Outriders review: Turning a page for looter-shooters

Our Verdict

Outriders takes what previous looter-shooters have done well and adds its own RPG flair. The event is a game with a proficient story, fun gunplay and a staggering amount of build diversity.

For

• Fun gameplay
• Interesting story
• Plenty of build multifariousness
• Cross-platform co-op

Against

• Ever-online requirement
• Not well-balanced for solo play

Tom's Guide Verdict

Outriders takes what previous looter-shooters accept done well and adds its ain RPG flair. The result is a game with a expert story, fun gunplay and a staggering corporeality of build variety.

Pros

• +

  Fun gameplay

• +

  Interesting story

• +

  Enough of build diversity

• +

  Cross-platform co-op

Cons

• -

  Ever-online requirement

• -

  Not well-balanced for solo play

Outriders is a timely add-on to the looter-shooter catechism. E'er since Borderlands, we've seen many a new game effort to go the new king of the genre. Some have succeeded, only after much effort, such as Destiny two and The Division 2. Others have failed. There seems to be a curse on the genre.

And then Outriders came along. It balked at the thought of a live service model. Instead it claimed to offer a cohesive single-role player experience with RPG mechanics, plenty of loot and an endgame to proceed people interested. It even allows for co-op with up to two other people.

Outriders impressed me where the likes of Anthem and Godfall did not. It gets the gameplay elements right. The story is expert, and the game showers you lot with loot. More chiefly, all that loot is worth collecting. The game overall seems to break free of the looter-shooter curse, fifty-fifty though it does stumble in spots.

Read on for our full review of Outriders.

Outriders review: Gameplay

Outriders is a third-person encompass-based shooter with RPG mechanics. You create a graphic symbol known as an Outrider, and choose from one of four classes during the prologue. Each course has three different skill trees that you tin can mix and lucifer to create an Outrider that fits your playstyle. Each class has unique abilities, strengths and healing mechanics, so choose wisely.

(Image credit: People Tin Fly)

When I played the Outriders demo a little while agone, I drew comparisons to Destiny, Gears of State of war and The Division. Outriders blends all of those gameplay styles together into something new. It tries to exist a jack of all trades and a main of none, which works relatively well. The game consists of different areas on the world map, with diverse local zones in which you complete quests. You'll fight in a serial of shooting galleries, complete with an affluence of enemies. It admittedly starts to feel repetitive after a while, with the same enemy types (with unlike skins) over and over.

Like other looter-shooters, you can play Outriders with friends or strangers, teaming upward confronting the hordes of enemies. You can, of class, also play solo — nonetheless, solo play tin can be quite challenging at higher difficulty levels. The game operates on World Tiers: levels that you rank up to increase difficulty while improving loot drops. Outriders defaults to using the highest Globe Tier available.

(Image credit: People Can Fly)

At college difficulties, fifty-fifty the most bones enemies can hands kill yous. Their aim is on point, cross-mapping you lot with an assail rifle at total force. You'll as well have tank and melee enemies that rush you, snipers that always know where you are and uncannily well-thrown grenades to flush you out of cover. Mini-bosses absorb your bullets like sponges, and your supposedly god-tier powers feel underwhelming in the face of what they can practise. Dominate fights are more than often than not a state of war of attrition, making for artificial challenges.

Outriders can exist a lot of fun, with enough of rewards. But information technology can also frustrate you to no terminate. If y'all're anything similar me, y'all'll pass up to lower the Earth Tier, instead throwing yourself into battle over and over, trying new strategies each time. On one manus, I enjoy this, but that enjoyment and thrill tends to wear off in the face of the next challenging boxing. This bittersweet cycle continues for the unabridged game.

Outriders review: Story and setting

Outriders takes place on the planet of Enoch, humanity's last hope of survival subsequently life on World crumbles. Y'all play every bit an Outrider, a vanguard meant to constitute the commencement bases on Enoch. After landing, nonetheless, things go awry and you meet what people later call the Anomaly. This electro-magnetic storm kills people instantly, destroys electronics and causes sure doom. In a strange twist of fate, the tempest spares yous.

(Image credit: People Can Fly)

You lot become an Altered, gifted with god-like powers. You then engage in the brutal conflict between 2 rival factions as yous pursue your own goals.

Outriders' story isn't groundbreaking, just it's quite serviceable. I enjoyed the lore and exploring Enoch — there'south a lot to meet and plenty of side-quests to add personality to a drab earth. I remember one quest where y'all're sent to find a adult female who had been carried off by another Altered. You come to find them subsequently, arguing. I found information technology agreeable.

A lot of what you lot do in the main quest feels mundane, but the promise of more backstory, data almost the disharmonize and loot kept me going. The dialogue isn't the best — it's downright awkward at points — simply it gets you from Bespeak A to Point B well enough.

Outriders review: Visuals and sound

Outriders looks alright on PC, but the port seems unoptimized. I played on an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 1440p with DLSS on. I experienced noticeable glitching, stuttering and frame drops, even with unlike graphical and DLSS settings.

Audio is also decent, although it's nothing spectacular. I can hardly call up much of the music score other than the main menu theme. Some sound effects in-game are bang-up, like heavy footfalls, shield damage and power activations. Others audio less than stellar, like gunfire. Some guns audio similar toys and lack a sense of weight.

(Image credit: Square Enix)

My colleague Marshall Honorof played the game on PS5 and noted that it looks fine. He noticed consistent frame rates (more than I tin can say for the PC version), though zilch else stood out to him. Outriders adopts a very drab color palette, opting for greys and browns over vivid colors in armor and vegetation.

Outriders won't win awards for exemplifying "side by side-gen" visuals, just it looks pretty good.

Outriders review: Verdict

Outriders excels at many things, though its always-online requirement holds it back. I lost a meaning amount of my review time to server issues, even though I played solo. I know the sign-in menu theme music very well at this bespeak. The development studio backside Outriders, People Can Fly, has been quite transparent on Twitter regarding server status and planned fixes, specially for known bugs.

(Image credit: People Can Wing)

This game has a solid foundation and I really enjoy information technology when it works right. The e'er-online requirement is a huge downer for a single-thespian game, though. Outriders' launch woes go to show why such an approach remains unnecessary. The game should have an online component merely for the multiplayer features — this isn't a live service experience. The online woes soured my enjoyment of the game, especially when I'd get kicked from it in the middle of a mission or boss fight.

All that said, Outriders is a great looter-shooter. Information technology won't unseat Destiny 2, but I don't think it means to. The game stands on its own merits and earns its place, rather than trying to copy something else. Yes, you can come across the influences (especially in the loot colour scheme and cover organization), but every bit I said earlier, Outriders is a jack of all trades. People Tin can Fly can address virtually of its faults, but the game does what it needs to do. Information technology breaks the looter-shooter curse.

Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all things phone-related. He's written about phones for over five years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his abode with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Hashemite kingdom of jordan tends to lurk on social media, just y'all can all-time reach him on Twitter.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/outriders

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