Riders Republic

amazon Riders Republic reviews

Like billions of other games labeled “A Ubisoft Original”, you don’t have to wonder too much to get the answer to the question: “How is the Riders Republic”. Like a candy bag containing hundreds of colorful candies, this product molded by nearly 10 studios is still an open-world game that contains such a massive amount of content that you can feel that it is about to… surge at any given time.

At the same time, Riders Republic is also a strangely enjoyable experience. Part of that comes from Steep, the winter sports game that lays a lot of the groundwork to help create a freer, more multidimensional, and above all more enjoyable Riders Republic.

Unfortunately, it’s still a Ubisoft game.

What do you like about extreme sports? Feeling like your heart wants to ‘parkour’ out of your chest while downhill at 150km/h? Or when every strand of hair wants to rip from your scalp as you glide freely in your flight suit down a cliff? Riders Republic will bring it all to you… after you endure the tutorial which can take up to… 3 hours which could have been done in about 30 minutes.

Like many other sports games, Riders Republic still highlights the gameplay with characters (and voiceovers over the radio) who are trying very hard to look “trendy” to young people. It’s a bit difficult to pinpoint what makes them not only forgettable but also makes you want to bleed every time they speak, probably because of the excessive frequency of slang, the “gen Z” parody ” clumsy, or worse, they stop the game completely, “lock” you from performing any action in the game, and force you to listen to them rambling until the end of the scenario.

The only thing you can participate in is Zen Mode, a true “Free Roam” mode where you are dropped into the game’s map, and can choose all the sports you like, but absolutely no screen, race, or challenge. What you can only do is ride/fly in the direction, of a world so silent that it’s almost like a post-apocalypse. For some reason, Zen Mode doesn’t let you activate Photo Mode either.

Perhaps no one is surprised that Riders Republic still has a “loot” system. You may not be getting vehicle-specific multi-colored parts like The Crew 2, but the bikes or hover suits are still only slightly different in appearance, and the equipment selection is still ‘brainless’ according to the method of choosing the dish with the largest number is okay.

On the other extreme, the fashion items for your character are not only creative but perfectly reflect the “rebellious” spirit of the game. Of course, in line with the motto “there is nothing for free in life”, some of them are locked behind the sponsor’s challenges quite densely and heavily, the rest are of course in the store. – or more precisely, in the items that rotate items by day, pasted them is a price tag of a currency that of course, you have to “spend” money to get.

You can buy some items with in-game currency, usually, they are very expensive and the quality is also temporary. That’s it, Ubisoft, no one underestimates you, because of how you are, the player is too know.

If you like Steep, there’s an 80% chance that you’ll love Riders Republic. After the tutorial as if to “mental torture” the player, the game immediately tells you that absolute freedom is what it wants to direct you to.

You can completely ignore things like sponsors or multiplayer activities and “teleport” to the activities you want to participate in, new activities will just gradually unlock themselves after completing each race. The progression of the game is not explained too intuitively but it happens simply and comfortably, and that’s enough.

Another trait that Riders Republic has picked up from The Crew 2 is its ability to instantly switch sports, and it still delivers moments of surprising surprise. As soon as your wheel leaves the edge of the slope and hovers in mid-air, with the push of two buttons you can instantly pull off your glider suit and drop wherever you want below.

This feature indirectly shows the “easygoing” nature of Riders Republic to a certain extent. The game has three types of controls, one that is completely copied from Steep, the second that allows you to assign acrobatics to the analog stick, and the last that moves them to the A B X Y button cluster and allows for normal camera control.

Which control style you choose is completely up to the player’s preference, but they won’t eliminate the feeling of a slightly “light” control and are not 100% accurate during gameplay.

This does not mean that controlling the character in Riders Republic is clumsy or annoying, it simply prioritizes your speed and “coolness” through each jump, not calculating the details on the technical side.

The game only makes you fall on your face when you land on your back and will give bonus points for each beautiful landing phase. It is quite similar to Forza Horizon in giving the player maximum self-expression and does not pose many obstacles for the player unless the player participates in activities that have their own rules.

Of course, Riders Republic is more than just a walk in the wild park, because once it wants to be challenging, you will have to sweat to catch it.

Taking advantage of a very diverse map in context and structure, the game offers some acrobatic “Free Style” activities that increase points in man-made game zones that have many locations for you to sharpen your skateboard, but not easy to gain momentum. If you don’t have enough money, you can join the road to Olympia called “Trial of Giants”, an obstacle course by bicycle that requires every jump must be as meticulous as possible.

Fortunately, unlike The Crew 2, Riders Republic is equally interested in all sports. If mountain biking and snowboarding satisfy both your thirst for Free Style and speed, jet skiing challenges your ability to use gravity and navigate the cliffs of “falling, not ascending”. With a rocket flight suit, because the control is not complicated, its races often place “checkpoints” in super dangerous positions, sometimes in mountain corners out of sight or close to the ground, forcing you to slow down and accelerate as smoothly as four-wheel drive.

Besides the pure sports activities, the world in Riders Republic feels more alive (and sometimes chaotic) than Steep, thanks to the presence of dozens/hundreds of other players that always appear in both Free Roam mode and while you are in the race. It is very common to see another rider in a panda suit suddenly gallop down the steep hill in front of you while you are climbing at the edge of the mountain.

If you’re feeling like socializing, why not try out the 64-player races? Of course, it will be interesting if you don’t prioritize winning because for some reason Riders Republic activates “collision” between all characters, which means you can be hit by another player and slow down immediately, even though it’s not your fault.

Ultimately, the moments where players decide to slow down perhaps best reveal the “other half” of Riders Republic. The game’s wild park is a combination of summer and winter nature, and the difference in height between each mountain will make players overwhelmed in an instant and think about how they conquered it.

Indeed, this is possibly the best open-world map Ubisoft has created in recent years, because it not only looks beautiful visually, but it is also the most enjoyable when the player crosses everything centimeter of dirt road, free fall through each patch of wind in its way.

where can you get a Riders Republic online

Riders Republic PlayStation 4 Standard Edition with free upgrade to the digital PS5 version: Buy it now

Riders Republic Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One Standard Edition: Buy it now

Riders Republic (PS5): Buy it now

Ubisoft Riders Republic (Gold Edition): Buy it now

Riders Republic (Freerider Edition): Buy it now