Outriders is a 1-3 player, cross-platform, class-based, third-person sci-fi and fantasy action rpg PVE looter shooter. It eschews many of the looter-shooter genre's conventions by being content-complete day 1 and focusing on up-close and fast paced power-fantasy combat instead of methodical cover-to-cover shooting. It's more 3rd person Doom Eternal with a Diablo loot and grinding mentality, and less Gears of War with loot or Division with powers. Borderlands, not Destiny. It's got some b-movie, cult classic vibes and isn't ultra-polished.
Developer: People Can Fly Publisher: Square Enix Platform: PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Google Stadia. Release Date: April 1st, 2021 Genre: Looter Shooter (NOT A Cover Shooter, NOT A Games As A Service) Player(s): 1-3. Cross-play but no cross-progression or cross-play chat. Details: 25-35hr Campaign. Free Demo available with progression carrying over to full game. No Micro-transactions. Price: £60 or free with Xbox Game Pass (not PC). Pre-Load Sizes: Xbox Series X/S: 47.82GB, Xbox One 60.87GB | PS5: 46.16GB, PS4 67.15GB Resolution/Framerate: PC: 4k / 60fps. Xbox Series X: 4k / 60fps. Xbox Series S: 4k / 60fps (but Digital Foundry suggests, at least in the demo, it's dynamic resolution from 900 to 1440p). Xbox One X: 4k / 30fps. Xbox one: 1080p / 30fps. PS5: 4k / 60fps. PS4 Pro: 4k / 30fps. PS4: 1080p / 30fps. PC System Requirements: https://i.imgur.com/x8GY406.png
Players will choose from one of four classes: Trickster, Pyromancer, Technomancer and Devastator. From my experience, they are all really fun, and despite some being classified as mid or long-range, they are all actually very aggressive and close combat compared to most looter shooters. Players are given 6 save slots to try out each class, and will be able to skip the prologue after completing it once. Your characters share a common stash, allowing you to transfer gear between them, though it appears resources and unlocked mods are character-specific. Each class has 3 end of skill tree variants, if you were to go all-in on either weapon damage, anomaly power or defence, but it doesn't appear making it to the end of the tree unlocks any bonuses beyond the individual skills chosen to get to that point.
Close-range class focusing on time & space bending abilities
Melee: Deals damage and inflicts slow. Healing Method: Close-range kills heal 20% of maximum health and generates 12% shield. Class Traits: Additional 5% health, shield generates additional 5% damage mitigation Abilities: Over the course of the game, players will unlock 8 class skills, of which they can equip 3 at any given time.
Temporal Blade: DAMAGE, INTERRUPT. Paralyze and slice enemies in front of you, dealing damage and inflicting Slow and Interrupt to all targets. Instant. 20s CD. Slow Trap: DECEPTION. Create a spacetime Anomaly that inflicts Slow onto enemies and projectiles for 10 seconds. Instant. 30s CD. Hunt the Prey: MOVEMENT. Select an enemy and teleport behind them and receive a shield bonus. Instant. 10s CD. Twisted Rounds: DAMAGE. Fill your weapon's magazine with Anomaly-infused bullets that deal significantly more damage to enemies. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons. Instant. 20s CD. Cyclone Slice: DAMAGE, INTERRUPT. Create a whirlwind of Anomaly blades that deal damage and Interrupt onto enemies within a small radius of you with every hit. The skill lasts for 5 seconds. Borrowed Time: MOVEMENT. Receive a shield and mark your location for 28 seconds. Triggering the skill again will bend spacetime and teleport you back to the marked spot. Instant. 13s CD. Venator's Knife: DECEPTION. Throw a temporal knife at an enemy. The blade will ricochet between a maximum of 5 enemies within a small radius, dealing damage and marking them. All marked targets will be inflicted with Slow and for 10 seconds the first damage dealt by you will be doubled. Instant. 10s CD. Time Rift: DECEPTION, INTERRUPT. Create a shockwave that suspends enemies in the air leaving them unable to fight for 3.5 seconds and inflicts Weakness. Instant. 10s CD.
Melee: Deals damage, marks enemy, inflicts burn. Healing Method: Killing an enemy marked by a skill or melee heals 24% of maximum health. Class Traits: Additional 10% anomaly power. Abilities: Over the course of the game, players will unlock 8 class skills, of which they can equip 3 at any given time.
Heatwave: IGNITE. Summon a fiery wave that deals damage and inflicts Burn to all enemies in its path. 13s CD. Feed the Flames: IMMOBILIZE. Pull an enemy toward you, dealing damage, draining Health, and inflicting Ash. 17s CD. Thermal Bomb: EXPLOSIVE, INTERRUPT. Select an enemy to Burn, Interrupt and deal damage to. If killed while still afflicted by the skill, the enemy will explode, dealing damage in a large radius. 14s CD. Overheat: EXPLOSIVE, INTERRUPT. Deals a little damage to all enemies in a large radius and Interrupt their skills. Enemies afflicted with Burn receive additional damage and the Burn will be consumed. 22s CD. Volcanic Rounds: IGNITE. Fill your current weapon's magazine with Anomaly-infused bullets that will inflict Burn within a small radius and pierce targets, damaging enemies behind them. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons. Ash Blast: IMMOBILIZE. Create an Anomaly blast to inflict Ash on all enemies in a large radius around you. F.A.S.E.R Beam: IGNITE, INTERRUPT. Fire an energy beam that deals damage that benefits from 125% of Status Power, inflicting Burn and causing Interrupt. Eruption: UNKNOWN. Create a volcanic eruption beneath the selected enemy, dealing damage to them, and all enemies within a small radius around the target.
