Extreme sports sim Descenders Next looked primed to be an impressive follow-up to Ragesquid’s 2019 hit, taking the fundamentals which made Descenders’ downhill biking such a thrill and applying them to snowboarding and mountain-boarding. PC Gamer’s Shaun Prescott took it for a spin last year and came away delighted, stating the sequel” adopts all of the best qualities of its predecessor while adding something that was arguably missing before: atmosphere”.
Yet it seems supporting the sequel has, ironically, represented an uphill struggle for Ragesquid, with scant updates to Next since its early access release in July. That changed this week, however, as Ragesquid implemented a substantial multiplayer-focussed patch, while also explaining what’s been going on behind the scenes.
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Moreover, Ragesquid just put out a big patch for the original Descenders that added new maps and modes. This is the game’s first major update in over a year, which makes me wonder whether sales of the original are outperforming its successor, both on Steam and beyond.
As is so often the case, the complicating factor here is the black box that is Game Pass. Both games feature on Microsoft’s subscription service, with publisher No More Robots being a big proponent of how the service can help indie games thrive. Indeed, when Descenders Next launched in July, Ragesquid claimed it received over half a million players—a strong number for an indie game in the current climate.
Hence, it’s possible that both games are doing just fine, and they are different enough that supporting both simultaneously would make sense, albeit quite a lift for a small developer.
Either way, things are progressing with Descenders Next. The newly released multiplayer update introduces three game modes featured in the original game, namely race mode, the exploration focussed follow-the-leader mode, and the freewheeling park mode. It also adds custom lobbies so you can play privately with your pals, and has introduced a gear-unlock system similar to the one featured in the original.
Ragesquid also offers a glimpse of what’ll be coming to Descenders Next in 2026, namely a career mode and a new map. It’s worth noting that both games are currently available at a discount, with Descenders’ price down 75% to $6.24 (£4.87) and Descenders Next getting 15% off at $25.49 (£21.24). Both discounts end on December 15.
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