Polish developer People Can Fly is known for over-the-top action in games like
Painkiller, Gears of War: Judgment, and Bulletstorm.
Their newest IP, Outriders, continues the tradition
with an added dose of RPG and live service trends.
On the surface, the story mostly consists of routine sci-fi staples.
Earth is dying, so humanity seeks refuge on the distant planet Enoch,
and the first attempt to secure the planet ends up with your character being gravely wounded.
Put into cryostasis to recover, you wake up 31 years later,
only to find yourself in the middle of an endless war between survivors.
Then, an unexplained anomaly bestows you with powerful, god-like abilities,
and you set out on a mission to bring hope to the survivors
by releasing supplies trapped on the ship from Earth, which is still orbiting Enoch.
The problem with the story isn’t the content, it’s the presentation.
Cut-scenes and transitions are stiff and drab,
while bugs affecting lip synch and missing audio add to the problems
and make it harder to connect.
For players willing to read hours of supplementary material,
hundreds of optional documents and data entries give crucial insight to characters and events
that are more interesting than much of the direct story.
They paint a complete picture of Earth’s fall and the last three decades on Enoch
with details that are barely even mentioned otherwise, like the three ticket system and the Floating City.
It’s not an ideal way to consume the story,
but it adds a lot of interesting elements to an otherwise straightforward plot.
The main strength of Outriders lies on the battlefield.
A variety of firearms like sniper rifles,
shotguns, and assault rifles support supernatural powers
that make you a deadly force of nature.
The automatic shotguns deserve special mention, with thunderous audio design
that enhances the feeling of obliterating nearby prey into a bloody mist.
Each class regenerates health differently like
close range devastator kills
or long range technomancer kills,
emphasizing the varied playstyles of each.
Offense is essential, and while there is plenty of cover strategically placed around each arena,
it’s usually more useful for your enemies than for you.
Snipers dig in and flee when approached,
while heavily armed breachers rush into the fray with reckless abandon.
Even the basic troopers effectively use cover,
toss grenades to root out campers, and reposition accordingly.
The responsive AI keeps each fight interesting and tense,
long after you become familiar with their tactics.
As a result, gaining the advantage by thinning the ranks one foe at a time
feels earned and satisfying.
Bosses and elite enemies usually have altered abilities like
lightning or healing that can turn the tide of battle.
Interrupting these abilities with class-specific skills
is helpful in more difficult fights, but the mechanics feel underdeveloped
compared to other aspects of character progression.
After interrupting them repeatedly,
enemies become temporarily immune to the tactic,
which is a weird penalty for accurately identifying and responding to an enemy’s weakness.
In addition to humanoids, the local wildlife will attempt to eviscerate trespassers.
Small Perforo use their numbers to overwhelm and hinder your mobility,
while Brood Mothers are capable of long range casting and devastating melee strikes.
However, the flying Strix
is an early contender for most annoying enemy of the year.
While more than a handful of creatures are reskinned with different status elements,
the amount of variety is refreshing, ensuring that fights never feel routine.
There are four main classes to choose from,
each with three skill trees that alter how they function.
The Devastator is the de facto tank, capable of standing their ground
and soaking up ridiculous amounts of damage.
The Pyromancer can hurl flames,
while the Trickster favors time manipulation and hit and run tactics.
The Technomancer is the long range sniper of the group,
capable of throwing down defensive turrets for support.
Each class is a blast to play, and even though they share the same arsenal
they feel remarkably different from one another because of their strengths, weaknesses, and skills.
The entirety of Outriders is playable solo, but once you get three players together
to create beautiful destruction, you’ll always want someone watching your back.
The classes synergize wonderfully,
due in part to each role favoring a different status element like
the devastator’s bleeding effects or the pyromancer’s burns.
Typical of multiplayer games, it can be tricky to follow the plot when chatting with friends, but
hitting the trenches with a super-powered squad has its own rewards.
Leveling up feels significant, and each level awards stat boosts,
skills, or class points, up to the max level of 30.
World Tier is even more important and it’s the primary way to affect the game’s difficulty.
With each unlocked level, enemies get stronger but the loot gets better.
Dying costs progress towards the next world tier,
adding important stakes to each encounter.
It’s a brilliant way to incentivize pushing your limits,
but it’s also lenient enough to be lowered at your own discretion.
Loot constantly drops on the road to level cap.
Swapping out weapons and armor adds even more variety to each encounter,
and experimenting is heavily encouraged
as you constantly get stronger.
The mod system is incredibly addictive
as rare gear comes equipped with mods that can be permanently obtained by dismantling them.
There are countless mods that can be collected like
Storm Whip that adds a damaging lightning bolt to attacks,
or Bullet Kindling which deals additional damage to enemies afflicted by burn.
Other mods increase specific damage types, or provide other incentives like
Diffuse which raises your armor and resistance when sprinting.
There are so many choices to mix and match that chasing the ideal build
takes a considerable investment, and getting lucky with a perfect drop brings a rush of dopamine.
Over 50 optional side quests, bounties, and hunts round out the main campaign.
Each new location features a collection that adds more narrative insight into the surrounding area
and rewards additional XP and loot.
However, exploring isn’t very engaging,
as the linear environments feel small and isolating.
After the credits roll, which can take anywhere from 15 to 30 hours,
endgame expeditions attempt to keep you engaged for the foreseeable future,
tasking Outriders with clearing new areas as quickly as possible.
Finishing swiftly earns a rank of gold, silver, bronze, or worse,
which affects the amount of rewards upon completion.
While incentivizing speed and efficiency seems to make sense with the game’s vicious combat,
not every build focuses on DPS, making the mode feel particularly limiting.
There is a unique boss to work towards as part of the final expedition, but
the narrative at this point feels like an afterthought,
making the grind solely about dealing damage.
Launch week hasn’t been kind to Outriders.
Freezes and crashes have been common.
Connection issues have hindered cross play from functioning properly,
and it’s been difficult to simply log in and play.
The game is at its best when played with two other people,
but finding a full squad has been difficult.
Attempts to alleviate these issues
have also introduced a major bug that completely wipes player inventories.
People Can Fly has scrambled to release additional updates
to get the problem under control,
while working on restoring items to players who have been effected,
but there’s still work to be done.
Online-centric games launching with these kinds of small issues is all too common, but
the prospect of losing dozens of hours of progress
makes playing Outriders in its current state a risky proposition.
Outriders blends frenetic combat and hard hitting class skills
to make each encounter feel tense and rewarding.
Chasing loot drops and collecting mods to bolster your collection
is as addictive as using storm whip on vulnerable foes.
The presentation makes it hard to connect with the characters,
but players willing to read a lot
may be surprised by how much thought has been put into things behind the scenes.
With the current state of problems however,
waiting a bit longer for things to get sorted out is recommended.
Final score: 7 out of 10.
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