio design is similarly restrained, favouring silence and the crunch of skis over bombastic music, which suits the tone nicely.
There is also depth here. Multiple runs, objectives, time trials and unlockable cosmetics offer plenty to do, and the new Highlands trails provide genuine variety. Movement feels deliberate, with different surfaces affecting speed and control in ways that demand attention. When a run goes well, it really does feel earned.
Gaming Hell
Unfortunately, most runs don’t go well. Snow Riders remains stubbornly unforgiving, confusing punishment with personality. Crashes are frequent, often abrupt, and frequently caused by minor misjudgements that feel wildly out of proportion. The difficulty curve is less a slope and more a cliff face.
Progression, while technically motivating, becomes exhausting. Unlocks arrive slowly, and the constant push to shave seconds off already stressful runs feels less like mastery and more like unpaid overtime. Multiplayer exists in theory, but unless you already have patient friends, it’s largely academic.
The Highlands DLC, though attractive, doesn’t meaningfully change the experience. It adds more places to fall over, rather than new reasons not to.
Final Judgement
Lonely Mountain: Snow Riders + Highlands DLC is beautiful, serene and relentlessly hostile. It rewards precision, patience and masochism in roughly equal measure. Those seeking peaceful escapism may find only elegant frustration here. Admirable in design, exhausting in practice, it’s a reminder that nature doesn’t care – and neither does this mountain.
