Review: OUTRIDERS Gives You Exactly What You Paid For

After weeks of shooting thousands of enemies, initial bugs being fixed, servers calming down, and thorough exploration of the game, it is finally time for a review. Outriders is an experience that floats between a few genres that does most things well enough to be fairly enjoyable, but it never excels in any one aspect.

The best way to assess all the different parts is to look briefly look at each major section: Loot, Abilities, Character Builds, Shooting, Story, End Game, and Online Capabilities. Because there are so many things here, this review will be straight and to the point on each of these things. Check out our other article for a broader look at the game and to see if it is for you.

Loot

The guns and armor in this game are basically just receptacles for mods. Yes, some of them have some good stats and some of them look cool, but I never got excited to receive a single piece of armor or weapon. With the power also growing as I leveled up to the level cap, there was almost no reason to keep or care about anything until the very end. It was fun to get new mods I didn’t have before, but the actual pieces didn’t matter that much. Even the rarest pieces of gear and armor sets weren’t all that different than their less rare counterparts other than their appearance.

Abilities

Each class’s abilities are surprisingly unique. From building turrets and slowing down time to putting an enemy on a pick and burning the area to the ground, the four classes do offer a lot of variety. Some abilities are much stronger than others, not in utility, but in raw damage which doesn’t feel all that great when you like certain, less effective builds or attacks. It is cool to mix abilities with other players and attacks, but I never felt a real sense of synergy between classes, making playing with a team more about having others as bullet sponges instead of planning epic attacks.

Character Builds

Between mods, abilities, and an “easy to re-assign” skill tree, customizing characters might be the best thing in this game. Players can make their abilities last twice as long, pump out loads more damage, or utilize them in unique ways with all of these mods and skill tree options. Mods on weapons and armor can produce some of the most potent customizations for builds. But spending materials on leveling up gear and re-modding things to keep your build and power level optimal through the whole game can be really ineffective. I’d recommend waiting till large boss fights, or every 5 or 6 levels to re-mod things or change things up to not waste too many upgrade materials you’ll want at the end of the game.

Shooting

This is a shooter game first and foremost. The abilities will and can be used about as much as guns sometimes, but you’ll still need a gun for most instances and when your abilities are on cooldown or to get those pesky snipers. The shooting isn’t as tight as Uncharted or Gears of War, but it is good enough. The guns aren’t particularly unique with the exception of the full-auto

shotgun. If you enjoy shooters and just the raw gameplay, you’ll be happy with how things are in Outriders, but it isn’t going to convert other gamers to like shooting games.

Story

This might be the most polarizing part of the game. I could see some people hating the cheesy delivery of some of the lines, the generic style, and predictable plot points. But, there could also be people that look at the game as a B-movie, SciFi channel, original story with crazy monsters, over-the-top acting, and lots of sci-fi tropes. The characters weren’t terribly memorable and the story only had a few moments of genuine originality, but I was well enough entertained by the random plot developments, silly lines, and less than serious tone (even if it wasn’t meant to be that).

End Game

After the main campaign is finished, players can go back and do all the side quests (which are basically find a boss and kill it). But along with those side missions is the real “endgame”, which is this series of increasingly difficult Expeditions for drop pods that lead to one last epic battle. They drop lots more loot and better quality loot depending on how quickly a player/s can finish the missions. I didn’t feel any urgency to play through to the end, but I did find myself more curious and interested in playing with new builds and unlocking new armor/guns for cosmetic reasons, and the best way to do that is by playing these Expeditions. I doubt that there will be a large, ongoing following and grind as we find in Diablo, World of Warcraft, or Destiny, but this game isn’t like those. Outriders is built to be a game that can be started one day and finished another. It may take some time to level up, find good enough loot, unlock all mods and go through all that on each character, but this game isn’t built to last forever.

Online Capabilities

Playing with friends is the best way to play Outriders. I played through a majority of the game solo, and it was perfectly fine that way. However, combining abilities, taking on waves of monsters, and slaying big bosses is always more fun with others. The match-making system is serviceable. If you want to just want to play the game not alone, then matchmaking is fine. But if you have particular ideas or want to enjoy the game at its highest level, you’ll have to find someone to play with and actually chat with them.

Final Thoughts

Outriders is a better experience than I expected. The mods, customization, and slaying waves of enemies are where this game shines. But the lack of diversity in mission design, visuals, and game length may discourage certain players. If players can go in with the right mindset of what to expect, a loot-shooter game that has 30-50 hours of fresh content (depending on how much you want to grind and if you want to play other characters), then Outriders can be a great game.