During a time when video game enthusiasts want nothing more than to come together and enjoy what makes them gamers to begin with, developer People Can Fly was crafting a potential godsend. Published by none other than SquareEnix, “Outriders” is a co-op optional third-person looter shooter set in a universe where humans have destroyed their home planet of Earth; going forth into the depths of space with the intent of discovering a new world to inhabit. With one of four powered classes to choose from, gamers have the chance to tear through humans & “Altered” humans alike, as well as ferocious beasts.
After spending several hours playing the demo released almost two months before the full release, completing all the missions available with every character class on both my PS5 and Xbox One, I downloaded “Outriders” via the Xbox Game Pass (for some reason the PC Game Pass isn’t offering the game) with the intent of taking my “Trickster” character through the turbulent world of Enoch; not knowing real world problems would be more turbulent than anything “Outriders” had to offer.
Did I Complete “Outriders”?
Just like its predecessors in the genre, “Outriders” is built on co-op play with gamers going throughout several environments to complete missions both main & side with the latter being broken up into a variety of conditions including hunting down gigantic beasts similar to what other main missions provide later in the story, or finding & killing bandits always surrounded by a force of followers ready to die for said target. While finishing battles galore, players gain color-coded loot that can be modified, dismantled, or sold with the obvious intent of getting the best gear possible.
After a little over fifty hours with my “Trickster” character, I completed the main story, all the side missions after reaching “World Tier 11” (though I had to scale down the game’s difficulty level during the final boss fight) before starting the end-game “Expeditions” mode – a grandiose fifteen-mission series of timed battles where enemies are more numerous than anything seen elsewhere in the game, as is the loot. After experiencing the insanity of “Expeditions” it became obvious to get the best rewards it’ll take a lot of gear grinding and teaming up with players also ready to run through a stage in a ridiculously short amount of time to attain that “Legendary” loot; something that may seem pretty uninspired and not that much fun for those defensive-minded and/or solo characters.
Achievements/trophies are pretty simple such as reaching character level thirty and completing the story & all the side missions. But completionists will have to grind beyond gaining gear & “Expeditions” including completing “Accolades” – a series of in-game challenges that, when completed to level five, offer customizable features for things like the banner displayed at camp used for fast traveling and, of course, gear. These “Accolades” will have players killing a ridiculous amount of enemies with specific class abilities, filling up the journal of in-game information, and simply teaming up with other players – a system that will add at least another fifty hours to someone’s play time if they choose to accept the grind.
Did “Outriders” Live Up to the Hype?
The people of Earth have ruined their home place and the search for a new planet gives way to discovering a potential inhabitable world before it all goes to Hell. The opening thirty minutes establish both the world of Enoch & its ecosystem, as well as the core gun play that is rooted in stereotypical run & gun gameplay with a cover system that is usually useless as adversaries will flank the player’s character and bombard them with grenades.; not to mention the lacking functionality of said cover system where the player’s character may hop onto the top of & over a barrier instead of running to another cover point due to one button being used for everything involving the cover system.
Following the story’s prologue the change occurs both for the player’s character and the plot as the “Anomaly” overtakes Enoch and transforms certain people into “Altered” beings sporting specific powers including one of four classes the player can choose. The aforementioned “Trickster” is a master of time manipulation that can do things like teleport behind an enemy to unleash a potential one-shot kill via a shotgun, or toss temporal knives that spread across several enemies to slow them down while making the “Trickster’s” next attack do double damage against the targeted foe.
The “Pyromancer” uses fire attacks such as summoning a pillar of flames that goes forward to engulf & burn nearby enemies, or even yank an adversary toward the player’s character a la Scorpion from “Mortal Kombat”. A “Devastator” character will utilize the earth as a way to tank their way through enemies while performing gigantic seismic-inducing stomps and ripping the ground below to barricade said character’s body for temporary protection & damage reduction. The “Technomancer” class is the most sensitive in terms of taking damage, but features some of the most impressive long-range attacks in the game including summoning rocket launchers & turrets that will freeze enemies in their tracks.
