Riders Republic impressions: An extreme sports open world full of possibilities

Riders Republic is the extreme sports game we've been waiting for.

In the PS2 era there was an abundance of extreme sports games, allowing players to get a regular fix of snowboarding and BMX action – but decades later the gaming landscape has changed significantly. Outside of indie titles like Descenders, fans of the genre haven’t had much to play since the 2016 release of Steep, Ubisoft’s excellent ski and snowboard-focused carnage simulator.

Riders Republic, the spiritual successor to Steep from the team at Ubisoft Annecy, builds upon the Steep formula with multiple new sports taking center stage across beautiful virtual representations of America’s greatest national parks. Yosemite, Zion, Grand Teton and Bryce Canyon are just a few of the sections of the massive map, and the landscape is dotted with landmarks you can explore to learn a bit more about the setting.

For The Win took part in the Riders Republic beta, which limited players to the mountain biking, ski/snowboard and rocket wing – think wingsuiting from Steep, but with a rocket strapped to your character –  career paths. After a short intro to the various disciplines, you’re left to choose your own path and take part in the many events spread across the map, or to simply explore the world, visit landmarks and search for epic lines. The structure of the game feels very similar to any of the Forza Horizon games, where the journey from point-to-point can be just as exhilarating as the event itself.

You can choose to play Riders Republic as a solo experience, but it’s worth checking out the multiplayer offerings. Mass Races, available once every hour, are an absolute blast. You’re dropped in a huge multi-leg race against dozens of other players, and each leg of the race is split into multiple disciplines, meaning you’ll be transitioning from a bike to a snowboard to a rocket wing mid-race. It’s absolute chaos, but provided some of the most fun (and challenging) content in the beta.

Riders Republic was delayed from a release date of September 2nd to October 28th, and while the game now seems to be in a solid state on next-gen consoles at least, there are a few wrinkles that could be ironed out before launch. I got myself stuck on multiple occasions after colliding with a tree or other obstacle, and had to use the rewind feature to free myself and continue on down the mountain.

The rewind feature itself is rather frustrating to use. Much like in Forza games, with a click of a button you can rewind time to stop yourself from missing a checkpoint gate, or avoid careening off a cliff you didn’t know was there. There needs to be a greater degree of control over the rewind, though, as it will frequently fail to move you back far enough (or turn back time far too much, costing you valuable time in a race).

Still, I’m looking forward to returning to the expansive world of Riders Republic. Riders Republic delivers both as a pick-up-and-play title for more causal gamers, while also being challenging enough for the hardcore crowd. Look for our full review of the game ahead of the October 28th release date.