Outriders

At first glance Outriders might look like some other shooters such as Destiny or The Division, but its complicated and diverse combat help it stand alone and impress, and with some better support and polish can easily challenge other loot shooters in the market.

Outriders offers an alternative in the looter shooter genre that is very enjoyable if played in company, but without offering anything groundbreaking compared to other alternatives. Its connectivity failures ruin the gaming experience.

Overall, besides the fun powers and intriguing world-building, I have to admit that Outriders isn’t anything special to me as it doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from other titans of the looter shooter genre. However, if you like sick powers and loot, then Outriders was made for you.

Outriders is worth the time investment so far, in spite of its clunkiness and server instability at launch. Although the game has areas it needs to improve, the core ideas and gameplay are incredibly strong, making it easy to overlook whatever flaws are present. It's also an easy game to recommend for both solo players and groups of friends looking for a shooter to dive into together, and because of the world tier mechanic, anyone with any level of skill can jump into Outriders and have a great time. With a handful of hours left to go in the main campaign, that doesn't appear likely to change - though this review will be updated and finalized once completed to reflect the whole of the experience either way.

The “old gen” versions of Outriders do not have to be ashamed of the comparison with their counterparts on next gen consoles. The weight of the years in terms of hardware is felt in the framerate, the loading times as well as the displayed resolutions, which encroaches a little on the comfort of play without being crippling, quite the contrary. The game from People Can Fly and Square Enix retains on PS4 and Xbox One all the qualities and faults of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions, starting with a hard-hitting combat system, an intoxicating rise to power of the avatar, a mysterious planet Enoch, but also general instability responsible for several crashes.

Is Outriders a sophisticated action game with a compelling sci-fi story? No. Does it feel fun to freeze a spider with an ice turret and shatter it with a well-placed sniper shot? You bet. Sometimes, that’s all one really wants from a shooter like this. It could use an offline mode for single-player sessions and a fair bit of maintenance, but it’s a solid foundation for an action game that respects its players’ time.