(Megagon Industries; PC, Xbox)
A graceful game of tricks, turns and time trials, as you either race against the clock and other players or just glide through the wilderness on your own terms

Skiing has compelled video-game designers since the dawn of the computing age. The reasons are straightforward: snow is comparatively simple to render on screen, while the lilting rhythms of carving a path down a virtual mountainside encourage the sort of flow state that attracts many players to the medium. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is not attempting to be the most realistic depiction of the sport, but rather an impressionistic interpretation that captures its essential spirit. It meets this goal with grace and flair, a game that democratises the joy of skiing, an increasingly rarefied activity in this climate-bewildered world.

You first choose your skier, a blocky yet adept cipher, then take on a series of slopes across various snow-draped hills, racing to pass a series of generously spaced checkpoints in as quick a time as possible. These courses are not like racetracks; there are, instead, dozens of naturally formed routes and shortcuts, and much of the challenge derives from picking the optimal path down the slope, while still being able to adapt to accidents of physics that inevitably upset your plans.