Riders Republic

Riders Republic combines mountain bikes, skis, snowboards, jetpacks, and wingsuits into a single open world assembled from landscapes inspired by American national parks. Switching between disciplines is instant: a player can ride a bike down a forest trail, switch to a wingsuit with a single press to glide over a valley, then land in the snow and continue on skis. This fluidity is the game's main strength and sets it apart from earlier titles focused on a single discipline. The structure is built around a career divided by sport, races, trick challenges, and collecting gear that changes how you ride.

The world is persistently online and populated with other players, whose ghosts ride past you, and the main social attraction is mass races that, on Xbox Series X|S, can involve a large number of riders simultaneously. The start of such a race, with the whole field hurtling down a slope and weaving between trees, is one of the most fun moments in the game. The current-gen console ensures smooth performance and fast loading when moving across the map, which helps a lot in a game that invites constant experimentation. Visually, the environments lean on striking long-distance views, snowy peaks, and desert canyons.

Reception was largely favorable, with praise going to the variety of disciplines, the sense of speed, and the cleverly handled mass races, while criticism targeted the loose tone with a somewhat overbearing guide character and the amount of in-game store elements. In the extreme sports genre, it's one of the few current offerings with this kind of scope. Today it works best in company — the solo career offers plenty of content, but the game truly comes into its own the moment dozens of other riders show up at the start and you try to weave through the chaos to the finish. It also helps that the game never punishes you for crashing: rewinding is instant and you can retry without waiting, which keeps the pace up even on demanding tracks. For Series X|S owners, it's one of the few ways to ride a bike and ski in the same open world, and that alone remains a good reason to give it a chance.