Outriders (PC) Review

In - one more - dystopian future, the inhabitants of Earth have arrived on a planet called Enoch, where they attempt to rebuild society. Outriders (your guys/gals), are the ones who are tasked with that, but, as expected, alien-feces hit the fan, and things go terribly wrong, destroying all technology, while also giving you superhero-like powers, which will be helpful on the road to saving humanity, which, of course, involves fighting with other people, as well as the planet's dangerous wildlife. Those who like their games having a good story, however, should probably stay away.

The plot and presentation of Outriders is just passable; basically a b-movie sci-fi tale that lacks that special b-movie charm. At its worse, it's a boring grim-dark world filled with edgy nihilists (not the cool kind). At its best, it's a forgettable 'ok,' with a neat, but at the same time bland look. In the end, this isn't something that will win players over with its concept, atmosphere, or writing. This is all about the action. Is the action any good, though? Yes. Is this full-priced adventure worth the price of admission, though? Yes again, as long as you can stomach almost 15 hours of plain 'ol boredom.

First things first: don't try this solo. It's playable and all, but it will feel incredibly less balanced when you play it without two of your buddies sharing the agro. Secondly, skip all cut-scenes, and rush towards the finale. The 10-something-hour campaign is just a long, boring marathon of repetition; A shallow looter-shooter experience that tries very hard to be like a mix of Destiny and Gears of War, but ends up making those two stand out even more. The only reason to play Outriders is the end game, where you are finally free to experiment with your class builds and equipment.

Expeditions is a rotating pool of missions, with lots of additional difficulty modes that can be unlocked. Rewards are much better here, and the challenge forces players to finally use everything they have on their hands, with the combat loop finally feeling like DOOM's (less exciting and graceful) brother from another mother. Fun as these are, though, there's no real progression here. The crafted Outrider basically unlocks harder versions of the same freaking missions, something that definitely isn't the best incentive one can find. At least is the whole thing fun?

The short answer? Yes. The various classes are interesting, to say the least, the battles are enjoyable and power fantasy-y enough, and experimenting with builds, loot, and equipment is fun. The less short answer? Yes… but. Movement isn't Outriders's biggest strength, as it feels a bit more "clunky" than it should for a game where you are controlling demi-gods, with the cover mechanics in particular being somewhat unresponsive. Even more disappointing is how this makes you feel as if you are glued to the ground, with every single arena being a boring, waist-high battleground.

Outriders is also painfully repetitive, with every level basically having characters moving from simplistic A, to forgettable B, killing stuff while doing so. The extensive skill trees don't help much either, as they mostly consist of tiny passive boosts, like '+3% ranged damage' and stuff like that, which obviously don't spice things up, something that can also be said about the loot, with players throwing/dismantling their weapons every 10 minutes or so, just because a slightly better replacement will be found.

Having said that, the actual process of dealing with loot can be quite addicting, even if you only do it just to increase your DPM, and have a chance to kill the increasingly more bullet-spongy enemies. The most common tactic here is to dismantle equipment for crafting resources, and especially mods. Those who don't like fiddling with crafting and so on, and are just thirty for some action, should better stay away, however. Resource management is a crucial part of Outriders, especially when it comes to the Expeditions, where you need to milk every additional point of damage or armour.

It has been said once, let it be said once more. This isn't a single player shooter. Solo play is available, but, apart from not being as enjoyable, you are not allowed to pause the game, which is basically the subtle way with which Outriders tells you to find some friends. Even worse? This requires a completely stable connection to be played, whether solo or not, and that just wasn't possible in the game's first days. Things aren't as bad right now, but still you need to be prepared for a couple of server issues, and some pretty spotty cross-play.

Sadly, there are more flaws here. From bugs like floating models, disappearing sound effects, and all sort of glitches, this is far from a well-polished product, which is a shame, because the actual gameplay portion of it isn't as rough around the edges. This is a big deal, of course, because this isn't 'Tiny Indie Game #2739,' but a full-priced piece of software… which in all honesty, was never that great to begin with. At its best, Outriders is just ok; a pale imitation of its inspirations, which will probably make you play them instead.