Outriders Review

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Developed by: People Can Fly

Published by: Square Enix

Available On: Xbox, PlayStation 4 & 5, Steam, Stadia

Materials & Methods

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X through Xbox Game Pass

Introduction

The rise of “Games as a Service” (GaaS) games has been interesting, yet disheartening. Classic and new franchises alike made to keep pumping out content with the dangling carrot just outside of the periphery if you want to buy more to enhance your experience. Just out of the frame, yet the scent of microtransactions still ever-present and slowly taking over your other senses. There’s almost a sigh of relief when a game announces and continues to press that they AREN’T a GaaS. Why is that?

Well, from responses I’ve seen online, it means that the game is most likely a complete package. There is no, “Congrats! You only beat the first part of the story. Keep playing, get more power and keep up with the daily grind so that you can continue the story when the next patch comes out”. I was relieved when the director and leads of Outriders confirmed time and again that this game would not be like that. There wouldn’t be microtransactions; there wouldn’t be GaaS elements. The game delivered would be a complete package. I had doubts. There are several times where we hear that a game isn’t that, but ends up having all the same elements as a GaaS. Every report was right though. Outriders is a complete package (when it works), and was a breath of fresh air. I actually ended up enjoying the game more than I thought because I knew I could put the game down at any time once I beat it. Now, let’s dive into why Outriders could’ve been more special but still be a delightful 20-hour experience.

Results & Findings

Welcome to Enoch. A vast planet full of different biomes that hold even dangerous beasts. This potential paradise is where the remaining people of Earth chose as their new home. Due to war and rapid usage of Earth’s resources, humans had to all but abandon their homes for a chance at survival. A group of humans known as the Outriders were sent as the raiding party to make camp and establish a new home for human life. However, things immediately go wrong when an intense energy storm ravages the Outriders camp. Death and destruction immediately ruined the plan forcing humans to evacuate back to space. The outriders were forced into cryosleep for about 30 years with hopes that they can all try again when they wake back up. But during the Outrider’s slumber, the effects of the energy storm seem to manifest into god-like abilities. And upon their awakening, they need to not only discover the source of the storm but save a world that is now in perpetual war with itself. 


I may honestly be one of the few people who could recite the story. That’s not a positive, though. The story is just so generic to the point where I couldn’t care less about what was happening or why I was doing it. For most games, a bland story is a dealbreaker for me. Particularly for the side quests that are meant to add more worldbuilding, establish new characters and motives, or even go into more of the factions you face, I just skipped through all of that. For the main story, I paid attention. Even then, most of the presented information felt bland and almost tedious to pay attention to. Why though? Why is it so dull? Outriders try to set up some grand mystery, “why is this storm ravaging the planet?” and “what is this mysterious signal drawing the Outriders to somewhere” that is so surface-level. There is no grand meaning to what’s happening. There is no more profound message or at least one that I could dig up. We need to get to this signal, and we don’t care who is in our way. The writers try to introduce twists with characters drawn to power, rogue groups that appear good on the surface, but the twists are so predictable. Everything reverts to the expected faster than you can start to second guess what you’re thinking. 

My Outrider looking on a giant forest full of luminescent color and danger.

My Outrider looking on a giant forest full of luminescent color and danger.

Then, there is the ending. The ending starts to get exciting but quickly reverts to the sameness of the rest of the game within minutes. You find out what is the cause of the signal. You find out what seems to be the cause of so many of the Outrider’s issues. Then, the mastermind gets shot in the head. So. Many. People get shot in the head that they are almost treated like full-stops to conversations. It’s more surprising when a verbal conflict doesn’t end with somebody getting shot to the head. Like, why? I get that Enoch is now a rough place, but the Outrider is a stranger to the new way of life here. Why are they the ones who, when trying to be the ones to help save Enoch, are the first to kill those that are giving them information or those that could provide them with information? Just, this way of storytelling got tiring very quickly. I’ve been ragging on the story for a while. This would normally mean that I couldn’t care less about the game, but Outriders is something different.

I did like the parts of the way the story was told, particularly the worldbuilding told through one specific way. Like Destiny, there is so much story told through journal entries that it was like reading a surprisingly engaging history book. There is about a thirty-year gap of time that gets filled in about as well as a college student trying to repair a giant hole in the wall before their apartment manager comes to return the deposit. The journals tell such a different story. You see the immediate conflict, and you, as the Outrider, just hit the ground running to get to the bottom of some of the issues with Enoch. The Journals tell you not only the history of Earth that led to the evacuation, but the tough choices made, the people abandoned. They also go into some detail about the thirty-year history of Humans on Enoch. The struggles about setting up camps, the divisions that led to war, and the several storms that came and warped certain people and destroyed all the work done to that point. It’s a fascinating read, but I wish that they went into some of that detail in the main story. Just give me something about why I should care about what I was doing. 

Journal entries on the screen that detail numerous parts of Outriders lore.

Journal entries on the screen that detail numerous parts of Outriders lore.

So why did I not just put this game down and move on? Because the gameplay is just so freaking fun. The gameplay cycle, when it clicks, is beyond addicting. I had struggled just to put Outriders down. Heck, I slacked on other responsibilities because I was just lost in the game. (Hate to admit it, but I was even late on some of my reviews because I wanted to play more Outriders). Outriders felt like a bolt of lightning that hit me, making me energized to keep playing, and that is not a sentiment shared between all. My friends told me that they were shocked by how much I liked Outriders. They just weren’t drawn to it the way I was.

