Outriders Review - This Is Why I Love Looter Shooters

Looter shooters can be hit or miss nowadays, if recent titles are anything to go by - it’s common that games don’t provide the right flow from the moment a player creates a character to the final run through the hardest content on offer. While People Can Fly’s Outriders isn’t going to make anyone’s lists for revolutionizing the subgenre, it reminded me why many love these types of games; it boasts a solid foundation of gameplay and character progression, all wrapped in a B-movie narrative that is entertaining enough to keep your interest in check. Despite online issues and bugs weighing it down, this repetitive action RPG was a delight from start to finish.

History repeats, humans suck

The game kicks off with a new beginning for humanity on a foreign planet called Enoch. Of course, your arrival doesn’t quite go as planned, as you are forced to jump decades into the future only to witness humankind struggling in this new world, already at the brink of collapse and at each other’s throats (again). But that’s not the only kicker, as an anomaly has changed your character forever. Branded as an Altered, your character has extraordinary abilities. Thanks to your capabilities, you are tasked to embark upon a journey to find an unknown signal that was first discovered during humanity’s arrival on Enoch.

Early on, the established setting and characters were a pleasant surprise. Sadly, the initially strong narrative slowly fell apart as characters’ natures regressed and they became shallow, owing to weightless motivations and poor decision-making. This made plot twists predictable, and the best thing I can say about the story is that it was so bad, it ended up being an entertaining watch.

Yet somehow, I didn’t feel the urge to press the skip button, as I was genuinely eager to know more about the Altered, the state of the different communities in this world, and how the overall story would conclude. Side quests were appealing, since they provided more context for certain story beats, and immersion into the world-building. But overall, Outriders’ campaign can easily be forgotten, as it’s greatly overshadowed by the gameplay.

In between the story and interactions with various characters in town hubs, you’ll find yourself in a repetitive combat loop of killing waves of enemies and equipping the best loot to strengthen your character for the encounters ahead. This is the heart and soul of Outriders, and despite its being the same thing over and over again, the satisfying action-RPG combat offers great depth in loadout experimentation.

Looter shooter itemization done right

Even at the beginning, you are welcomed with a wide range of opportunities for personalizing your character, such as different weapon variations or armor mods to mix and match, a class tree that allows you to aim for a specific playstyle, and class skills that utilize the stats you are trying to focus on optimizing your battle loops. As I played more of Outriders, I was reminded why I enjoy games like Borderlands or Diablo, as rewards and itemization remained exciting all throughout its lengthy campaign. It felt even better once I hit the endgame.

I’ve tried all four classes available in Outriders. Each one boasts a unique playstyle that can cater to all types of players. Your character can easily be altered to play differently by simply resetting your class tree and swapping a few items in your loadout. Many variables are in play, including how your melee attack will work, how your class heals, and of course, the skills at your disposal. There’s a lot of replayability value even within these initial classes.

Combat in Outriders is in a third-person perspective with one mission objective that many will quickly deem repetitive. Gameplay-wise, the first mission already gives you an idea of what the rest of the game will feel like. Sure, new enemy types are introduced, and you will encounter grand boss battles from time to time, but the key objective in all encounters, sidequests, and endgame content is the same - kill all enemies in the area. If you can’t get past this simple fact about Outriders, it won’t be a game for you, as it never strays from that concept.

The developers from People Can Fly stuck with a certain formula and kept the fun of shooting and looting consistent; I found myself having a blast with Outriders’ combat. I felt like a force to be reckoned with, as I became capable of handling an army with ease. Even at the highest difficulty I always felt strong enough, as some deaths were due to my not prioritizing certain enemy types, or failing to use cover at key moments. 

Online woes hamper the repetitive Outriders loop

Outriders’ healing uniquely feeds off your momentum in a fight - it’s mostly triggered by killing enemies a certain way. For example, the Pyromancer class gets a fixed amount of healing from killing enemies that are affected by their burn abilities, while Devastators heal if they kill enemies at close range. This not only suggests a certain playstyle, but also encourages players to keep their killing spree going to maintain themselves. This works surprisingly well, and is a prime contributor to the game’s fun factor. 

