Outriders Has That Special Sauce
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Outriders Has That Special Sauce
… but is it all flavor, and no filling?
Taking the time to soak in the scenery and world-building elements strewn about within a virtual setting is one of my favorite past-times.
Luckily for me, the team at People Can Fly have constructed one of my favorite in-game atmospheres in recent years.
Outriders has plenty of the ingredients to make their new foray into this looter-shooter rpg genre one that deserves your time. Most likely.
Polish studio People Can Fly didn’t rush their take on the genre of shooter popularized by the Destiny franchise of looter shooters, and it shows in all of the right places. There is a wash of visible polish, an intimate collection of story plot points, and some of the best gunplay in modern gaming.
On the surface, the progress shown by People Can Fly with their initial offerings leading up to Outriders may be the most transparent hero arc in this entire generation. You can feel each and every influential source that makes up the DNA of this game, and almost no part of that is negative.
Starting from the core of the product, the critical ingredient in this recipe is the shooting mechanics. And, People Can Fly have been honing their tactile combat design skills since before some of their now existing player-base was even born. On both visible and mechanical levels, you can FEEL 2011’s Bulletstorm in the ancestry of this title. There is a palpable nostalgia for earlier Gears of War titles within the cover and advance systems, and there is a lush world surrounding you.
Unfortunately, the game’s greatest downfall is the lack of freedom within that world. This is, in large part, due to the overwhelmingly linear hallway-to-arena level and narrative design. However, everything you can see and touch feels more intricate and clean than many of the modern games within this genre.
“not all games need to be open-world RPGs.”
This feeling of being inundated with beautiful scenery and design sometimes translates into making you feel like you’re being guided through an astonishing art gallery by narrow roped paths that keep you at more than desirable distances away from some of the most intriguing pieces hung on the wall. It is … frustrating at times. One party member that I spent quite a few hours with responded to my discontent by saying “not all games need to be open-world RPGs.” And, while they are right, I have a flagrant desire for more open-world titles. Often, heading in a direction of my choosing can cement my immersion within a game more than many other aspects of video games.
At the end of the day, Outriders isn’t made worse by a linear progression, and in many cases, it helps your party move continuously through the game without pause or much discussion regarding objectives.
If you take a look back at the previous few years of major hype and flopped releases, the relatively under-marketed Outriders comes out looking like a complete miracle. Yes, despite the presence of a fantastically optimized demo, the launch weekend for Outriders wound up being messier than anticipated. However, the company’s willingness to be open with their communication and the games initial stability issues has kept the team at People Can Fly in the good graces of gamers.
Regardless of the shaky kick-off party, People Can Fly have done everything right. Ticked all of the boxes. Firstly, they released the entire prologue (plus some side quests) as a demo a few months prior to launch, and players can take their demo progress into the main game. On top of that, it released day in date on Xbox’s Game Pass service, and even better still, there is complete cross-play built in, making it as easy as possible for gamers to gather with their friends. It’s obvious that the intentions were to make every aspect of the game smooth.
A week into the full release, and the team is still pushing out large patches and insisting that the public know what they are focused on, and when they are seeing problems -- mostly with the servers at the time of writing this. All in all, this mentality and level of transparency boosts the understanding and sympathy of the consumers, and those that play Outriders for a long time to come will have all the more intimate view of this product for it.
Getting back to the beans and toast of the game, and Outriders doesn’t stand too far apart from the majority of popular titles in the shooter-slash-whatever genre. There is a base class system, where players can choose from four styles, or elements, to play with. Though, the game should really do more to remind players to go back and try them all, because I have never played a game in which some classes click so well with players, while others do not.
First on the list is the Technomancer, which is a distance-focused support and AOE fighter, followed by the Pyromancer, who is mid-ish ranged and uses fire attacks to damage or stun enemies. Next up is the Trickster, who is damage heavy, with a squishy core and some movement or control tricks. And the list is rounded out by the tanking Devestator who uses earth and rock with a defensive-leaning skill set. Which class you choose and enjoy will differ depending on your play-style, though I suggest trying them all. Fortunately, once the game is done setting up the story and showing your the ropes, you can start new character and skip the tutorial section, making the process of experimenting with the varied classes a bit easier.
As for core loops, Outriders has a pretty great one, if not a little standard, though it does take the standard loops from a few different types of popular games, and merges them fairly seamlessly into one experience.
The grind is strong with this one, padewans. Outriders is filled with loot drops, and loot chests, and choose-your-own-loot rewards. So far, in my journey from level 1 to 20, I haven’t had a piece of equipment or weapon that has lasted me more than 30 minutes or so, as the difficulty rises with your achievement (represented in a tiered World Level system) as do your rewards. Eventually, you unlock the ability to modify and upgrade your gear, allowing players to prioritize the pieces they like, and giving you plenty of farm-able resources to keep those beloved guns and wardrobe parts relevant.
World Tier Menu - Outriders
I mentioned the World Level, and alongside that you’ve got your player level, so there are two evolving parts to keep track of. World tiers amp up the difficulty and plunder, rewarding you for achieving the rank-up, while character leveling provides players with the opportunity to edit their character class in a three-tiered stats tree.
