Crashes while snowboarding, skiing, wingsuit diving, paragliding show player's character tumbling, sprawled at odd angles. These accidents look realistic, painful, but athletes always seem able to get up, just walk it off.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Controls for each sport don't take long to learn, but gaining mastery necessary to ace harder challenges requires time, practice. The metagame -- including overarching objectives, rules governing overall progress -- might take players some time to fully appreciate, understand.
Positive Messages
very little
Promotes idea of healthy physical activity but also glamorizes extremely dangerous sports, fails to show realistic consequences for crashes, wipeouts that would wound, paralyze, kill real-world athletes. Contains a "don't try these stunts yourself" message during initial loading.
Positive Role Models
very little
Skiers, snowboarders, paragliders, wingsuit flyers -- who span a mix of ethnicities, both genders -- shown as goodpnatured, fun-loving, but also fearless. They often take life-threatening risks.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Steep is a simulation of four winter and extreme sports, including skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, and wingsuit diving. Players can also freely walk or hike around the mountain range. The sports are faithfully recreated, save that characters don't suffer grievous injuries when they wipe out. Wingsuit divers who smash into the side of a mountain, for example, will tumble like rag dolls across the rocks and snow much like a real person would, but then they simply get up and walk away from the accident unharmed. The game cautions that none of the stunts players see should be imitated, but the fictitious athletes appear both fearless and indestructible, making them questionable role models. Parents should also be aware of some heavy product placement and sponsorships from real-world brands, including Red Bull, North Face, and Salomon. Under the CCPA law you have the right to protect your personal information.Make a Do Not Sell request to Steep.
I just downloaded this game and was immediately impressed, the graphics are stunning and so is the gameplay! The only concerns that a parent could have is the fact that the stunts are dangerous and if you fail them you see them fall down the mountain p, however there’s no blood. The other possible concern would be swearing, however this is very mild and after playing the game for 5 hours I only heard 3 instances of very mild swearing.
The first thing you notice in this game is that it is absolutely beautiful - the mountain scenes in the snow are breath taking.
That said there are a few things you should know and why I rated it for 9 years old rather than 13: T for teen. I will also say that my child never plays any video games alone - just a house rule.
1 - Dangerous Sports: It is a game of extreme winter sports (Snowboarding, Skiing, Para Sailing and Wing Suit) the crashes are jarring. I am clear with my child that this is a fantasy game that would result in much worse outcomes in the real world than a simple game-reset. There is no blood but there is the sound of a body hitting rocks (you can turn down this in settings). As you might imagine learning the wing suit is most intense.
2 - There is some language issues when he player takes a big fall they swear if it is a great fall. There is no direct way to turn this off yet so I just switched the language to French. Since we dont speak french and all the words are in French we dont know which is a swear ;-) Not great but a good workaround. Hoping the Developer can update this in future versions as it does not add to the UX. There are also some audio clips a player can trigger with "X" button that include some mild negative jabs at other players - the French also cures this.
3 - Other Players - there is an option to challenge others (strangers and friends) but only if you are logged into that aspect of the game. There is no live chat where another player could curse and you just see their user name and ranking (I guess the user name could be an issue but i havent seen it yet)
Overall a really fun challenging game in an stunning open-world if your child can separate game fantasy from the reality of hitting rocks in a wing suit.
What’s It About?
Players get to feel what it's like to engage in some of the world's most exhilarating and dangerous sports in STEEP, an open-world game set in the Alps that allows players to switch among skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, wingsuit diving, and hiking. Hundreds of events, base camps, and points of interest are scattered at locations all around the mountains, and players can instantly transport to any of them once discovered. Barriers -- such as the player's experience level -- block access to some activities, but there's not really a specific order for events and objectives to be accomplished. This allows players to freely explore the mountain and do whatever they like whenever they like. They can even take helicopter rides to otherwise inaccessible locations simply to have a look around. Players will find the avatars of other players on the mountain with them and can group with each other at the tap of a button. A large array of goals and rewards spanning multiple categories, including exploration, tricks, and extreme wipeouts, encourage players to experiment and take risks on where they can go and how they can get there.
This sports sim rewards the adventurous explorer across the Alps with an expansive trip across the slopes. Think of this game as the winter/extreme sports version of Forza Horizon. Steep is all about doing what you want, when you want, where you want, however you want. The characters rarely talk, but when they do, it's about how they feel free and invincible. They want to conquer the mountain and see things no one else has seen, and they fear nothing. It's a liberating experience for the player and a very fresh take on the decades-old genre of winter sports games.
But whether you actually have fun will depend greatly on just how much you enjoy the sports on offer. The paragliding and wingsuit events tend to be short and pretty straightforward (though not easy), while some of the skiing and snowboarding activities can become a bit frustrating until you get a feel for the terrain in the locations where they're set. It's easy to go off-trail and get a bit lost on your way to finding a rocky gap you're supposed to ski through and to catch jumps at the wrong angle. Mistakes mean you need to head back up the mountain and try again. Perhaps the most rewarding activity of all is simply exploring and finding new base camps. You can get to camp beacons through any combination of transportation methods -- say, skiing down a steep slope, then paragliding over a deep crevice and hiking up the last few hundred yards to a rocky summit. It can be exhilarating. If you have a passion for extreme winter sports, Steep is definitely worth a look.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. It's easy to lose yourself in an open-world game like Steep, where activities naturally roll into each other, but how do you make sure quick play sessions don't turn into marathon game events resulting in sore eyes and stiff limbs?
Talk about knowing your limits. Sports are fun, but they can also be dangerous, so if you ski or snowboard, what sorts of rules do you follow to stay safe while on the mountain?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
