Riders Republic Review – National Lark

Restraint goes against the values that Riders Republic stands for. This open-world extreme sports game puts fun, freedom, and community involvement above all else. It’s your playground where you can follow your passions and avoid routine monotony while giving the establishment the finger.

The Riders Republic is always going. Every hour seems to make the playable space bigger and the races faster. Its exciting events go from being silly to being completely out of control. There’s a lot of fun riding a mountain bike down the dangerous trails of Canyonlands National Park, snowboarding down the steep slopes of the Grand Teton, or flying over the Mammoth Mountain ranges in a rocket-powered wingsuit to look for collectables. It’s a shame that all this activity is often accompanied by a soft ukulele cover of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise, which is not a good idea, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

If you don’t want to do any of those things, don’t worry. The Riders Republic rarely gets in the way of what you want to do, where and when you want to do it. With a vast, open-ended world, you can go anywhere in this seven impressive US National Parks collection and find your fun. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can make it yourself and share it with others.

If you find yourself favouring a sure way to play, you can keep doing that, and Riders Republic will keep giving you new things to do in the same way. When you finish an event, more will open across the map in that discipline, along with any gear you’ll need to keep doing well. I like the “Snow Tricks” and “Bike Race” events. “Snow Tricks” reminds me of my wasted youth playing SSX Tricky, and “Bike Race” makes me feel like I’m flying, especially when I switch from third-person to first-person view while hurtling down dangerous paths.

The speed at which this world fills in around you is impressive, whether you’re in a fast race or just exploring on your own. I didn’t notice much framerate stuttering or slowdown, either. That doesn’t mean Riders Republic doesn’t have technical issues that take away from the fun. I often had connection problems in the fun 6v6 trick battles or the chaotic Mass Races with 50+ players. The many hard crashes I had on Xbox Series X were more annoying, though, meant I had to reset the console and play some content again.

The Riders Republic isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot of fun. Ubisoft Annecy took what it learned from making Steep and turned it into a bigger, more open-ended game. It’s based on the best extreme sports and racing games that have come before it, like Amped, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, Forza Horizon, SSX, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Don’t take Riders Republic for granted.