Each of the four in-game classes have three types of builds, all with their own unique names. Though, instead of branching these three limbs off separately, Outriders has some joining segments of the tree, allowing deeper coordination of the types of stats and increases seen int he different paths.
Class Tree - Outriders
As you progress through Enoch -- this replacement Earth -- you will unlock use of ten total skills for each class, and they range from movement skills, protection skills, damage influence skills, interruption skills, and more. Surprisingly, the emphasis built into these abilities is what helps the four classes stand apart from one another. It should be noted that outside of the traditional MMO genre, Outriders has one of the better distinguishing class systems, though, you may play the game and just shoot things without the use of your powers.
This would be boring -- as the gunplay is differentiated by firearm type and not character class -- and it would be missing the point of the game.
Speaking of the point. I have waited this long to truly dip into the narrative nature and story particulars of Outriders because … well … for a social-focused looter-shooter rpg, the story and characters have no right being this good.
Installing Outriders, you cycle through a few things in your mind. Much like you would with most of this genre’s offerings. What class should I play, are my friends online, should I try to mix it up with my gun loadout, or try something different. Not once did it cross my mind that I would be engrossed in the story of Outriders pretty much from the word jump. It’s astonishing, and someone maddening that People Can Fly packed a compelling enough story that hooks players more than many story-focused titles do.
You are an Outrider, an elite group of mercenaries and soldiers from Earth. Contracted to escort the last of the human race off our planet of origin and into the unknown reaches of space in search of a new place to call home. Prior to leaving the destroyed Earth, one reading gave hope to humanity; a planet called Enoch.
Upon reaching this potential garden of Eden, you join the scouting team to gather intelligence from probes sent to Enoch to ensure livable conditions before unfreezing the rest of the human population to kick-start the next evolution for our species. Unfortunately, the readings were off, or vague, or fractured, and the storms (dubbed “the anomaly”) ruin the scouting mission, killing most of your cohorts. When the anomaly hits you directly during your attempt to escape, you are altered on a molecular level, giving you powers of great energy and influence. However, you don’t quite know that yet.
All you are aware of is that after being struck by the storm, one of your search party members places you back in a cryogenic pod to heal you, and that’s where the real story begins. You as the player wake up after an unspecific amount of time, only to realize that more than thirty years has passed since you went into the pod. The Enoch you knew -- if only for a brief moment -- has been turned into a war zone. Factions of humans from the expedition ship fractured off into groups, all fighting for what they believe is a just cause. There are religious zealots, anarchists, government-types, and it has all gone to hell. Some of the characters you meet post frozen dreams, were born on Enoch. Others, the few that survived the early years on the hostile planet, are aged and war-torn, nearly beyond recognition.
As the train gets rolling, it is up to you (and up to two of your friends) to fight your way through the monstrous and lethal fauna of Enoch, groups of power hungry humans, and much more. All with the hopes that a once lost probe sent years before touchdown on Enoch still holds the key to a potentially flourishing life for our species on this alien planet.
It is, in simplest terms, far more compelling than it needs to be, and almost intricate enough to be considered fantastic.
Regardless of how compelling the story may be, and the vibrant flavors of the moment-to-moment play, there is a lack of diversity in its core content as it currently sits. Though, with great feel and atmosphere, it is easy to sink dozens of hours into the experience before growing tired of the arena-shooting and bullet-sponge enemies.
When it comes time to put a ribbon on the experience that is Outriders, it would be easy to say that it’s a must-play. However, that’s not a full truth. There is a true line in the sand with a game like this one. It’s either for your, or it is not. And which side of that line you stand on doesn’t depend on your love of RPGs, whether you like loot, or if the story is ripe enough for your enjoyment. It’s the shooting.
If you like games where bullets are words, and enemies deserve long and scrumptious monologues, than I think Outriders will scratch a least one of your itches. Unfortunately, there is no way around the main act of interacting with this world, so if shooting guns and hurting digital people and creatures is not your bag, than you should not play this game.
There is a grand, big picture being painted here, and Outriders may be the kind of game on players lips for years to come, if People Can Fly muster up enough additional content and gameplay tweaks to keep things fresh.
And, although it is hard to praise a developer for making things like world design, atmosphere, and story far more interesting than they maybe needed to, it cannot be ignored that having intriguing and compelling reasons to jump back into this world (or any game like it) can make or break the long-term success of a franchise.
So far, hats off to People Can Fly -- especially their social media and community managers -- for pushing through a less-than-ideal launch weekend, and seeing their half-decade labor of love flourish with the best pieces this genre of gaming has to offer.
While Outriders isn’t necessarily a game I am pulled towards playing by my lonesome, it makes for one exhilarating multiplayer experience, and gaming has been a crucial part of my inner-circles connection over the last year and change. So, thank you.
Outriders
Developer — People Can Fly
Publisher — Square Enix
Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation
3/5 — An absolutely fabulous taste, with a lack of nutrients and a firmly defined line in the sand.
