Outriders: A looter-shooter that even Cody could enjoy. (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Tuesday, March 02, 2021, 10:36 (1151 days ago)
edited by Korny, Tuesday, March 02, 2021, 10:41

So over the past few days, A handful of us have been playing the free Outriders demo, which is a Microtransaction-free third-person ability-focused looter-shooter. Here's a 30 second-ish clip of the game in a nutshell:

We'll get back to this clip in a bit...

While it's not likely going to win awards in any key departments, I've actually found a lot to love in this game, and despite its extremely derivative nature, I've ironically found it to be a breath of fresh air in the genre, especially in the co-op department. The biggest reason being that the devs (People Can Fly) seem to have set out to specifically avoid every pitfall and issue with the looter genre, with a number of no-brainer solutions to issues found in games such as Destiny and The Division. They also set out to pull some of the best elements from those games, and have built upon them in ways that are almost immediately apparent, such as low-level loot making a significant impact on your playstyle and build.

The biggest thing that the game has going for it though, is that it is not a "Live Service" game. It has a beginning and an end, but with a lot of options for players to dictate how they will go about the journey from one point to the other. So the only investment system comes from crafting and tweaking the builds that you want to take through the different World Tiers (that you can jump between at will once you've unlocked them). Given how rewarding loot is from the outset, there is no grind towards the "endgame", because the World Tiers that you are in ARE the endgame; it's all about your build and RPG progression.

And your builds and gear really matter because they all actively push you to have more fun, not spend more money, or grind for longer amounts of time.
I found a piece of low-rarity armor that had a perk for an ability that I had earlier considered useless for my playstyle, but which now made it an essential piece of my three-ability combos. And your abilities are important, because despite this being ostensibly a cover-shooter, once the game clicks, cover won't be a focus for you. Let's go back to that 30-second clip:

I'm playing the Devastator class, which is a tank, and the first three powers that you unlock are all about doing damage in an area near you, and letting you throw yourself at the enemy. This is important because for this class, killing enemies within 20 of you heals you. As you can see in the clip, any enemy in range has a skull under their name is a potential health boost. This encourages an aggressive close-range playstyle that would be suicide for most of the other classes that you can play as. Speaking of which, notice how Fooch joined halfway through the video and started slowing enemies and turning them into exploding skeletons?
Yeah, that was really satisfying to experience, and paired really well with my build:

It's like Mass Effect 3's co-op decided to be edgy for the sake of how awesome over-the-top violence can be.

Anyway, SkillUp put out a video that I have some issues with (hey, I enjoyed the dialogue and strong focus on the B-grade plot!), but it sums up a lot of the things that the game does right.

The free demo is out for good, and progress carries over to the final game if you decide to take the jump!