Outriders Review – Blood Rushing Anarchy

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: People Can Fly

Rating: Mature

Reviewed on: PC

Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One

Outriders is the new loot shooter from Square Enix and People Can Fly. It hits with similarities to what we have seen from the devs before, but this game really shines with its intriguing plot that gives us a tale that is a wild, gut wrenching ride.

Outriders was hit with some pretty heavy connections issues that prevented us from being able to do a co-op campaign, but to be clear, this was mostly because we could not get enough and when it came to friendship or playing more Outriders, Outriders won this time around. We ran an entire campaign through one build and plan on doing a co-op campaign featuring all 4 builds, but this is another key to the games success. Even after playing through the campaign and end game content, going back with another build completely changes the dynamic and gameplay giving you a whole new experience to enjoy. The replayability is a golden goose egg for this title and makes this game a must own with everything else it’s already delivering.

Outriders also combines to favorite genres, Shooters and RPG’s. Outriders unites these two genres into perfection, giving us the best of both worlds. I particularly enjoyed the third person cover combat. Very much like what I experienced during Gears of War or to go further back Kill Switch. The third person view really gives a whole new perspective to your surroundings, and man, is Outriders a game full of just beautiful surroundings. Not to mention this point of view let’s you enjoy the full scope of your character you spent a decent amount of time creating, and gives you a more RPG-esque experience as you watch your character in action from the back seat. The cover to cover combat style also provides you with a more tactful approach to combat, now, I may not be the best judge for this as I am a very chaotic in your face type of player, but I did make good use of the cover to cover action to give me a good vantage point before I completely lost my mind and emptied clips into the enemy.

The plot point is dark, a real sci-fi adventure that focuses on survival and working your way to becoming the baddest S.O.B. in the galaxy. If you played the demo and felt the story was a slow burn, trust me, after the first hour, the plot and game as a whole turn on the jet engines and puts all the momentum into overdrive with non-stop in-your-face action all the way to the end. It really resonates with the level of human survival and fighting for everything you have left to lose that you get from Mass Effect.

As we all may know from the demo, this all starts with the arrival on the planet Enoch, in an attempt to find salvation and a fresh start. As you can imagine, nothing ever works out as easy as it seems and it leads us to a series of events that unfolds the rest of the story of human survival and fast paced, in your face action that will test your will and means to survive. All this is balanced out with key moments that I felt were reasonably placed to give us a breather, both mentally and emotionally as we progressed forward, it was nice to have some moments to really let the nerves be put at ease and it was followed by humorous that we can always be sure to expect from People Can Fly.

The skill tree we are given gives us all the benefits of what we see in RPG’s with an easy to manage layout giving us three branches to work with in an attempt to perfectly set up our combat style the way that works best for us. You can go full speed ahead with focusing on your offensive branch or for the more strategic minds out there, you could also focus on defense or going full hybrid and finding that sweet spot that will make you the unstoppable machine that’s built to terrorize, again, the varying options and combinations is also in big part why the replayability of Outriders is so high. Whether you’re going full tank mode with the Devastator or full offense with the Pyromance to channeling your inner Loki with the Trickster class to eliminate your enemy in the guise of the God of Mischief.

The gear is also something that did not leave us wanting more. Like previous games who failed to provide gear that would measure up or differ enough to satisfy gamers as they grind and loot for the perfect pieces, Outriders gives us a varying ensemble of gear that have a meaningful impact, also, the devs have just announced that they are going to be providing players with a thank you gift to show their gratitude for the patience shown by the community while they worked on the server issues, one of which will be a legendary weapon. Goes to show that when devs remain open and communicative with their community during issues, it can really make the difference of whether they take up the pitchforks against you. Good on you Square Enix and People Can Fly, We salute you.

Outriders is the perfect game for any occasion. Want to blow off some steam really quick? Launch Outriders. Want to jump into a foul mouthed space adventure? Launch Outriders. Have homework and math is confusing? LAUNCH OUTRIDERS! Outriders will provide you with an immersive game that gives you a fun ride whether you are flying solo or with your favorite squad. The variety of classes and builds gives the game the replayability the size of a Balrog(sorry Gandalf) and if you enjoyed the mindless, relaxing looting of a game like Borderlands then Outriders might be a good fit for you as it can be enjoyed as a relaxing in your face destroy everything for a few hours and get some sweet gear, or you can bunker down, enjoy a hell of a space adventure, and bring a friend or 2 with you. The expectations were high on this one, and unlike other recent games whose torch did not shine as bright as we expected. Square Enix and People Can Fly have done us justice, and despite some launch day issues which who can blame them, this game is due to be around for a good, long time. Watch out Destiny, there’s a new space sheriff in town.