Ben Fiadhein beckons. The Highlands DLC grafts a compact, meticulously hand‑crafted mountain onto Snow Riders, drenched in golden autumn light, moss‑clad ruins, and river‑cut gullies that hide fierce shortcuts. It’s tailored for players who have learned the base game’s slopes and are hungry for new lines, sharper challenges, and fresh rewards; plus more opportunities to hone teamwork and timing in both private sessions and public quickmatches.
What’s included
• Four new trails, eight slopes: Each trail offers a paired blue and black slope; blue routes invite exploration and trick chaining, while black variants tighten lines and reward precision, risk, and split‑second decision making.
• New challenges across every slope: Fresh time trials, trick objectives, and free‑ride tasks push technique and creativity; completing challenge tiers unlocks meaningful milestones and encourages replay on alternative lines.
• New rewards and cosmetics: Earn cosy autumn layers, classic highlands kilts, and playful medieval armor pieces (cosmetic only) that let you celebrate style as you chase faster lines.
• Dedicated leaderboards for all modes: Each slope and mode has its own leaderboard, so speedrunners, trick‑hunters, and casual explorers can pursue separate records without crowding a single ranking.
• Full multiplayer support with private tours: Highlands runs are available in public quickmatches for instant pick‑up games, while DLC owners can host private tours to rehearse routes, run custom sessions, and coordinate with friends.
• Version 1.3.1 launch update: DLC release is paired with quality‑of‑life fixes and tweaks, including improved snow visuals, matchmaking and UI corrections, and resolved leaderboard/achievement issues to smooth online play.
Design highlights
• Atmosphere that shapes play: Ben Fiadhein’s golden forests, mist‑cloaked swamps, and the brooding silhouette of Castle Rioghail do more than set mood; they provide practical read‑the‑slope cues. Light, foliage, and ruin placement mask ambush turns and hint at high‑speed corridors, so environment reading becomes part of the skill set.
• Dual‑mood slope design: Every trail is deliberately paired; the blue slope invites exploration, flow, and trick links with wider lines and forgiving approaches; the black sibling tightens corridors, forces precision, and rewards bold route choices and riskier shortcuts. This push‑and‑pull keeps runs varied and replayable.
• Environmental storytelling as gameplay: Ruined walls, riverbanks, and stone bridges are carved into the level’s logic; sometimes they guide you, sometimes they conceal alternate routes. Vertical transitions and ruin interiors hide trickable geometry and steep drops, rewarding players who read visual story beats and experiment beyond the obvious line.
• Tactile micro‑environments: River shores, mossy rock, and swamp flats each handle differently under your wheels; the feel of traction and micro‑bumps changes how you approach corner entries and launches, making equipment choices and split‑second decisions matter in context.
• Sightlines that teach: Designers use contrast, landmark placement, and fog to telegraph risk versus reward: a sunlit ridge often signals an exposed, fast line while shadowed gullies frequently conceal tighter, more technical routes. These visual signals accelerate learning without breaking immersion.
How Highlands changes the meta
• Expanded route variety rewrites strategies: New geometry introduces split routes, vertical transitions, and layered shortcuts that change pacing and optimal lines; setups that dominated older slopes can falter here, rewarding players who scout alternate paths and adapt mid‑run.
• Gear tuning regains tactical weight: Wet riverbanks, mossy rock, and slick swamp flats amplify subtle handling differences between bikes and attachments; choosing stability for technical sections or a twitchy, speed‑biased setup for open ridgelines becomes a meaningful strategic decision.
• Leaderboards renew motivation: Fresh, slope‑specific leaderboards reset competition and create immediate targets for both casual players and hardcore runners; new slopes mean new bests, new ghost comparisons, and a clear reason to relearn lines and chase time improvements.
Multiplayer flow and session types
• Quickmatch inclusion: Drop straight into public lobbies to race Highlands runs with minimal wait; rotating slope pools and crossplay mean variety and an always‑changing field of opponents, perfect for spontaneous, high‑intensity runs.
• Private tours for DLC owners: Host persistent private sessions on Ben Fiadhein to rehearse lines, run group drills, or stage custom events; private tours keep your crew together, remove public interference, and let organizers set the pace for practice or competition.
• Train then test rhythm: Use private tours to map shortcuts, rehearse trick chains, and tune gear without pressure, then challenge those setups in public quickmatches or ranked runs to prove them under stress; this loop sharpens skills and creates bragging rights when your practiced line survives matchmaking chaos.
Tips for riders
• Scout the blue, then commit on the black: Run the paired blue slope first to map obvious shortcuts and safe fallback lines; when you hit the black variant, you’ll already know which risks are worth squeezing for time.
• Match bike to micro‑terrain: Pick a stability‑biased rig for riverbanks, mossy rock, and swamp flats to reduce slips; switch to a low‑drag, twitchier setup for exposed ridgelines and big launch sections where top speed and responsive inputs win.
