Riders Republic free trial lets you try the full game for a week ahead of launch

A Riders Republic free trial will let you try out the online downhill sports game for a whole week before it officially comes out.

There's one big catch, of course: you'll only have four total hours to play in the trial, which will be open from October 21 to October 27 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and Stadia. Once your time is up, you'll need to wait for Riders Republic to officially come out on October 28 to keep playing - oh, and you'll need to buy it too, obviously.

Whatever progress you make as you play the trial will carry over into the full version of the game, and the trial will include access to all five sport careers as well as all the standard multiplayer modes. Mass Race mode will be temporarily capped to 32 players during the trial even if you're playing on new-gen systems, but that's only so Ubisoft can do a special Mad Challenge contest throughout the trial.

Players will be able to participate in the Mad Challenge by signing up online, finishing the tutorial, then unlocking ShackDaddy's "Exclusive Multiplayer Contest" by reaching 20 stars. Placing in the top 10 of this special race will earn you an entry into one big raffle for a custom Canyon bike and a Gold Edition of Riders Republic, with more copies of the gold edition for runner-up winners.

Once the trial ends, the party begins, as Ubisoft has already laid out plans for the Riders Republic year 1 pass, including an all-new BMX sport.