Though “Outriders” does have a cover system, health doesn’t automatically regenerate fully while simply crouched behind a barricade. Instead every character regains health by killing enemies, though the “Technomancer” gets a little bit of a health restoration assist as said character class can get health back by simply doing damage to an enemy to offset the fact “Technomancer” characters have less health & base defense stats compared to their counterparts. Though every class has its positives and negatives (like the “Pyromancer” class not doing as much damage as expected with their skills, but a majority of said abilities causing status effects that make up for the lack of brute force), it’s hard to deny how fun it is to put in a little time with each class to see what works for the player.
Beyond the melee attacks that utilize elemental properties to accent a physical strike, and character class options including specified skill trees for each class that have multiple branches connected to three end points (it’s impossible to attain enough points to fill out the entire tree with the developers opting to give players the chance to reset their used skill points to redistribute said points as they see fit) are the standout implementations in terms of gameplay: the “World Tier” difficulty system & gear/loot.
“World Tiers” act as not just a difficulty setting, but also an overall reward system both in-game & for the player personally. With up to fifteen “World Tiers”, players can raise or lower the difficulty at any time; but higher the difficulty the better the loot drops. While players can experience the entire story on the lowest “World Tier” setting, to obtain “Epic” and “Legendary” gear outside of controlled moments like completing certain story points it’s imperative that the player take part in playing on the highest “World Tier” level obtained via experience points earned by simply winning battles.
“World Tier” increases obviously makes enemies tougher & more bullet sponge in nature than normal, but gear load-out is just as important in regards to the player succeeding than what “World Tier” level is currently being played. Every gear item is put in one of four rarity categories (“Common”, “Rare”, “Epic”, & “Legendary). Depending on the rarity level and what type of weapon or armor obtained will be the difference between buffing a character’s armor & health or increasing firepower & the effectiveness of class skills/“Anomaly” attacks.
Through the game’s crafting system, players can use resources procured by loot drops during battle, harvesting ores when journeying through maps, bought from vendors, or obtained by disassembling gear in the player’s inventory to level up the remaining weapons & armor. Said resources can also increase the “Attributes” of any gear to allow for better healing from kill shots or close range damage depending on what piece of gear is being upgraded. Though every piece of gear’s rarity level can be upgraded if it’s below “Epic” quality, players can’t craft “Legendary” items and are completely at the mercy of the game’s loot RNG.
The other inclusion in regards to crafting that really makes “Outriders’” load-outs so entertaining are “Mods”. Depending on the gear’s rarity there will be one or two “Mods” slots (“Rare” items have one slot while “Epic” & “Legendary” gear have two “Mod” slots). These “Mods” allow for players to take advantage of game’s status effect systems and buffing their character’s abilities & weaponry. Weapon modifiers will afford the player a chance to toxify their bullets or make it so each shot that lands replenishes a small bit of health. Armor “Mods” focus on adding to the effectiveness of class abilities and helping the player’s chances for survival. Armor “Mods” can provide, say, the “Trickster’s” “Cyclone Spin” a longer duration or inflict the “Weakness” status ailment on any foe hit by the player’s human tornado.
A “Mod” like “Ice Trap II” unleashes a shockwave of freeze ailment toward enemies in a five meter radius when the protagonist’s health goes below thirty percent and can mean the difference between life & death. There are some stipulations to “Mod” attainment & implementation including players having to dismantle weapons & armor to obtain the “Mods” for future usage on any other gear. Unfortunately players can only modify one of two slots on a piece of gear. Once the player changes a “Mod” to one slot the other slot locks the untouched “Mod” permanently; meaning that players may have to sacrifice a “Mod” they enjoy for another that may not be as beneficial. With that being stated, the amount of gear & loot the player is provided from regularly playing will make the limitation of one “Mod” slot change per item feel nonexistent as the player just moves their desired “Mods” to another piece of gear.
