Greetings Riders!
Since the announcement of Riders Republic, we have been reading your comments across various social channels and have been thrilled to see how excited you are to play. The team is working hard and can’t wait for you all to see the result of our efforts next year.
In addition to the hype, we’ve also seen some questions you’ve had, and we are here today to address 3 of them:
- Why does Ubisoft bring you a new outdoor sports franchise?
- How does the Freestyle system work?
- What is included in the Gold and Ultimate Editions?
Why does Ubisoft bring you a new outdoor sports franchise?
The team at Ubisoft Annecy leveraged their expertise on the outdoor sports genre to come up with an all new take at it: a vibrant social playground where players can connect, compete and share mad rides.
Riders Republic is a new project, focusing on delivering a massive multiplayer playground around bikes, snowboards, skis, wingsuits and rocket wingsuits where you can play with more than 50 players around you on next generation platforms*. At its core, there is also an accessible, rich and lively open world with a unique setting in the U.S national parks. Around the map, players get a chance to enjoy a variety of gameplay modes and activities, from solo to multiplayer.
We want to keep evolving as a team and to offer the best experience we can, leveraging our deep passion for outdoors sports. This is what Riders Republic aims to be and we can’t wait for you to play it!
*More than 20 players on current generation consoles
How does the Freestyle system work?
It’s all about tricks, and in Riders Republic we’ve made them bigger than ever. Freestyle is a combination of in-air rotation, trick moves, and grind moves to create a wide variety of possibilities.
As a beginner to Riders Republic, you may want to start off in auto mode for a more streamlined experience. In auto mode, you only need to start your tricks and the game will ensure you make the perfect landing.
Once you’ve become more comfortable, you can turn on manual mode in the options. This gives you complete control over both your rotation and your landing. Your successes and failures are in your hands.
Keep in mind that only by mastering manual mode will you be able to really rack up the points.
Now let’s have a more in depth look at each element of the Freestyle system.
No matter if you’re riding a bike, snowboard, or skis you’ll have the option to pick the ideal rotation depending on how much time you have in the air.
- The easiest rotations to start with are the frontside or backside spins. You’ll be able to land them at every 180°
- Next in difficulty come the flips. You’ll need to be careful to make sure you have time to land.
- The most difficult rotations are the off-axis rotations. You’ll need much more airtime to pull these off. Depending on which sport you’re in, they can have several different names such as corks, rodeos, bio, twister, and more. You have two different types of off-axis rotations:
- Flip to spin in which your first 540° is a move going from a flip to merging progressively to a pure spin you will be able to land at every 180° after your first move
- Spin to flip in which you’ll execute a fully inverted rotation (head under the gear). This takes 25% more time than a flip to land, but you can chain with a double, triple, etc to keep adding to your score.
Every gear will also have its own stats for tricks. The higher the agility of the gear, the faster you’ll rotate.
The gear you wear will impact the tricks you’ll be able to perform. Each gear carries a set of 12 unique tricks. Some of the tricks you’ll be able to choose from are:
- Ski Snowpark
- Ski Off-track
- Snowboard Snowpark
- Snowboard Off-track
- Bike Slopestyle
- Bike Freeride
There are 72 unique tricks in the game.
Not everything in Riders Republic happens in the air. Grinds are another way to rack up points.
If you’re playing in auto mode you’ll only need to jump onto the rail and the game will handle the rest. The game will assist your jump length, height, and trajectory to nail the landing.
In manual mode, just as with the rotations, it’s all in your hands. Control the board position to trigger different types of rail moves, but also control your rider position on the rail in order to take turns and do presses. Land precisely and you’ll be awarded special additional bonuses.
You will also be able to have full control of your board/skis before touching the rail activating the Air board/skis control option in the game settings.
The first time you perform a freestyle move in your run, you will earn a bonus. It will be granted only once per move, per run. This is an incentive to explore every rotation, trick move, and grind move to maximize your run and earn as many bonuses as you can.
We are aiming to giving you complete freedom, so you will have the ability to customize the mapping of your controls for a truly personal experience. We’ll also offer 3 different pre-set controls to choose from depending on your preferred playstyle.
What is included in the Gold and Ultimate Editions?
Gold Edition – You’ll be able to truly get the most out of your ride with the Riders Republic Gold Edition, which includes the game and the Year 1 Pass.
- Year 1 Pass includes
- 8 exotic kits
- An exotic kit allows you to modify your gameplay experience in the form of gear upgrades to revisit the map with a new perspective. It can be used to free-roam the map and in some other activities.
- Exotic kits will release throughout the year.
- 2 exclusive cosmetic packs that will be available during Year 1
- BMX sports add-on
- A completely new sport that also includes a new career progression. It’ll be available near the end of Year 1.
- Year 1 Pass gives exclusive Day 1 access to the Rocket Skis and Rocket Bike exotic kits and a 7-day early access to all other exotic kits and the BMX sports add-on.
Ultimate Edition – Includes everything in the Gold Edition plus:
- 4 exclusive cosmetic packs available at the game releases: Cosmic, Rainbow, Neon, and Skull’n Style Packs.
- 20 Helicopter Tickets to reach our favorite summits even faster than ever. Just get on the chopper and pick the spot on the map you want to land. Each ticket gets you a one-way trip to your selected destination.
Preorders for the Gold and Ultimate Edition are available now!
We would really like to thank you all again for all the excitement you’ve shown for Riders Republic. Please continue to share your feedback on Twitter or on other social media, we are listening. If you haven’t already, please join the conversation over in our official Discord channel.
See you in two weeks, Riders, with another deep dive feature blog on the game!
