Outriders Review

Outriders

Release: April 1, 2021
Publisher: Square Enix - People Can Fly - M
Developer:
Genre: PS5 ReviewsXbox Series X Reviews
PEGI:
Comments:

 

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Outriders is a 1-3 player co-op RPG shooter set in an original, dark, sci-fi universe.

On Google Stadia (Updated June 2021)

We recently took Outriders for a spin on Google Stadia, and were once again impressed with the quality of game streaming via Google’s cloud based system. The game was loading instantly, and games like Outriders have dozens upon dozens up updates that I never had to download. When loading the game on Xbox, it took me a number of hours to get the game downloaded, with all the extras. On Stadia, I was roaming the world of Outriders in seconds thanks to the streaming service.

Stadia has taken a lot of wacks in the media in 2021, but the system works so well. Naysayers will argue that you need a stellar Internet connection in order to play. That is false. With 40 mb/s down, I can easily stream anything on Google Stadia, even Outriders. And for about $50 for that Internet package, its relatively inexpensive. Add the ability to legit play anywhere without the need for a console, and you’ve got a fantastic platform that just needs more love. So if you plan to pick up Outriders, pick it up on Google Stadia!

Back to our Review…

As mankind bleeds out in the trenches of Enoch, you’ll create your own Outrider and embark on a journey across the hostile planet. With rich storytelling spanning a diverse world, you’ll leave behind the slums and shantytowns of the First City and traverse forests, mountains, and desert in the pursuit of a mysterious signal.

Combining intense gunplay with violent powers and an arsenal of increasingly twisted weaponry and gear-sets, Outriders offers countless hours of gameplay.

Perhaps the most important decision you’ll make in playing the game is that of class. Each of the four unique classes offers you a separate skill tree that will define your own play style.

• Devastator – Close Range. Tank. Stand Your Ground. Take the point and defend your allies. Ground and foes alike will tremble as you pass.
• Pyromancer – Medium Range. Conjurer. Fire. Cover foes in flames, incinerate entire squads, and heal your own wounds as enemies fall to your inferno.
• Technomancer – Long range. Support. Gadgets.
• Trickster – Close Range. Hit & Run. Spacetime. Bend the laws of space & time to appear out of nowhere, assassinate your enemies, and return to safety in the blink of an eye.

Outriders is a blend of a few different gaming styles to me at first glance. Combat feels to me a lot like Gears of War meets Destiny if that makes any sense to all of you. Cover can come into play and there are definitely times where you are overwhelmed by a massive horde of enemies, but with the abilities and powers of the characters of Destiny.

Visually the game is decent enough to look at, but a lot of the environments are bland and can feel one-dimensional, but then again it is the apocalypse right? The game does run flawlessly with no frame rate issues, pop-ins, or texture issues. The game seems to be extremely sound from a technical aspect which is very good to see. Combat remains buttery smooth no matter what is going on screen. I was able to play a large portion of the game solo as well as a co-op with friends and got the same performance either way.

The game is basically driven by the various quests you encounter with a handful of side quests. Each area has places for you to save, upgrade gear, sell items so on and so forth. But basically, it’s run to a character be given a quest, and then get to that objective while mowing down hundreds of enemies along the way. The world-building in this game is interesting enough, with a decent story, however, the part I find hard to swallow is how animated and invested all of the other characters in the game seem to be, except for you. The main character is very nonchalant about waking up after all this time with godlike powers. Even when missions go wrong (and they do) they typically walk away with ok what do we do now. I like being invested in my heroes but I just couldn’t get that connection. As you go through your missions there is all sorts of loot being dropped left and right from guns to gear and everything in between. It’s very diablo with the loot grind, picking up tons of items that aren’t any better than what you have equipped so you have to decide to scrap them or sell them depending on what you want to do.

Some of the abilities in this game are one of the highlights for me, being able to teleport behind my enemies from yards away is a neat trick and helps level the playing field as the Trickster. The game can be tough in the later areas playing solo on the harder difficulties but this can definitely be enjoyed as a solo game. But the multiplayer is a lot more fun overall, when you get a group with abilities all over the screen it’s completely controlled chaos. The enemies due seem to end up more spongey in multiplayer but nothing you as the Altered can’t handle.

Outriders is a very interesting experiment and take on multiplayer gaming, while not a game as a service it would be interesting to see if they offer anything beyond the campaign down the line because there is nothing there to drive me to get better loot or return to the game outside of creating a new character of a different class. But it is a very FUN game to play with friends if nothing else really grabs you about it. Plus it was an excellent addition to Gamepass, which is definitely helping the player count I think a lot. I definitely think this is a great building block for future installments with this style of game.

Trailer