As for difficulty, Outriders handles it superbly via its user-friendly World Tier system. There are fifteen tiers in this system, with 1 being easiest and 15 the hardest. The higher you play, the more challenging the game becomes, and in turn it will reward you with a higher chance at scoring high-quality loot. This makes the game more accessible not only to those seeking a steady challenge, but also opens it up to players new to these types of games. Outriders is a perfect introduction to the looter shooter world. 

The biggest issue by far is Outriders’ poor matchmaking and multiplayer systems. If you have a friend or two that is eager to play the campaign, the experience will be far better, but only if it works consistently. Disconnects and lag were issues for me. Matchmaking was just as bad if you tried joining with random players, and I was only able to play a full session with other players without any hiccups during the endgame content called Expeditions, but that, too, had its fair share of technical issues, so 80% of my time in Outriders was done solo. 

Endgame is the real deal

It took me around 25 hours to finish the campaign. It was a fun and lengthy ride, as it’s been too long since I’ve had a great time with a looter shooter’s campaign. Once the credits roll, the endgame begins, and it’s called Expeditions - fifteen gauntlet-like missions that can be played either solo or with up to 2 additional players. It’s the hardest piece of content for challenging your knowledge of the game and the gear you’ve collected so far.

I spent a good amount of time with Expeditions and it was a blast to play even after multiple runs, as there’s a good amount of loot to thrive for in order to further improve your chosen build. The faster you do an expedition, the better the rewards, as they are all time-based and designed with groups in mind. The game’s crafting system, which worked surprisingly well in the campaign, shines even more during endgame as you can easily allocate the resources you’ve acquired to further improve or change your gear to a specific build.

Again, the experience is hampered by technical issues, as Expeditions was plagued with game crashes and freezes, discouraging me at times, as each expedition can take anywhere from 6 to 15 minutes a run. The campaign was smooth with no disruptive crashes, but the moment I started hunting for endgame gear, issues became surprisingly frequent. Matchmaking bugs remained persistent as well. Cross-play is available in Outriders, but the matchmaking was so broken during my time with the game that the developers turned off the feature for now. Hopefully they get things in order sooner rather than later. 

All the issues are a bummer, especially since Outriders doesn’t feature any type of offline mode or offline co-op mode. You are required to always be online, even if you are planning on playing solo. Despite these issues, I still had a blast, and it’ll only get better from here once the folks at People Can Fly can get their online services in check in order to properly provide cross-play and a solid connection between any player in their servers. 

Outriders is a big success as it has a solid gameplay loop with enough depth to keep you playing for hours on end. The powers are satisfying, and the rewards as you play make you feel like you're progressing to your personal goals. If you love looter shooters, you’ll appreciate your time in Enoch, and it will be fun to play with friends once online is stable.

It’s a complete game straight out of the box; Outriders doesn’t feel like another one of those live service games - you know the type - where you’re encouraged to go online and do dailies, weeklies, and pretty much not miss out on limited-time rewards. It’s very refreshing, as I didn’t feel the need to question what’s next for Outriders; while I can walk away from the experience happy I’ve accomplished all I set out to do, I can easily see myself revisiting this game again in the future with another character to repeat the process all over again.

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8/10

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Highlights

(+) Repetitive but polished third-person shooting that remains satisfying and fun

(+) Solid itemization and customization that adds depth to character progression thanks to the mods system

(+) Satisfying abilities and unique classes

(-) Horrible online matchmaking and constant crashes and freezing during endgame content. Best to check if services are patched and improved if online is what you are looking for. 

(+/-) Outriders requires you to be online always in order to play the game

What I’ve Played

• Finished the campaign and all side quests

• Reach Tier 11 in endgame expeditions

• Reached World Tier 15 during the campaign

• Tried all 4 classes. I primarily played Pyromancer

[This review is based on a PS5 review code provided by Bandai Namco.]

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