RIDERS REPUBLIC

Having smushed the Alps together in Steep, Ubisoft Annecy is pulling a similar trick with seven US national parks, creating a sprawling extreme-sports sandbox that runs through Yosemite Valley and Utah, up to Grand Teton in Wyoming. From dusty canyons to lush woodland and treacherous peaks, no beauty spot is safe from these whooping daredevils, who compete across five disciplines – mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, wingsuit flying, rocket wingsuiting – in groups of up to 50 players (on new-gen consoles; you’re limited to 20 on older hardware). Though we enjoyed Steep most away from the organised events, the new Tricks Battle Mode offers an enticing team-based challenge: a six-a-side stunt-off where you grind rails and pull tricks to capture ‘districts’, earning your squad of thrillseekers a potentially gamechanging score multiplier.