See the two videos below (which I purposely did not caption).Īll stunt spots and collectibles are shown on the map but this feels like an everyone or no one situation. Dialogue cues any time you are exploring the world outside of an event and you are nearby a stunt spot, collectible, or other points of interest. And the dialogue here isn’t simply useless chatter. While the size and background are customizable once you get beyond the opening cinematic and the largest option is nicely large, open-world exploration is entirely lacking subtitles. Subtitles are, surprisingly, another area in which Riders Republic fails. Why is any bonus XP even necessary? Can’t all players just play the game and progress, oh, I don’t know, by winning races and scoring regular XP? Subtitles I get it, I have slow lupus hands, enough. While this isn’t necessarily punishing disabled players because you’re not penalized for using Racer control, being reminded every single time I compete in an event that I’m not dexterous enough to get bonus XP certainly doesn’t feel good or make me want to keep playing the game. If you choose Trickster, which requires precise timing and dexterity with a controller, you do get bonus XP and therefore better gear faster and fun new events and sports unlocked faster. What do I mean by that? If you’re playing with Racer controls, which allow you simplified trick launching and landing, you don’t get any bonus XP and the game reminds you of this at every single event. Players are rewarded for having good dexterity, being able-bodied, really, with bonus XP. The choice for trick control between Racer, Trickster, and Steep, a legacy control method from Steep, is nice but that thing I mentioned about the game making me feel bad about myself? Yeah, it’s because of this. ControlsĪs in every Ubisoft game released in the last year or so, controls are fully remappable. Players are encouraged to choose Racer at the start and the narrator explains that this gives you camera control and “more comfort” in launching tricks. Players are also prompted to choose control styles from Racer and Trickster. Unfortunately, the default subtitles, which are your only choice until you get beyond the intro cinematics and tutorials, are fairly small and a bit hard to read in places, even with there being a default background.

You’re prompted to turn off menu narration, as it’s on by default, and there are limited options for things like subtitles which default to on. On the first launch, you’re presented with the usual options in Ubisoft games.

Unfortunately, after a few hours spent in the could-be extreme sports paradise, I was left feeling bad about myself and my slow reflexes and unable to play the game without my hearing aids in. Unfortunately, a disappointing lack of the accessibility we’ve come to expect from Ubisoft makes Riders Republic one of the most disappointing releases this year.Īs a huge fan of both 2016’s Steep and the open-world playground in 2018’s The Crew 2, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Riders Republic, the new open-world extreme sports playground that seemed like a perfect marriage of the two games. Steep meets The Crew 2 in this fun new release from Ubisoft.

Riders republic yellow icons