Outrider shooting an enemy

Outrider shooting an enemy

Three specific features drew me in most: the gear mods, the abilities, and the difficulty. Outriders handles difficulty in such a great way, that I wish this system was in more games. Beyond the levels, there is a system called “World Tiers”. You may have heard the terminology elsewhere, but I think this is the best implementation of it. World Tiers are more or less the difficulty of your game. They increase the level of enemies X amount above yours. They also increase the level of gear that drops for you by X. So whenever you unlock a new World Tier, you’re working on getting the equipment that will make you put up a better fight against those enemies. You still stay at the same level you are, including the basic increase in health and firepower. So you may be dealing out more damage, but you’re not a complete sponge. Also, other games tend to penalize you by resetting your progress or locking you into a difficulty for a fight. In Outriders, you can change the World Tier at any time, including mid-combat. If you wanted to, you could play the whole game at World Tier 3 (which keeps the enemies at the same level as you). There is an incentive to play at higher World Tiers. The higher the World Tier, the better the drop rate of legendary gear. And those give some of the coolest mods in the game. The safety net that’s always there somehow took the heat off of me after moments when I was dying over and over again. I just kept telling myself, “one more time before I lower it”, and kept pushing until I brute-forced through a tricky part, and it ended up being fun!

World Tiers shown as a mosaic and a stat screen showing the benefits of choosing that world tier.

World Tiers shown as a mosaic and a stat screen showing the benefits of choosing that world tier.

The abilities are on another level with their impactfulness and how they can be used together to create devastating combos. There are four classes in Outriders: The tanky Devastator, the space manipulating Trickster, the conjuring Pyromancer, and the gadget using Technomancer. I chose the Pyromancer because I like to play DPS classes that create explosive combos. It did not disappoint. Not only that, each class has a different “twist” that helps them regain health. Pyromancers had to set things on fire to restore health in fights. So how do you do that? Well, many abilities will do just that. From spawning a wave of fire, to summoning a clip of fire bullets, to bringing up a literal volcano from the ground, fire can literally cover the battlefield and be unavoidable. Then, you can combo that with an explosive interrupt. My favorite way to do that ended up being a blast wave that sapped the burn damage over time off of enemies to do one big explosive hit. Sometimes, entire waves of enemies would die instantly to this. But that’s only the beginning of where abilities become fun to use.

Different abilities for the Pyromancer including a video showing an example of what that ability can do.

Different abilities for the Pyromancer including a video showing an example of what that ability can do.

Each equipable item has mods on it, and THERE ARE SO MANY MODS TO COLLECT! Plus, they can range from just about anything that you can think of that will affect your weapons and abilities. Breaking down any gear will add all of its mods to your inventory. Once you get one, you have it forever. There are no charges, no limited space, no limitations whatsoever once you obtain a mod. Plus, it’s cheap and easy to mod gear too. I Outriders encourages you to customize your loadout to experiment and find fun/unique combos that would make you dish out lots of damage. For instance, I modded several abilities to change what they do entirely. That one ability that absorbs fire charges? It now absorbs ash charges, does double the damage, and double the range. That, coupled with another ability covering all enemies in ash, has been such a fun combination that paid off in dividends. In the post-game Expeditions, it reports your damage. I’ve had some rounds where I did over 10 million damage while my teammates did under 2 million. Mixing and matching, mods, gear, and abilities are the funnest part of Outriders and have led to me playing almost double my overall time with the game.

I was lucky with my playthrough. I didn’t experience too many bugs/crashes; I didn’t lose my inventory, I barely had server issues, and I didn’t use cross-play often. Looking at reports and Twitter in general, I was an outlier. Outriders at launch was a buggy mess which in turn ruined a lot of my friends’ experiences. Servers were overloaded, leading to regular shutdowns, and since it was an online-only game, that meant even playing single-player was out of the question. Gamers also found bugs that led to their entire inventories being wiped, ruining tens of hours of progress. It’s certain things that feel inexcusable, leading to an err of caution when recommending this game. “Yes, play it! But wait until it’s fixed, first”. I experienced one very odd bug that seemed like it was easily repeatable. When beating the game, the game’s audio got terribly out of sync. The whole credits and post-credit scenes just were incoherent since nothing lined up. Thank goodness the Outriders PR team is very talkative on Twitter. They’re giving consistent updates on known bugs and actively telling players that specific fixes are in the works. It’s another breath of fresh air to have regular updates and set expectations about what’s in the works. At the end of the day, though, players were burned on their overall thoughts on Outriders because of many issues.

That’s not including some of the very odd choices made for the gameplay either. Outriders tries to be a cover-based shooter, but it rarely works. I often found my character popped out of cover not by choice but because it felt like they forgot they were behind a wall when they did an attack. Then, there is the always-online choice. Even playing single-player, the game doesn’t pause if you’re in menus. Finally, Outriders feels like it’s meant to be played with others. Single-player doesn’t have as many enemies, but it also doesn’t have the same benefits. In multiplayer, each person gets a free revive if they get downed. Solo players don’t get that. If I died while trying to get through a challenging area, I couldn’t pick myself up like I could when I played with my friends. My attempt was over, and I had to restart. To me, these are just minor inconveniences to an experience that I do not regret investing so much time in.

Discussion

Outriders feels very similar to a lightning strike. It hit me at just the right time that it really resonated with me. That doesn’t mean it’s a must-play, though. There are many bugs, many odd choices that can quickly take away from anyone’s experience. Plus, the bland story thrown in the mix could’ve set Outriders up for failure. The fast and explosive gameplay loop saved Outriders. Impactful abilities, customization options, exciting weapons, and easily changeable difficulty features are what kept me coming back. Outriders has created a good foundation, and I can’t wait to see how People Can Fly builds upon it in the future.

Determination

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