• Sequence tricks for momentum, not just style: Link low‑risk grabs out of tight corners to preserve speed, then chain higher reward flips across ruin interiors and bridging sections; nailing landings in sequence converts style into measurable time savings.
• Use private tours as a laboratory: Rehearse one tricky line at a time; record a ghost, refine entry speed and angle, then practice the full combo until it’s consistent before trying it in public matches.
• Read the environment as a roadmap: Broken masonry, compacted snow tracks, moss bands, and water streaks frequently mark safer lines or point to hidden corridors; treat these cues as the level designer’s hints.
• Brake with intent: On foggy approaches and blind crests, controlled brake taps stabilize trajectory without killing momentum; learn micro‑braking windows for each bike to avoid overcorrection.
• Tradeoffs at drops and launches: Approach big drops with slight rear bias for stable landings; for maximum carry into the next section, compress then spring on ramps to keep speed while minimizing hangtime drift.
• Practice risk management: If a shortcut costs more retries than it saves, mark it for later; focus on consistently executable lines in ranked runs and save high‑variance gambles for private sessions.
Final Verdict
Highlands is a compact, finely tuned DLC that gives Snow Riders players exactly what they want; a fresh mountain that invites curiosity, smartly paced challenge spikes, and multiplayer support that complements the base game’s social rhythms. It doesn’t overhaul the core loop; it sharpens it. New geometry and split routes reward experimentation and mastery, fresh leaderboards and challenges renew competitive drive, and private tours plus quickmatch inclusion make practicing with friends or testing your mettle in public equally satisfying. Visually and mechanically cohesive, Highlands deepens the riding experience with meaningful rewards, memorable moments, and plenty of reasons to return; whether you’re chasing new bests, perfecting a risky line, or sharing wipeouts with your crew.
Watch and Wishlist
• Wishlist Highlands now: Add Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders - Highlands to your storefront wishlist to get notified about launch discounts, DLC bundles, and timed sales.
• Follow the developer for launch activity: Follow Megagon Industries on storefronts and social channels to catch patch notes, seasonal events, and developer livestreams announcing challenge windows.
• Keep an eye on leaderboards and ghost drops: Bookmark the new slope leaderboards so you can compare ghosts and spot emerging routes as top players climb the rankings.
• Join community channels: Hop into the official Discord and subreddit to find private‑tour groups, scheduled practice sessions, and user guides for tricky Highland lines.
• Watch clips before you commit: Scan community videos and creator streams to see the new slopes in motion; quickmatch footage shows how the runs play in multiplayer versus private practice.
• Try before you buy when possible: Look for free weekends, demos, or timed events where Highlands appears in quickmatches so you can test the feel of the new terrain and multiplayer flow.
• Plan sessions with friends: If you own the base game, coordinate in advance so a friend with the DLC can host private tours for focused practice and event nights.
• Set alerts for major updates: Enable notifications for version updates and seasonal challenges tied to Highlands so you don’t miss new rewards or leaderboard resets.
Key Takeaways
• A scenic new mountain: Ben Fiadhein brings golden forests, foggy swamps, and Castle Rioghail, giving Snow Riders a distinct visual and tonal shift.
• Compact but dense content: Four new trails with paired blue and black slopes deliver eight distinct runs that reward both exploration and high‑precision speedrunning.
• Challenges across the board: Time trials, trick objectives, and free‑ride tasks provide varied goals that extend replayability and skill growth.
• Cosmetic rewards with character: New autumn layers, highlands kilts, and tongue‑in‑cheek medieval armor add flavor without impacting gameplay.
• Leaderboards reset the chase: Slope‑specific leaderboards create fresh competitive targets and reasons to relearn lines.
• Multiplayer integrated: Highlands appears in public quickmatches for instant pick‑up games, while DLC owners can host private tours for organized practice and events.
• Environmental design that teaches: Visual cues, ruins, and micro‑terrain not only set mood but also hint at safer or faster routes, rewarding careful reading and experimentation.
• Meta shifts matter: New geometry and wet/swamp surfaces make gear choice and tuning tactically relevant again.
• Polish and fixes at launch: The DLC ships with a 1.3.1 update addressing visual tweaks and online reliability, smoothing the multiplayer and leaderboard experience.
Game Information:
Developer & Publisher: Megagon Industries
Platforms: Xbox Series X (reviewed), Steam - PC, PlayStation 5
Release Date: October 30, 2025
Score 8.5 / 10
Highlands earns an 8.5 for expanding Snow Riders with a compact, atmosphere‑rich mountain that meaningfully deepens the core downhill experience. The DLC nails environmental design, introduces high‑value routes and challenges, and stitches multiplayer into the new content in ways that feel natural rather than tacked on.