Longer-range support class focusing on technology and increased healing ability.
Melee: Deal damage and inflict freeze. Healing Method: Recovers a portion of damage health through weapons and skills. Class Traits: Increased long-range weapon damage, weapon and skill leech by 15%. Abilities: Over the course of the game, players will unlock 8 class skills, of which they can equip 3 at any given time.
Scrapnel: ORDINANCE, INTERRUPT. Throw a proximity device. The explosion deals damage and Interrupts the skills of enemies caught within the blast radius. Cryo Turret: GADGET, TURRET. Place an automated turret that deals damage and inflicts Freezeonto enemies. The turret's health depletes slowly over time and when it takes damage. Pain Launcher: ORDINANCE, INTERRUPT. Place a missile launcher and bomb the area in front of you. Each missile deals damage per hit and Interrupts enemy skills. Blighted Rounds: DECAY. Fill your current weapon's magazine with decay-infused bullets that inflict Toxic onto enemies. Enemies within a small radius of the main target also receive Toxic and 50% of the damage. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons. Tool Of Destruction: ORDINANCE, INTERRUPT. Conjure a Rocket Launcher that can Interrupt enemies or a Minigun that deals damage per shot. The skill will remain active until all ammo is depleted or until you switch weapons. Fixing Wave: GADGET, HEAL. Release your energy to restore 33% of Health to all players and 50% of Health to your turrets regardless of distance. Cold Snap: GADGET. Drop a gadget to inflict Freeze onto all enemies within a large radius around you. Blighted Turret: DECAY. Place an automated turret that deals damage and inflicts Toxic onto enemies. The turret's health depletes slowly over time and when it takes damage.
Close-range class tank class that focuses on hilarious bullet reflects and bleed.
Melee: Deal damage and inflict bleed. Healing Method: Close-range kills heal 24% of maximum health. Class Traits: Additional 15% maximum health, additional 30% armor. Abilities: Over the course of the game, players will unlock 8 class skills, of which they can equip 3 at any given time.
Earthquake: SEISMIC, INTERRUPT. Release a shockwave to deal damage and Interrupt all enemies in front of you. 14s CD. Golem: PROTECTION. Fortify yourself against 65% of incoming damage for 8 seconds. 26s CD. Gravity Leap: KINETIC, INTERRUPT. Leap into the air and strike your targets from above, dealing damage and Interrupting enemies within a small radius of the area you land in. 20s CD. Reflect Bullets: PROTECTION. Create a barrier that captures all enemy projectiles and accumulates damage. After 10 seconds of triggering the skill, the accumulated damage is reflected back to enemies in front of you. The barrier also protects against melee attacks by reflecting some damage back. 22s CD. Impale: SEISMIC, INTERRUPT. Select a target to Interrupt their skills, inflict Bleed, and deal damage. If the damage is lethal, the enemy will be impaled, creating a zone that grants a powerful bonus to Armor and Health regeneration to all allies in range for 9 seconds. Tremor: SEISMIC. Create a series of explosions around you, each dealing damage and draining Health from enemies within a medium radius around you. Boulderdash: KINETIC, INTERRUPT. Charge forward to Interrupt all enemies in your path and deal damage. At the end of the charge, you will smash the ground and deal damage to all enemies in a small radius around you. Endless Mass: KINETIC. Encase a target in stone, inflicting Bleed and pulling enemies within a small radius towards the initial target. The stone will then explode, dealing damage to all enemies within a small radius around the target.
Good stuff. I was going to create a thread if nobody else did. I played a bit of the demo and liked it a lot. I’ll be starting from scratch, though, as I didn’t have much progress to carry across.
I’ve tried getting into Destiny 2, but it feels entirely focused on existing veterans (which is understandable, I guess). It’ll be good to get in at the group floor with this, without having to navigate a mess of add-ons and seasons.
You should all be warned that my endorsement of this game is as good as a death sentence, following my past history with Battleborn and Anthem. I seem to back losers.
It seems like there are different versions of the game maybe The one on Gamepass has reappeared at 61gb, but there’s a ‘standard edition’ in the store that’s approximately 83.9. So if that’s the standard edition, what’s this Gamepass effort, a watered down version or what?
I've downloaded it and I'll give it a go but not excited or anything. I mean, if it's GaaS then Destiny 2 is a better bet and if its a cover based shooter well, I've still got Gears 5 Hivebusters to finish and both look infinitely better than this in the visuals department.
Having so much fun with this. Glad to see it seems to be doing really good numbers too.
The demo was fantastic too, struggled to decide between Technomancer and Pyro. My love for Earth Defense Force made me side with the turret Technomancer