I don’t think I’d be exaggerating at all to call Riders Republic the biggest action sports game I’ve ever seen – both in terms of the map size and the number of activities available. The seamless open world mashes together seven National Parks from the Western United States, from Wyoming’s snowy Grand Teton peaks to Utah’s rugged Bryce Canyon to California’s picturesque Yosemite Valley. Each one is modeled from satellite data, with some liberties taken near the edges to help them fit together.
Across this expanse of wilderness, you can unlock several different sports including mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, and something called a rocket wingsuit that looks way too dangerous to be real and basically lets you fly around like Iron Man. These are further broken into multiple career tracks for each sport, with one focused on racing and another focused on chaining together tricks to win maximum style points. Along the way, there are some extra surprises like rocket skis and what was basically a speeder bike from Star Wars that you’ll be able to use in specific, special events. Certain races even have you transitioning between multiple sports within the same course.
Yet, the biggest thing setting Riders Republic apart from its predecessor, Steep, is its massively multiplayer elements. Zooming out, I could see hundreds of little icons representing other players shredding, swooping, and tearing their way across the map. Now, not all of these are actual people. But basically every rider you see is a recording of another player’s run, including the ones you’ll compete against in solo events. The AI can kick in for specific things, like if you ram someone’s ghost off-course and make them have to modify their route from the original recording. But for the most part, you’ll always be riding against a time set by someone who ran this track before you. And other players will be riding against yours.
Radically Multiplayer
That doesn’t mean you won’t be in the same world with others who are currently logged in, though. Riders Republic’s seamless matchmaking will try to put you into the same instance of the open world when you’re in the same general area as another genuine human. And there are scheduled mega races every 15 minutes that anyone who’s around can queue for in which you’ll be going up against all live opponents. There’s also live matchmaking for the various PvP events, which are another interesting new twist on the genre.
Aside from familiar races and trick scoring competitions, there’s a novel team vs team mode in which doing tricks on specific obstacles will claim them for your team, sort of like a combination of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Splatoon. Claiming an entire “district” of the map will give your team a five-times score multiplier in that district. But you also need to send riders out to make sure the other team can’t claim any districts of their own, or your score multiplier won’t mean much. You also get point multipliers for staying close to your teammates, adding another element of coordination. This is a really interesting way to do multiplayer in a sports game, and I look forward to trying it out more.
Exploring also pays in Riders Republic, as the gargantuan map is filled with points of interest that can unlock secret cosmetic items and other cool, little bonuses. One of the Easter eggs I found replaced my skis with street signs and my poles with tree branches. I was able to keep these and use them in any future skiing events forever. You can also buy cosmetic items in the in-game shop, but stat-affecting gear like better boards and bikes can only be earned by levelling up. There is no way to turn real-world money into a competitive edge.
Wipeout
The controls definitely lean more toward the arcadey side. While I was impressed by how grippy and gritty the mountain bikes could feel on some of the downhill courses, it’s fully possible to summon momentum out of the Dark Dimension or something and execute a triple backflip off of a relatively small ramp. There are definitely some janky physics involved with certain obstacles like boulders and rivers as well. Of course, the beta we played was still a work in progress.
This is all tied together by a loose storyline about earning a name for yourself in a campy, over-exaggerated version of American extreme sports culture. It’s charming and genuinely funny at times, but way over-done and eye-roll-inducing at others, like a goofy uncle who’s always cracking jokes. It’s not exactly my vibe, but it didn’t hurt my ability to find some clean lines down a massive mountainside and have a great time doing it.