All of these systems tie into the overall interactions with enemies. Outside of the regular gun-using grunts are “Altered” humans that can perform class skill attacks, too. “Altered” enemies can also become resistant to elemental attacks & status ailments if the player continuously uses everything but pure lead. There are also a plethora of monsters that range from acid spitters who love to stay on the outside to gigantic birds that can use their feathers as spear-like projectiles. Though most of the AI enemies are just about pushing forward and getting gunned down, there is definitely a nice level of strategy when working around an arena; especially when taking on some of the few major boss fights including the final adversary that shows just how important it is to have a team instead of trying to finish this game solo.
Beyond the mostly stellar gameplay & customization options including the ability to modify how the main transportation rover looks (though can’t be driven) is a forgettable narrative featuring shallow characters including the rather ridiculously gruff protagonist. There are some harrowing, emotional moments later in the plot that would mean so much more if the player was really given a reason to care about these characters. This lack of making the protagonists actually relatable is made worse by the fact the main adversary is pretty much nonexistent with the final boss being thrown into the role after a couple of late-game appearances.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the side mission story presentations. While the side mission plots aren’t unique, they do a great job of showcasing the emotional toll being on Enoch has done to those who survived the planet’s retaliation for being on forbidden territory. But like the main missions, the side mission’s objectives usually boil down to going to a certain area and killing a bunch of things before picking up an object (if the killing itself the point of interest). Another interesting aspect in regards to side missions is that a majority of them are replayable due to the fact each side mission presents three rewards with the player being able to only choose one reward at a time; though a majority of the time better items are offered by simply playing another mission instead of replaying a side mission.
“Outriders’” biggest issue boils down to its technical proficiency. Beyond unpredictable frame rate drops that are few & far between no matter what system is being used are the rather impressive graphics & environments even though it’s cross-generational. The chaotic sounds of battle comes across immaculately, though the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired including sound mixing during cutscenes (the cutscenes where the audio & video don’t go out of sync). The map presentation is terrible with the mini-map just being a sight cone with a couple of markers like ammo replenishing spots and non-environmental identifiers. The overview map is just as bad as the mini-map by rigidly indicating where the player is without any type of zoom or marker function. Then there’s the way-point path system that can be activated with the touch of a button that, at times, decides to path itself through areas unavailable to the player during that moment.
Though “Outriders” doesn’t have a live service system by featuring a closed narrative & definitive end-game, this is an online-only experience. Every player has to log into the game’s servers before they can start playing solo or in multiplayer with the latter allowing up to three players to drop in & out of a game at any moment seamlessly (a multiplayer functionality that is incredibly fun with others who have good internet speeds & consistent connectivity). If the servers don’t work or are being updated, the player can’t play even if they want to do so by themselves (an issue that has plagued “Outriders” since launch).
Add that to the fact server stability is a huge issue and if the game loses connection to the server it’s back to the title screen no matter what the player was doing including taking on a boss. The server issues were (and in certain cases still are as of this review) complimented by inventory wipes for certain players where their equipment couldn’t be restored, a disappearing on-screen HUD or the player’s character turning invisible while becoming stuck, and random glitches like the textures being unable to load or enemies just waiting around to be murdered.
“Outriders” is one of the most fun experiences one can get in regards to the genre with the multiplayer adrenaline-junkie who loves stats in mind. Unfortunately for all the positives (the gameplay, crafting, and an extensive end-game) there are some major issues that prevents “Outriders” from being a must-play game at this time especially if someone has terrible internet connectivity or just don’t like playing with others; not to mention the underwhelming narrative that comes across as the most overwrought fan-fiction of your favorite sci-fi series.
Should You Play “Outriders”?
For those who love games like “Borderlands” or “Gears of War” while enjoying the idea of crafting the best weapon & armor possible via the tools provided, this is a near perfect experience from a gameplay perspective. But the glaring issues including unpredictable server stability, glitches, and a forgettable story presentation can make “Outriders” something players should definitely wait for to be patched into a more acceptable state if they don’t have Xbox Game Pass. If someone has Xbox Game Pass no matter if they are playing on X1 or Series S/X, playing “Outriders” through the service is the way to go as of this time. Once the server problems & technical issues are fixed fans of this genre shouldn’t think twice about purchasing “Outriders” just like one wouldn’t hesitate about completing a bounty.
