In a few months, Ubisoft will open its doors to its fictional extreme sports paradise, a huge open world made up of American national parks, creating a very diverse landscape, perfect for grinding powder, Glide and ride a bike, enjoy yourself. This place is called the “Extreme Republic” (which also happens to be the title of the game), and before release, we have been able to dive into the world and explore the incredible opportunities it offers as part of the beta.
First of all, for those who want to know, “Ultimate Republic” is not a direct sequel to “Ultimate Peak”. In fact, this is a spiritual sequel, absorbing many of the things provided by “Extreme Peak”, including snowboarding, skiing and flying squirrel-mounted gliding, and then on this basis a large number of new sports, activities and truly ambitious Open world. This means that those who like “Ultimate Peak” can feel at home in “Ultimate Republic”, but those who have just arrived do not have to worry about joining one by one too late, because this is always a brand new experience.
Before we explore the feeling of sports and games, we want to learn more about the world of “Extreme Republic”. As mentioned earlier, this is a big open world, formed by the fusion of several North American national parks, including Yosemite and Sequoia National Park. This is certainly not a real adaptation, because these parks are actually hundreds of miles away from each other; but in “Republic”, they are connected and bordered by each other. With this design in mind, you have a range of biomes to explore, from the huge, snow-capped peaks of Wyoming to the arid, yellow-sandy deserts of Utah, which in turn means you can go directly from the ski slopes. The lush forest is very suitable for mountain biking, and then into the rocky landscape suitable for aerial sports.
You might think it would be lonely to explore a world of this size, but in fact it is quite the opposite, because Ubisoft has placed an unsurpassed number of former player ghosts in “Republic”, which means thousands. No matter where you go, there will be players blazing a trail in the landscape, you can follow them, maybe you will find a new route, or a collectible hidden in the depths of the wilderness. These ghosts also use any available travel method, which means that at a certain moment, you will see a large number of former players skiing, more riding bicycles, and even flying into the sky with some form of onboard tools. In “Republic”, you will never really feel alone, and Ubisoft has done a great job of making the world look truly vibrant.
As for the available sports, skiing and snowboarding feel as fun as in “The Ultimate”. You have enough control over where you want to go, it can subtly jump between realism and really interesting gameplay, and most importantly, you can also use skills and skills to show off your style.
In terms of the latest major new addition: bicycles, these are actually the highlights provided by “Extreme Republic”. Of all the available sports, the bicycle feels the smoothest and most attractive, whether you are speeding down a huge slope, wrestling trying to control the bicycle so as not to hit one of the rocks, or in Perform some ridiculous tricks in the air. The control is designed in a similar way to snow sports, it strikes a balance between realism and fun, which means you can focus on going from point A to point B as easily as a mountain biker, or more precisely emphasize skills .
We will say that air sports often have some shortcomings. The flying squirrel costume is still dangerous but also very interesting, but the control of the rocket costume (essentially a wing suit with a rocket behind) is very hateful. You will find yourself crashing too many times and you can’t really enjoy the time of fun. Especially during the game.
Let’s talk about the next point: activities. “Extreme Republic” is a multiplayer-centric game, everything is about competition. Whether it’s through a game or a skill game that requires you to score points with complex skills, there are many things to do. Superimpose this with many locations and collections in the world, and you will not lack content that you can savor carefully.
As for how the campaign works, there are several professions (most of the time you can play with other players), and each profession includes about 17 activities. To make progress in these activities, you must earn stars by winning matches/events or completing additional goals (such as performing specific skills). Unlock enough stars to unlock a special event, usually sponsored by major sports brands (such as Red Bull), or even the next new career. If you put it all together, the profession is actually just a series of competitions/events, you can get new equipment through progress, which can be used in future activities.
On this theme, “Extreme Republic” has a hierarchical loot system, better equipment and better statistics will make you a more successful competitor. It is different from real-time service games such as “Marvel’s Avengers”, because better equipment may make it easier for you to control the bike or be able to drive faster, but in fact, it all depends on how you use it. Equipment can determine how effective it can be.
Despite all that has been said, the best way to truly understand the services provided by “Extreme Republic” is through the new Mass Races event. These packed 50 or so players into an event, and then chaos ensued from the moment the whistle began to sound. This is a truly crazy race, divided into 3 separate races, and you will even see you use a special portal to switch back and forth between various forms of sports, which means you can ski at a certain moment and then wear it. Get on the rocket suit. These are very similar to the public events in Destiny 2 and will appear every hour (in the full game), and are almost the pinnacle of the game.
From the time we have experienced the beta version of “Extreme Republic”, it’s hard not to really like this game. The mechanics are interesting and provide players with many choices. This world is one of the most impressive worlds we have ever seen. In any sense, this is not a perfect experience, but as BMX will even appear in “Ultimate Republic” in the first DLC, we are looking forward to and excited about the release of this game.