Bicyclism EP

I've dragged this one out at enough Saturday sessions to have a firm opinion: Bicyclism EP is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds, and that's most of its charm. You pick a bicycle, from a standard road bike to a unicycle or a penny farthing, and the game immediately starts flopping your ride around with physics that feel less like a simulation and more like a debate between gravity and a rubber band. The controls take a few minutes to click, and watching four people on a couch all faceplant in unison during the first race is genuinely one of the funniest things a sub-ten-dollar game has ever produced. There are two main modes and both support full four-player split-screen, which is the only reason to seriously consider this one. Grand Prix strings you through a world of ten race levels across three themed environments, each with an alternate visual appearance for some light replayability. Remix mode is where the real chaos lives: it shuffles through a random sequence of minigame events including jousting, wrestling, soccer, and the gloriously unhinged space mushroom hunting mode. That variety keeps a couch session from going stale for at least a couple of hours, though repeat play starts to reveal how thin the content layer actually is. Solo players get bots to race against and a ghost system for time-trial practice, so the single-player side isn't completely empty, just a little lonely. On the controller front, the game expects gamepads and works reasonably well with standard Xbox-style layouts. A fair warning though: there are community reports of controller remapping being limited, with some players unable to reassign pedalling inputs away from shoulder buttons. If you're running a Steam Deck or a more unusual controller setup, do a quick test before committing a group session to this one. Linux users have noted occasional detection issues with Bluetooth controllers too. The game runs in Unity and supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, though the 32-bit client warning from Valve means older Mac OS versions are now locked out. The Steam review pool is small, sitting at a mostly positive rating from only 18 reviews, so read that number with appropriate caution. The people who enjoy it clearly have a good time, and the Game Grumps community picked it up as a couch multiplayer novelty, which tells you exactly the energy it's going for. What it isn't is a game with long-term depth. There are no online multiplayer modes, no unlockable content to chase beyond achievements and trading cards, and the physics comedy wears off once everyone has learned to stay upright. Treat it like a party EP, not a full album. You get a handful of fun tracks, a great opener, and then you move on. Riley, Scout Team

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