Outriders

Release Date: April 1, 2021

Developer: People Can Fly

Publisher: Square Enix

Genres: Action role-playing, Action-adventure, Third-person shooter

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Google Stadia

My Platform: PlayStation 5

Difficulty Levels: Story/Madness(deep dive in blog)

My Level: Expert/Master

Game Difficulty: 4/10

Game Rating: 6/10

Time To Beat: 30hrs

Time To Platinum: 58hrs

Another game, another blog. It is time for 'Outriders". A smooth and fast paced game I actually enjoyed. You are an Outrider. The last hope of the human race. Trapped on 'Enoch', a dangerous and untamed planet. Where you have to fight all different kind of species and help other survivors. The campaign can be played solo, or in co-op with up to 3 players. The story is quite interesting. Especially when you talk to all the creatures you meet running through the world and find on your base camps. Along the way you meet people who join your team. Together you are looking for answers, and hopefully find a way to save everyone. Even though you have a team, you play the missions solo. Unless you go for co-op of course. 

My first experience with this game was playing the demo. Which by the way is still available. A great way to get a glimpse of the game. And make a better decision, if you want to spend your money on it. I think more publishers should do this. Especially with the prices of games now a days.

Everything you unlock, find, buy and earn in the demo, carries over to the main game. If you do everything that is possible in the demo. You will unlock a couple of trophies, as soon as you start your game.

I got 'Outriders' on release, but it was definitely a rough start. Technically wise, because this is a server-based game. Which means, you always have to be online/connected to the games server, to play. And the first 2 days it was horrendous. It is what you can expect with a brand new game, but it's not something that you want to see happen. During the day, I am in Europe, I could play for hours without any problems. But in the evening, I couldn't connect to their server. No matter how long I waited, no matter how many times I tried. Which was very frustrating. When you get a new game, you want to play it. After those 2 days, it was all fixed and I never ran in to any problems after that. 

If you play and complete the demo first. The main game will give you the option to skip the prologue, and just continue where you left off. Which also means, you already have your class picked and won't be able to change it. If you decide to start from scratch, you get the chance to mix it up. Once you made your choice, there is no turning back. At least, not until you start a new game.

There are four classes to pick from and they are the following:

• Technomancer; long range, support, uses gadgets
• Pyromancer; medium range, conjurer, uses fire
• Trickster; close range, hit and run, manipulates spacetime
• Devastator; close range, tank, allows you to stand your ground

I went for Pyromancer, because why not? I like fire and medium range weapons, are definitely my style. Although, I won't say no to a good sniper. To be clear, just because your class has a specific range. You can still use every weapon in the game you find. Every class has their own special skills. Which you will unlock by gaining xp. There are also plenty of accolades to unlock. If you are a completionist and want to go for the platinum. I advise you to check the status of your accolades regularly. That will save you a lot of grind time in the end. The game also has free roam after the story. So you can keep replaying missions, find those last collectibles, or try out some different tiers.

While you are fighting your way through the game, finding collectibles and doing main/side missions. You gain xp, level up and climb the ladder of world tiers. This is an interesting part of the game. The world tiers equal the difficulty on what you play. There are 15 in total, and they are the following:

1. Story
2. Easy
3. Normal
4. Hard
5. Expert
6. Master
7. Legend
8. Immortal
9. frantic
10. Impossible
11. Inferno
12. Torment
13. Nightmare
14. Insanity
15. Madness

In the beginning you don't really notice the difficulty going up. But once you hit level 4, it might be time to change up your game a bit. The higher the tier, the tougher the enemies, but the better the rewards. Every tier has their own perks. From better loot, legendary drop rate modifier bonuses to getting a legendary weapon. For those weapons to drop in the game, you need to play on quite a high tier. I mainly played on level 5 and 6, and didn't find any legendary weapons by looting. I did unlock a decent amount of them, by completing certain missions. 

You can set the game to automatically jump to the highest available tier. If you find that the game is getting to hard, you can lower it yourself. You can switch between the unlocked tiers as often as you like. Which made the tiers an interesting factor for me. Because you can challenge yourself throughout the whole game. Are you willing to push yourself a bit harder, to benefit from the better perks? It's all up to you.

The story has a good flow and you can play the game how you want. You can smash out mission after mission. Or switch it up with some side stuff, collectible hunting, spending time fixing your gear or interacting with the people you meet in the world. It's actual a smart move to spend time fixing your weapons. During the story you unlock a mountain of mods, for all your gear. Combine the right mod with the right weapon, and you will be unstoppable. Just find the right combo that works for you.

After the main story, it is not over yet, you unlock the Expeditions. That is the challenge mode of this game. The perfect place to test yourself, your equipment and skills against the toughest enemies of Enoch.

There are 14 different Expeditions. Some are available right from the start. For the rest you have to fight. For completing an Expedition, you get Pod Resources. This is the currency in the post-campaign section of the game. And you can use them in the in-game shop for items and other resources. 

When you finish an Expedition, you also get a whole lot of loot. It doesn't just drop of the enemies, like in the campaign. For this, time is key. The quicker you finish an Expedition and how higher your tier, the better the loot.

Of course you start the Expeditions on a low tier. Which are different once than the ladder in the main game. You only gain a new tier, when you complete an Expedition on the highest one you have unlocked. Doing this solo is absolutely possible, it will just be a longer and tougher grind. If you want to team up, you can use the matchmaking option that is also available in your new base camp. 

The one downfall with the Expeditions is, that there is no in-game chat. So if you use the matchmaking option, be prepared for no comms. And keep your fingers crossed that your team mates are really team players.

This game was better than I thought. Although the story itself is not that spectacular. So if you are expecting something really awesome, you will be disappointed. If you are a story based gamer and that is your main focus, you might want to hold off with buying this game as long as it is full price. And wait for a nice discount. 

But all in all it's not bad. I liked it and the pace of the game makes up for it. It is a good run solo or with a team. Go with the class that fits your play style the best. And just enjoy the ride! 

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Game on and I'll catch you on the flipside!