Let’s do a deep dive into Outriders, a co-op, action RPG/shooter published by Square Enix. It releases on February 2nd, 2021 on just about every major platform. Even more impressive, you’ll be able to play with anyone on any of those platforms because the game will have full cross-play support.
One important thing to note is that Outriders is not a live service game, and a lot people are comparing it to games like Destiny which is. Outriders, therefore, will not have micro-transactions; the game is a complete package. If the developers like the reception, they will continue building on the game with future expansions.
Character Customization
Character customization is limited, as there are only a few options to choose from. Nothing much but enough to give a little variation. If you ever want to change your character’s look, you can do that anytime. Once you’ve designed your character, you’ll be given one of four classes to choose from.
Devastator: A beefy, tank-like class that focuses heavily on melee attacks, bleeds, and with a cool ability to manipulate the earth. If you pick this class, you’ll be able to do cool things like coat your body in rock-armor, stop bullets in mid-air with a shield, and impale enemies on spikes. Brutal.
Technomancer: This is a well-rounded support class that focuses on summons, decay damage, crowd control, and long-range attacks. You’ll also be able to materialize weapons from mid-air, which is a pretty cool trick. You can summon missile launches, gatling guns, and turrets. Did we mention that it’s also the only healer in the game?
Trickster: The Trickster is a light-weight, agile class that focuses on teleports, melee attacks, and anomaly damage. Teleport across the battlefield, place traps, use your melee attacks, and make your enemies explode. It’s a fun class, no doubt.
Pyromancer: A class that focuses on mid-range attacks, igniting enemies, and knock-backs. Life-drain enemies, place thermal bombs to destroy groups, and launch a massive fire-beam that burns anything it touches. How cool is that?
Skills
Each class comes with eight skills to choose from which unlock as you level up. You can choose up to three of these at any one time to suit your play-style. The skills are pretty balanced in each class, with damage, defense, and utility being the three main skills.
Also, try not to put all your skills in the offense/damage side of things, as you can’t just blast your way through everything. Having some defense and/or utility is important and effective.
Story and Quests
With respect to story, looter shooters are generally not at the top of the list for deep and engaging narratives, so to speak. This game, unlike most in this genre, seems to have a decent story. It is not just a bunch of unrelated things cobbled together to keep you interested until the end game. You may even find yourself flipping through the Codex to learn more about the creatures/story and the game as a whole.
Essentially, humanity has fled earth for some unknown reason(s) and has landed on Enoch, a planet with carnivorous beasts. There are multiple zones that vary in size, setting, and are not linear. Paths leading off to other side areas to explore are a thing. Main quests and side quests galore – awesome!
Bounties and Hunts
You can pick these up from Wanted posters or you can pick them up from NPCs in town. They are also retroactive, so if you finish a bounty in the wild, you can still turn them in. Hunts are especially cool, as they generally revolve around killing legendary monsters on Enoch to bring their head back as a trophy and a reward.