Riders Republic's beta is coming round the mountain when it comes on August 23rd
Please wear a helmet or some elbow pads
Riders Republic looks like SSX by way of Forza Horizon: that is, a big playground about racing down a mountain on bikes, snowboards and wingsuits. The health and safety in its latest mini trailer is terrible, but it does bring the news of a beta for the game to run this August 23rd to 25th.
Seriously, where are these people's helmets? For goodness sakes, they're riding their bikes upside down and in mid-air:
The beta is substantial, offering three careers "such as Bike Races, Snow Tricks and Airsports (Rocketwing & wingsuit)", says Ubisoft, but also a bunch of multiplayer modes. Those include 6vs6 trick battles, where you compete to score points by landing tricks (eg. by not landing on your unprotected skull after turning your bike upside down), as well as versus mode and free-for-all.
Of most interest to me is the 'Mass Races' multiplayer mode, which is what the trailer above and most of the game's marketing focuses on. These are multisport races where over 50 players compete to race downhill on bike or snowboard or wingsuit and so on. I would posit that the flying people with rockets on their back have a natural advantage over the bikers, but maybe I've got gravity wrong. I'm in this mode because downhill races are what made SSX great, and because I am a sucker for a colourful spectacle.
On PC, the Riders Republic beta will run via Ubisoft Connect (the Uplay successor) and the Epic Games Store. You can register for a chance at access over here, and you'll get automatic access if you're a Ubisoft+ subscriber.
If you get access to the beta, you'll be able to pre-load it from August 21st, and also share your invite with two other friends to play with. Hey - I'm basically your friend, right?