Ski-E-O! Game Lets You Build Your Own Ski Resort

Designing your own perfect mountain sounds like a skier’s dream. And a new game lets players do just that.

Game developer Falling Damage recently released the free demo for its Ski-E-O! Ski Resort Tycoon, allowing players to build their ideal ski resort in a fun video game environment. Available on the game distributor Steam, Ski-E-O! players can paint trails onto real mountains, connect chairlifts, and place lodges and après bars to build the ski resort they have always dreamed of.

Players start with just a small ticket office and a little bit of cash at Mount Judah in California, near Lake Tahoe. But with some time and a good development strategy, they can turn their humble resort into a skiing mecca with all the features of a modern ski resort.

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Ski-E-O! features peaks built from real-world elevation data, using actual ridge lines, fall lines, and weather patterns. Players build their runs directly onto real-world terrain, allowing them to construct a variety of trails for all types of skiers, including beginner green trails and more advanced black diamonds.

There is also a performance aspect to the game. Alongside the goal of building your dream ski resort, players are also tasked with keeping guests happy. Each virtual guest has its own unique needs and personality. Some guests are powderhounds who chase early powder, and others are ski bunnies who just want to relax at the warm lodges and après bars. With guests bringing all sorts of necessities, players must be ready to build infrastructure to make sure there is a happy place for everyone. And guests give feedback on the resort, helping consistent players turn their resort from a one-star local hill to a five-star Legendary Resort, one happy skier at a time.

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Perhaps the coolest feature of the game is its changing winters — consistent with how we experience them in real life. In the game, no two winters are the same. Snow falls, settles, or melts using a GPU-simulated snowpack. Weather patterns like El Niño — which turns storms warm and wet — are also included, challenging players to deal with tough seasons as they build their resort. When droughts come, players can fire up their snowmaking systems to make sure they stay open. And when big snowstorms roll in, buildings can be buried before lifts even spin.

Ski-E-O! is currently available as a demo, but when the game releases for early access on Nov. 3, it gets even more realistic. All five U.S. regions become playable: the East, Utah, the Sierras, the Colorado Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest. Each region includes its actual topography and weather patterns, with the East running icy and cold, Utah bringing in dry powder, the Sierras flipping between drought and blizzards, the Colorado Rockies bringing consistent snow, and the Pacific Northwest bringing heavy snow. Guests can pick a region that feels closest to home, or they can build their dream resort in a new environment.

Ski-E-O! is fully playable with a controller on Steam Deck. The game spots the hardware and sets its own preset, so it’s ready to play the moment it opens. It is available on PC (Windows) and macOS (Apple Silicon), and the full game will cost $19.99 at launch.

Interested players can check out the Ski-E-O! trailer on the game’s website.