New York, NY (Top40 Charts) I'm not an extreme person. The most extreme I get is the exclamation mark in this paragraph. Are you ready for it? Here it comes… this one, right here! So, when I managed to get access to Riders Republic - a game that lets you ride straight off the top of a mountain peak wearing a giraffe outfit - I was thrilled to discover I could also just roam around on a bike.
Riders Republic takes America's most beautiful national parks - Sequoia, Yosemite, Bryce, and Half-Dome - and mashes them together into one super-park. It's crisscrossed with tracks, trails, jumps, boardwalks, and the odd actual road. It's also full of other people. The in-game map is a swarm of dots, and each dot is a player trying their damnedest to slip, fall, or ride their way to glory, racing and doing stunts, in a giant, multiplayer sandbox.
I was more interested in the 'exploration' options in the map. They'll lead you off the beaten (and bloodied) track, and into viewpoints that your Facebook friends would leave copious comments on.
Here's where I went:
Grand Teton Summit
Like I do with every open-world game, I headed for the highest point on the map. In Rider's Republic, that's Grand Teton Summit. 13,770 feet from the ground to here, you can watch the whole game going on beneath you.
The Four Guardsmen
Giant, hairy trees are always impressive. These huge sequoia trees form a natural gateway to Giant Forest, marching across the road in formation and quelling traffic. They're nature's traffic wardens.
Air
Crash Site
This unnamed air crash site sits in a dip below Cloud Forest. Given how many people are zipping through the air with jets strapped to their backs in this game, it is an unheeded warning against the dangers of aviation. Still, it looks good on the 'Gram.
Joshua Tree
National Park
Fans of spiky trees will be thrilled to discover Joshua Tree
National Park. Also fans of U2. My favorite fact about them is that there's an argument in 'science' whether they're trees or succulents. The debate is ongoing, though the trees aren't; they're endangered. I'll keep you posted.
The Wave
The game warns you that this stunning sandstone rock formation is so delicate that only 20 people per day are allowed to visit it. It also lets you ride around it on mountain bikes, pulling tricks and skidding all over the delicate and ancient rocks. This is what's known as ludonarrative dissonance, and it's hilarious.
Skyline Arch
There are arches everywhere in Riders Republic. Skyline Arch is another area of the map that has real-world issues: in 1940, the size of the hole doubled when a section of the arch collapsed. Thankfully, it survived my attempts at recreating that scene from E.T.
Inspiration Point
Bryce Canyon's terrifying collection of sharp, pointy rocks is incredibly dangerous in real life. Visitors are begged to keep to the marked trails. In the game, the only trails are the ones you make yourself. Go nuts.
The beta I played lasted four hours. I filled every second of those hours up sightseeing, and I feel like barely scratched the surface of it. If you participated in the beta, your progress will be saved. I can now get back on my bike and continue to visit every peak, rock, and river in Riders Republic.
