🎿🚵‍♂️🪂 Riders Republic (2021) Review 🏂🚴‍♀️🏔️

“Riders Republic – The Theme Park of Gravity’s Worst Nightmares” 🎿🚴🪂

🎥 Trailers

—

📖 Non-Spoiler Overview

I don’t usually touch sports games, and online-only titles are usually a hard pass for me too. But Riders Republic? It broke my rulebook. Ubisoft created something that feels less like a “game” and more like a giant extreme sports theme park. It’s pure chaos and pure fun.

Let this be known, I am not a Ubisoft defender.

What makes it stand out is how alive the world feels. Even if you’re riding solo, the map is swarming with riders. That’s because the game uses ghost data: recordings of other players fill the slopes, trails, and skies. It creates the illusion of a bustling MMO without punishing you for wanting to play on your own.

The big draw here is freedom. No forced storylines, no rigid objectives. You just drop in, pick your poison — mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing, wingsuits, jetpacks, or rocket-powered lunacy — and let the chaos roll.


—

🎭 Character / Player Rundown

You – A customizable rider. You aren’t playing a character with a backstory, you’re shaping your own. The customization is wild: you can look like a pro athlete or show up to a wingsuit race dressed as a giraffe. Ubisoft leans hard into letting you be as ridiculous or as stylish as you want.

The World – This isn’t just a backdrop, it’s the main character. The map is stitched together from multiple U.S. national parks (Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, Grand Teton, Sequoia, and more) into one seamless open world. It’s a playground begging to be explored.



—

⏱️ Pacing / Flow

Instead of a traditional campaign, the flow is about progression and variety:

Start with small-scale races or trick challenges.

Earn stars, unlock new gear, and climb the ranks.

Graduate to Mass Races, where dozens of players (or their ghosts) battle across multiple sports in one chaotic event.


It’s structured enough to keep you moving forward, but loose enough to let you just mess around. Want to free ride down Yosemite cliffs instead of racing? Totally fine. Want to spend hours perfecting wingsuit runs? Go for it.


—

🎯 Why This Works For Non-Sports Gamers

This isn’t a “sim.” You’re not dealing with realistic balance, stiff controls, or a steep learning curve. Riders Republic is closer to an arcade cabinet cranked up to 11.

It’s forgiving – crashes are hilarious, not punishing.

It’s over-the-top – rocket bikes, neon bear costumes, rainbow smoke trails. This isn’t ESPN, it’s chaos with handlebars.

It’s flexible – you can take it seriously and compete, or just vibe out and explore the parks.


If you normally avoid sports games, this one feels more like Tony Hawk meets Forza Horizon with a snowboard strapped on.


—

✅ Pros

Insane Variety – biking, snowboarding, skiing, wingsuits, rocket wings, jetpacks — all fluid, all fun.

Massive Playground – stitched-together U.S. national parks make the most stunning open world Ubisoft has built in years.

Feels Alive – ghost riders everywhere make solo play just as thrilling as online lobbies.

Endless Customization – serious gear, meme-worthy costumes, goofy cosmetics.

Constant Updates – new gadgets, costumes, seasonal events, and races keep it fresh years later.

Arcade Fun Over Realism – no punishing mechanics, just pure “let’s go wild” energy.



—

❌ Cons

Can get repetitive if binged for long stretches.

Ubisoft’s cluttered menus/UI are still a pain.

Hardcore sim players will roll their eyes at the chaos.



—

💭 Final Thoughts

For someone who doesn’t normally play sports games, this one’s a miracle. Riders Republic is fast, funny, chaotic, and still alive years later with constant support. It isn’t realistic, it isn’t meant to be — it’s the digital version of strapping a GoPro to your head, screaming down a mountain, and somehow surviving.


—

⭐ Rating

10/10 – A ridiculously fun extreme sports playground.


—

🔧 Updates & Post-Launch Content

Ubisoft hasn’t abandoned this game — far from it. Over time, Riders Republic has gotten a steady stream of new toys and seasonal chaos:

Gadgets – from rocket bikes to hoverboards, Ubisoft leaned into making the physics sillier and more fun.

Cosmetics – constant rotation of outfits, from pro gear to ridiculous mascots (yes, you can wingsuit as a panda).

Events – seasonal challenges like Halloween zombie races or neon-lit trick competitions keep the world evolving.

New Disciplines – BMX was added in a later expansion, bringing trick-heavy gameplay that gave the bike system a second life.


It’s rare for an online-focused game to still feel alive years later, but Riders Republic pulls it off. Every time you log in, something feels different.


—

⚠️ Spoilers (Sort of…) – The Sports & Chaos

There’s no narrative to spoil, so here’s the real breakdown of the madness you get to play with:

🚵 Mountain Biking – downhill death runs, technical trails, and freestyle trick parks.

🏂 Snowboarding & Skiing – slopestyle tricks, half-pipes, big air challenges.

🪂 Wingsuit & Rocketwing – flying through canyons, threading cliffs, and turning gravity into a joke.

🚀 Jetpack – absurd but brilliant, zooming across entire sections of the map.

🏁 Mass Races – 64-player chaos (or ghosts) where you switch from bikes to skis to wingsuits mid-race.


The transitions are seamless — you’ll be bombing a downhill bike race, slam through a checkpoint, and suddenly find yourself in a wingsuit dodging cliffs. The game doesn’t care about physics, it just cares about keeping you grinning.