Riders Republic Reviews
Riders Republic is a consistently entertaining extreme sports game that avoids the compulsory trappings of most open-world games.
Riders Republic is a high-octane ode to joy. An almost perfect extreme sports theme-park open world where having fun is the only thing that matters. Despite a confusing progression and some little hiccups camera and controlwise, Ubisoft Annecy brought in the best part of Steep, The Crew 2 and a bit of punk attitude to create a versatile and compelling experience, even if sometimes a bit too much overwhelming.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Riders Republic is a game players can effortlessly lose themselves in, even if the gameplay itself is pretty shallow. The endless barrage of events populating the world map become less exciting over time, resembling a shopping list rather than milestones in your ascension to extreme sports godhood. If you're still keen to take the plunge, make sure you have a posse ready to party up with.
Riders Republic has been for me one of the biggest surprises of the year. A title whose gameplay is so effective as to knock down all kinds of skepticism and preconceived ideas about open-world games that try to besiege you with a multitude of empty contents. In the end, the most important thing about Riders Republic is that it makes you feel like the king of the mountain in every jump, every skid and in every stunt you manage to land on the ground safe and sound.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Riders Republic is a surprisingly good time with arcade-like extreme sports that feel thoroughly unique from one another. Online events are the best parts of the game, though it can get bogged down by glitches and server-related issues. Despite that, Riders Republic is still one of my surprise pleasures of 2021.
For lack of a better way of phrasing this, “Riders Republic” is extremely breadlike. You can enjoy bread on its own merits. But more often than not, just eating bread is a very sad experience. Good eating means toppings: olive oil with some pepper, butter, cold cuts, a bagel with a thick schmear — you get the idea. Likewise, “Riders Republic” is a game that cries out for some kind of second thing — music, a podcast, a phone conversation, whatever — while also completely avoiding the now-common language of tasks and chores that usually comes with “maintenance” or “podcast games.”
Riders Republic is a fun game that offers a wide range of exhilarating and unique activities that mostly benefit from its 'always online' gameplay model, but also suffers from a few shortcomings. The world feels alive, the Events are a blast and the game looks gorgeous. However, some aspects of the game are a little lacking at launch, namely the multiplayer modes, customisation and air sports.
Riders Republic’s posturing is more than a little phony and the game may be a bit mechanically simple for some, but its playground is an impressive one. With travel still difficult, Ubisoft’s sometimes-breathtaking recreation of America’s greatest national parks feels like something to be grateful for, and this game’s wide range of activities and challenges means almost everyone will be able to find some way to amuse themselves amongst its peaks and valleys. Riders Republic is a surprising breath of virtual fresh air.
If you can ignore the game’s obnoxious attitude and in your face corporate sponsorship, you’re richly rewarded with accessible, consistently engaging representations of biking, snow sports, and wing suiting, coupled with a massive and literally awesome environment in which to compete or explore. Those that are into riding the leaderboards–or just playing with their friends–will have plenty of opportunities to fuel their addiction, but I’m guessing that just about everyone can find joy here in just goofing around in this expansive playground, at least for a while. Whether or not Riders Republic sticks the landing and stays in the playlist of many gamers beyond launch probably depends on a steady stream of new sports to try, and if an actual, thriving community pledges allegiance to the Republic’s competitive modes.
Riders Republic tries so hard to be cool that it deserves a roundhouse kick to the mouth, but Ubisoft's technical chops come out to play here, with an enormous online sandbox stacked to the metaphorical ceiling with high-octane events to complete. This is a game that the French publisher has clearly designed to be built upon, but even day one, with its mix of disciplines and multifaceted Mass Races, it's an entertaining ride. There are minor niggles for the French publisher to iron out, and we'd recommend muting the dialogue, but don't bail on this if you have even a passing interest in extreme sports.
Overall, Riders Republic is an incredibly fun game that's held back by its controls and the Ubisoft fanfare of microtransactions and content bloating. These issues can be fixed though and with players already being turned off by these issues, Ubisoft will likely take steps to address them - even if it's just tightening up the controls. Though Riders Republic is a thoroughly good time, some players will rightfully feel that its current issues may not justify the price tag.
Riders Republic is at its core a fun game that only wants you to have fun, more than most games. Its UI isn't the best, and there still seem to be some bugs that need to be ironed out, but there are no issues that really breaks your fun all the way. On top of the gorgeous presentation, Riders Republic is easy to recommend for anyone with a liking towards a game where they can flip around three times on a pair of rocket ski's mid-air while dressed as a giraffe.
What a ride! Riders Republic gives you an amount of freedom that you can hardly find anywhere else, and lets you choose your own path within a happy community that's keen to celebrate your successes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Riders Republic is a game with a glued-on attitude, alarmingly many sports and an overplottered world map. Even so, the game surprises great with great control, varied challenges and a world bursting with fun activities. The fact that we are also not spoilt for purpose with well-made ski, snowboarding and cycling games does not exactly make it worse that we get everything in one here.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Riders Republic chooses to offer a community experience in a universe carefully modeled to highlight the disciplines you can practice. Fun is the key word and it's not the few imperfections in terms of gameplay and graphics that should undermine the pleasure of discovery. If you're looking for a refreshing experience, Riders Republic is a title for you.
Review in French | Read full review
Riders Republic can be a ton of colorful fun, with go-anywhere do-anything extreme sports gameplay that is instantly accessible and appealing, all wrapped up in a tortilla of weird goofiness. Engage with the stuff you like, ignore the stuff you don't, and get penalized for absolutely nothing. Riders Republic is most concerned with letting the good times roll-and for the most part, it succeeds admirably.
Riders Republic is the de facto ruler of extreme sports MMOs. There is no denying that Riders is one of the best extreme sports games to hit the market in a long time, but the massively multiplayer portion of the game could use some work. There is very little cohesion that brings all of the various riders together as part of a republic. Even the main story is solely focused on your specific accomplishments in each of the sports. Luckily, the game is still in its infancy, and the year 1 pass plans to add new multiplayer arenas, and a new sport, BMX Biking, which shows that Riders isn’t done expanding by a long shot. There is more than enough variety to keep players coming back and having fun for months, just with the solo and collectible game alone. If you’re an extreme sports fan, Riders Republic is a no-brainer. For MMO fans looking for more than a madcap mass race challenge, I would let the game mature for a few months longer before picking this one up.
A sprawling, varied, endlessly fun open-world game, and a glimmer of hope for the extreme sports genre.
Riders Republic tries to improve the Steep formula on many levels, but sometimes fails to really find its own way : by constantly solliciting the players with its trials, rewards, gears, modes and extras, Ubisoft Annecy's new formula sometimes forgets to let us enjoy the ride and its vast landscape.
Review in French | Read full review