The Outlook on Outriders

Could it finally be happening? An RPG, drop-in/out, looter shooter that is actually living up to expectations? It feels like a millennium since Destiny and Anthem rolled around to shake up the gaming world, some doing a little better than others. Take that at surface level. After playing both of them I wasn’t very hopeful when I started looking into the Insider test for Outriders. Especially when I made my character a total of nine times and it never even let me into the prologue, but we can brush that disdain under the rug for now. With the demo hitting platforms at full force we all settled in, picked up the regular Destiny-style fireteam, and hopped into the game not expecting much to come of it. That’s right about the point where I ate all my concerns.

One of the biggest impressions a game can set is within the first five or ten minutes. Not only should it set the storyline and imbue players with a sense of hope, but it also drives a nail into the coffin for tone. Outriders did this with almost perfect execution, for multiple reasons. They start you off slow, giving you an intro scroll that lays down everything that has happened in the universe within the last couple of decades. That slow roll doesn’t last for very long, thankfully too because if it had taken a Monster Hunter story route we wouldn’t be having this discussion. You get thrown into this new and unfamiliar world without the fallback of immortality or power armor that keeps you safe and flying sky high. It draws you into a cautionary and immersive world, full of strange creatures, characters that actually have well-rounded personalities, and a mysterious story that leaves you wondering what your purpose is.

Once you power through the prologue and get a better definition of the darker story tones, they really don’t hold anything back. Excuse the fangirling, but I absolutely love a story that will shoulder charge you through a wall and straight into a post-apocalyptic world full of grit, evil and the seriously screwed up side of desperate humans trying to survive. That’s exactly what this game does, and for the first time in a very long time, I was pleasantly surprised by the unapologetic imagery. We had gone in expecting another attempt at Destiny or Anthem, but we had been handed something new and interesting, and it was a breath of fresh air. Well, once you got past the corpses. Going through No Man’s Land settled you into an exciteful and surprising arc, finally learning what your character’s potential purpose was had a real sense of impact. Not only were you a legendary Outrider, but now you were this strange and altered version of humanity.

That brings me to my next level of praise: superhuman abilities that don’t feel god-like as soon as you get them. I went down the Trickster path because at a surface level it reminded me of Bladedancer from Destiny and, simply put, I’m just weak for teleportation with ghost knives. Thankfully they start you off slow, meaning you aren’t handed the entire catalog of what your skills can develop into, so it leaves you with all the curiosity you need to keep leveling that skill tree up. On top of that, even with abilities, it doesn’t allow you to wipe out enemies and entire battlefields like the A.I. is made of paper and play-doh. Sure you can bounce around the arenas and lay down some serious damage, but the game still pushes you to use its covered combat style and actually make use of your weapons. The abilities feel more like a good backup plan rather than a first strike maneuver, which is a nice change of pace. You can only feel like an unstoppable god in so many games before it starts to lose its tact.

The brilliance of this game is that it seems to understand where others had gone wrong in their respective fields. Each loot drop felt refreshing, exciting, and more powerful than the last. Abilities were familiar but still held onto the originality they needed to propel your motivation into the next upgrade. The story was blindsiding and dark, far less reserved than Outrider’s predecessors, it brought a powerful tone and didn’t let up. Enemies were powerful and felt like a real fight, but they weren’t absolutely demolishing, and they didn’t hide behind immunity shields on the off chance you could lay down serious damage. Then you get hit with a boss fight that lives up to its name. Not only is it challenging, but it requires you to change how you fight and recover from your mistakes, at no point does it become boring, and I look forward to more in the future of the game.

As much as I would love to write half a novel based on this demo, I’d just as much like for everyone to try their own hand at it and experience this new world for themselves. Seriously, I haven’t bought a new game in a really long time, and this game is going to finally break that streak. Most things I come across get held up against the storylines in games like Halo 3 or the original Modern Warfare series and this one passes all the requirements for a promising story and endgame. It manages to remain just as refreshing as it is interesting and that’s just in its beta stage, which can’t be said for a large amount of newer titles. People Can Fly and Square Enix have outdone themselves here, going above and beyond with their insight into what makes or breaks the usual RPG shooter. Seriously go play this game while you have the chance, maybe I’ll see some of you when it releases on April 1^st. I will definitely be out in No Man’s Land hunting down some sweet new loot.