Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderlands

Setting the standard in relaxing skiing games. No competitions here: you can just glide through the open worlds of 12 different resorts. What you can expect: cool downhill runs, as well as jumping over ravines and skidding over trees, not to mention climbing to the peaks to find hidden items. It’s a soothing treat with a minimalist aesthetic… and there’s even snowball fights.

Are you a fan of snowy peaks, mountain goats, and marmots?

Whether this is your first time on skis or you're a hardy off-piste adventurer, and whether you like gentle slopes or racing down the fall line, you'll love Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderlands.

The game's strength lies in the fact that it can be approached in two different ways: you can use it as a relaxing experience and explore the slopes as gently as you like, or you can turn it into a real challenge one slalom after another as you try to beat your time.

But whichever you prefer, you'll get access to over a dozen mountains filled with challenges each gnarlier than the last. If you like, you can even turn on zen mode, so that there'll be no other skiers to get in your way, nor any challenges to beat. You can just rest easy, enjoying the feeling of your skis in the snow and exploring your surroundings.

Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderlands is and open-world experience that's much bigger than it first appears, with 12 mountains to explore. In the beginning, it's worth sticking to some easy pistes to find your ski legs and get used to the controls, but the game rewards exploration to find new lines down the mountain.

Our advice? Press the A button to catch a ride on the ski lifts, and always be willing to go off-piste to find new lines and little rewards.

The better you perform on the slopes, the more ski passes you'll earn, unlocking to new pistes and ski lifts.

With its super-intuitive controls, the game is loads of fun. The top-down camera angle is usually excellent, but it can sometimes be tricky to nail your parallel turns.

The graphics are great to look at, with lots of fun little details, like the tracks left by your skis, the mountain restaurants with their parasols, and the skiers who've had an unlucky fall in the powder. Be warned that the wildlife can be hostile, too: especially the bears!

The game produces some amazing views as you tear down the slopes, whether that's in single player or with friends. Because Grand Mountain Adventure supports up to 4-player multiplayer, and you can even have snowball fights.

Grand Mountain Adventure comes with a selection of music tracks, and you are free to pick your favourite. It doesn't have any effect on the gameplay, but it does mean that you can have a ski experience that suits your own taste.

And if it turns out that you aren't that into any of the music, you can also turn it off altogether so it's just you and the sound of your skis in the snow.

It's almost enough to make you feel like you're really there!