It’s almost summer here in the South hemisphere, so there’s no better time to dust off our bikes and hit the road once again – with all the necessary protection, I must add. And almost a year after going downhill in Graterhorn, Redmoor Peaks, Sierra Rivera, and Mount Riley, Megagon Industries releases the first DLC for the acclaimed Lonely Mountain Downhill: welcome to Eldfjall Island!
By the way, if you don’t know what this game is all about, Life is Xbox has not only one but two reviews for you – and I strongly encourage you to read them first. Here’s my opinion https://www.lifeisxbox.eu/2019/11/06/review-lonely-mountains-downhill/ and here’s Michael’s impressions about the game https://www.lifeisxbox.eu/2019/08/26/lonely-mountains-downhill/. Take your time to read. I can wait. What? Have you already read them both? Great! Now we can continue. And now you are more familiar with it, we can go ahead with our review for this Lonely Mountains Downhill add-on.
This DLC brings a new track with four different courses in the volcanic Eldfjall Island. Now if you are wondering if this is a real location (as I did) or what this name means (as I did too), Eldfjall means… well, Volcano in Icelandic. And although these new courses do not bring anything particularly new to the game, they expand the title in what it was already great at: the experience! I’m still unable to explain how pleasant it is to ride down each one of those tracks with no music at all, but a singular sense of speed and amazing control of your bike – a true silent and lonely race against the clock. And once again I praise this Deutsch studio for what they created in this game: it is still as fantastic and fresh as it was for the first time I’ve played it one year ago!
Here you will once again ride through tracks that challenge you with hard turns and steep slopes, while presenting you at each turn with beautiful views – and on this island, the ocean will be the background of your races. There are tracks with climatic obstacles – namely fog and heavy rain – where the slightest skid will be fatal and ruin your ride. My favorite was the last course, a ride through rocks surrounded by molten magma right in the volcano crater. A truly amazing experience!
For those who managed to beat the new challenges of this island, a new bike and gear will be your prizes. For someone who cannot care less about cosmetics, this feels very disappointing. But here the joy of the ride was more than enough as a prize to me. So, you are forgiven this time, Megagon Industries.
If you don’t have the base game yet, there’s a pack that contains both the base game and the new tracks. If you already have it, you can buy this new DLC directly from the in-game menu or the Xbox store. Lucky you if you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber because this amazing game is still available in the program. Now please, as soon as you finish reading this review, do yourself a favor and try this DLC right now!
With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.