Outriders Reviews
Outriders is its own greatest victim. There are some decent ideas in here – an absorbing cauldron of combat variables, some majestic geography, even a few guns worth holding onto – but they're dragged down and suffocated by a game that doesn't want to entertain you but hypnotise you with the prospect of another trinket.
In many ways it's like an overblown action movie from the 1980s or early part of the 1990s, but even here it doles out the cheese without its own identity.
So where does it all land? Like I said at the beginning, it landed me at “interesting.” I genuinely have an incredible time with the gameplay, especially when I’m playing co-op. I think the different character abilities that come with the classes are all really well designed and work beautifully to create different combinations in combat, both within a single character class and with other players. The fun I have with the core gameplay, though, does not lessen the frustration and issues I have with the difficulty balancing, consistent network issues, and the ultimately poor story—which has a disappointing ending that could have been so much more. What we’re left with is a game that feels tragically half-finished, because it was halfway to greatness.
Outriders overstays its welcome with gameplay that goes from being really fun, to overly generic and boring without introducing many changes to its formula
Gears of War meets Destiny… and the end result is mediocre. Take away the "coolness" of playing a gun totting superhero, and all you are left with is basically one more generic looter shooter, that doesn't manage to impress, neither with its repetitive gameplay, nor with its boring story and world building. Add to that a couple of technical and network issues, and you are in for a - pricey - treat.
Outriders is a boring game to play solo, with a lack of any real end-game content and bugs that may wipe all of your progress it's probably best to wait for a sale for this one.
While there is a really good looter-shooter somewhere in Outriders, it’s still plagued with just too many issues to recommend right now. Perhaps one day it will be come a truly awesome looter-shooter experience, but for now its too frustrating for me to contemplate investing more time into it.
Outriders is a looter-shooter built upon solid enough foundations, and its blend of gunplay and powers can prove intermittently enjoyable. But it's also a game lacking an engaging narrative heart, characters that you'll care about, and any sort of exciting long-term content. The quest for loot will only sustain you for so long.
The best time I had with the game was a ten-minute stretch that contained (a) no crashes or bugs, (b) the right level and world tier-essentially, a measure of enemy toughness-and (c) a harmony of tactics, sorcery, and gunfire.
Outriders could have become a successful looter-shooter/MMO, but the server issues and macro developer mistakes place the game below other equals. Shortcomings in the narrative, dialogues, sound effects, and AI are so severe that can not be overlooked. The game has impressive looting and customization (the singular thing that does right!), but the repetitive gameplay, unbalanced difficulty and especially server connection issues, and unavailability of the coop with friends offer nothing but frustration and disappointment. You should really leave this game aside.
Review in Persian | Read full review
This is a strange beast of a game, compromised on numerous fronts yet undeniably sincere and energetic at its core. Its haphazard plot and profound design flaws threaten to squash the game’s modest success at delivering a fun combat system. Those capable of overlooking an abundance of issues may find Outriders to be decent action fare, but otherwise it’s best to look elsewhere.
Outriders drops the ball on something that had a lot of promise but fails to live up to it
Outriders feel like a game designed by two different teams with no communication. The result is a discordant third person combat experience that arrives 10 years late.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you're absolutely craving a new game that has tight gunplay and a loot loop that you can get into for a long period of time, Outriders definitely isn't your worst option. But if you have played a litany of games like this over the past few years, I'm hard-pressed to think that there is anything about this one that will resonate with you on a greater level.
If you’re looking for a fun time looting and shooting, and don’t mind skimping a little on the trappings, than this is definitely worth giving a chance to.
People Can Fly's special brand of explosive gunplay is better than ever in Outriders, but the game loses its way by shoehorning in too many of the RPG mechanics that have become bog standard for the "looter shooter" genre. What should have been a rollercoaster all the way through ends up feeling more like a car in stop-and-go traffic.
At the end of the day, Outriders has a lot going for it. The gameplay is fun, I love the fact that there is more than enough loot to collect and spec out my characters. However, once you hit the end game, the game is essentially dead and that's troublesome. Adding to that, the game still suffers from a number of issues including terrible online, random crashes, abilities either not working or working correctly and random crashing – Despite People Can Fly putting in overtime to get the game to a better place. For now, I'd wait for the game to mature, unless the lure of some fantastic running and gunning is the only thing that matters to you.
At its best, Outriders is a looter shooter that's surprisingly generous with its loot.
Outriders offers a deeper narrative than its looter contemporaries, but it's ultimately a run-of-the-mill shooter that leaves no lasting impact.