People Can Fly came out the gate swinging (literally) with Bulletstorm back in 2011. Ten years later, the team set their sights on a game with loftier ambitions and twice as much busywork with Outriders, a co-op action adventure in the same vein as The Division or Destiny - only, you know, not as fundamentally enjoyable.
Outriders attempts to set itself apart with an engaging narrative about humanity's struggle to live among the stars after decimating Earth through corporate greed, winding up with but a scant fraction of the planet's population on Enoch, a goldilocks world that is home to an ancient civilization of super-powered aliens (although, I guess humanity would be the real aliens). The story, told through cutscenes, codex pages, and many long-winded radio calls basically boils down to people bad, nature good, told with all the subtlety and nuance of that last Adam McKay movie we all collectively groaned at. Most of the performances and characters seem deliberately "too-edgy-4-me" in a way that clashes with the seriousness of the setting and plot. Bulletstorm was a comedy. Outriders is an unintentional comedy.
Fear not, the game still has much to offer: crisp moment-to-moment gunplay with a variety of weapons and classes that make building your "Altered" protagonist an engaging and evolving experience over the course of the meaty campaign. The world tier system that dynamically increases the difficulty of the game based on player performance also adds another dimension of complexity to what is, admittedly, a barebones games-as-a-service title with a sci-fi coat of paint. Other than that, not much to write home about. The bulk of playtime is spent either running around combat arenas with the game's finicky cover system or running around barren hubs looking for quest items to deliver. Sometimes, it's a combination of both!
I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some fun here or there, mostly because progression in these types of games is fairly satisfying (at least until the endgame) and the fashionista in me loves decking my character out in whatever haute interplanetary couture the art department over at PCF whipped up. In essence, I see legendary items, I get dopamine hit. Simple as.
2.5 OUT OF 5.
Wonder who decided that the final hub area should be an internment camp with the bodies of dead natives pilled in mass graves that the player could use as cover during combat. Just awful stuff.
Outriders attempts to set itself apart with an engaging narrative about humanity's struggle to live among the stars after decimating Earth through corporate greed, winding up with but a scant fraction of the planet's population on Enoch, a goldilocks world that is home to an ancient civilization of super-powered aliens (although, I guess humanity would be the real aliens). The story, told through cutscenes, codex pages, and many long-winded radio calls basically boils down to people bad, nature good, told with all the subtlety and nuance of that last Adam McKay movie we all collectively groaned at. Most of the performances and characters seem deliberately "too-edgy-4-me" in a way that clashes with the seriousness of the setting and plot. Bulletstorm was a comedy. Outriders is an unintentional comedy.
Fear not, the game still has much to offer: crisp moment-to-moment gunplay with a variety of weapons and classes that make building your "Altered" protagonist an engaging and evolving experience over the course of the meaty campaign. The world tier system that dynamically increases the difficulty of the game based on player performance also adds another dimension of complexity to what is, admittedly, a barebones games-as-a-service title with a sci-fi coat of paint. Other than that, not much to write home about. The bulk of playtime is spent either running around combat arenas with the game's finicky cover system or running around barren hubs looking for quest items to deliver. Sometimes, it's a combination of both!
I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some fun here or there, mostly because progression in these types of games is fairly satisfying (at least until the endgame) and the fashionista in me loves decking my character out in whatever haute interplanetary couture the art department over at PCF whipped up. In essence, I see legendary items, I get dopamine hit. Simple as.
2.5 OUT OF 5.
Wonder who decided that the final hub area should be an internment camp with the bodies of dead natives pilled in mass graves that the player could use as cover during combat. Just awful stuff.