Descenders Torrent is a racing game developed by Ragesquid and published by No More Robots. Descenders is a game centered on navigating bikes downhill swiftly, either in the first or third person. During its peak moments, every run provides the sensation of a mechanized playground: careening down slopes, maneuvering through turns, and executing aerial feats on any available launch point. Regrettably, Descenders falters in attempting to construct an entire game around this fundamental mechanic, and as the initial thrill of flips and downhill drifting subsides, its flaws become apparent.
The game revolves around the randomization of each descent down the mountain. Not only are individual tracks randomized in terms of steepness, curves, and stunts, but the paths accessible as you advance through the game world are also distinct for each run. Finish an entire run in a world without too many bailouts, and confront a boss level — a steep and challenging course concluding with an enormous mega-jump.
Levels in each run differ due to their procedurally generated nature, but all feature a few standard obstacles based on the world they’re situated in. In the Highlands, grassy fields are interspersed with quarter pipes, wooden ramps, and occasional castle tower jumping challenges. The Forest, the Second World, introduces jumps through fire watch towers and twisted bridges over rocky pits. There are four worlds in total — the Highlands above and Forest, and the later-game Canyon and Peaks.
Each level’s course incorporates multiple checkpoints, serving as respawn locations after bailouts if passed through. These checkpoints are optional, and deviating from the path is always an option. However, choosing your route might mean missing opportunities to earn Rep points by executing a trick on a ramp or narrowly avoiding an obstacle that would otherwise result in a bailout, earning you ‘Near Miss’ Rep as a reward.
Reputation, or Rep, serves as the Descenders Torrent Magnet’s primary metric for marking your accomplishments. Rep serves a dual purpose, acting both as an indicator of skill (higher Rep placing you in higher skill ranks) and as a means of acquiring new cosmetic items, some exclusively available at higher levels. Advancement to new worlds occurs after conquering the boss level of the preceding world three times, but Rep acts as your marker of progress both within and outside levels. It’s also the game’s most significant stumbling block — reliably gaining Rep between runs proved nearly impossible in my play sessions, given the abundance of Rep penalties compared to opportunities.
At the start of each run within a world, you have 4 health. Collisions and poorly executed landings result in wipeouts, deducting Rep and health based on the severity of the crash. Health can be restored by completing secondary objectives assigned after each level — tasks such as performing two backflips or completing the level without releasing the acceleration.
Descenders Torrent makes a commendable effort to meld the fast-paced, stunt-centric gameplay of downhill sports with the procedural generation seen in modern games. Unfortunately, this amalgamation deprives the genre of one of its strongest features: meticulously crafted level design that players can immerse themselves in and learn from. However, this is counterbalanced by responsive controls and a polished presentation that prevents frustration from escalating — just be cautious not to wipe out too forcefully.
Descenders Torrent System Requirements
- OS: Windows 7/8/10/11
- Processor: Intel Core i5
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GTX 550
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 9 GB available space
