Outriders

Outriders is the studio's most ambitious work, a shooter looter that knows how to get the best out of each of its elements, with aggressive gameplay and a good RPG layer.

Outriders isn't a paradigm shift for third person shooters, but it offers an absolutely irresistible loop of action, looting and micromanagement and, although its presentation isn't at the level of other modern titles, it will always leave us wanting to continue playing.

Outriders is old school action that stands tall as a satisfying and vulgar display of power that’s fast, frantic, and pure fun.

At times, the game is nearly unplayable, and more than once, I’ve either crashed or watched a teammate crash at the final Drop Pod, or during a story cinematic. Still, Outriders manages to entertain far more than it frustrates. If you were like me, scoffing at the demo, thinking that there was nothing more in this shallow looter-shooter, it’s time to think again. If you’re looking for a challenge, and you don’t mind the interstellar flight to Enoch to find it, Outriders is the game for you.

Outriders combines immense variety, aggressively geared combat and fun abilities to offer a third person shooter like no other. It’s filled to the brim quality content – bringing a stellar campaign that’s constantly throwing new things at the player and a compelling well-designed post-game experience in Expeditions. Teething issues with online aside, Outriders is poised to be one of the biggest surprises of the year, and you should definitely give it a go.

With its high dynamic fighting system and various combat combos Outriders creates a unique and stylish look and feel within the 3rd person action genre. Above that the game provides an entertaining and extensive loot shooter experience for solo players and co-op fans as well. But the weak story and some minor balance issues prevent Outriders from an absolute recommendation.

It is a game that is interested in one thing and one thing only: turning enemies into bloody smears and hopefully finding some new shoes. And, thankfully, it is very good at it. If you are one of those people-who-like-this-kind-of thing, of course.

Outriders is a quite pleasant surprise when it comes to its combat mechanics, lore, structure and overall quality. It is a bright example that a looter-shooter can be fun, addictive and extremely enjoyable without the need to reside on a "Games as a Service" mentality.

Outriders on Xbox is a great game, almost despite itself. The decision to include cooperative opportunities instead of working with a nailed on PvP mode is a great choice. The story is engaging, gameplay works very well and the Expeditions are just about challenging enough. In fact, People Can Fly have ensured that shooting, looting and running away from powerful monsters has never been so much fun.

It cracks into the crowded looter-shooter genre and carves out a niche, all while telling an entertaining story. Its character-building is top-notch, its PvE gameplay is challenging and rewarding, and despite not being a live-service game it comes complete with end-game content that is more robust than most games that are trying to be live-service.

An incredible get for Game Pass and a superb game in its own right (issues aside), Outriders is comfortably one of the best games of the year so far, and it's only going to get better as the post-launch polish puts paid to the technical problems that currently hold it back from true greatness.

With Outriders, People Can Fly managed to craft an extremely fun game, with mechanics that subvert the idea of a cover shooter, while maintaining a loot system that is delightfully mesmerizing. The frantic and aggressive combat system is so addictive that it helps to cover up the game’s weaknesses, such as the history or repeatability, since we are too busy dispatching endless hordes of enemies.

The moments where Outriders is taking daring swings at mixing disparate elements are when it's at its best. The game is surprisingly deft at combining things that shouldn't work together: Its story is often funny but similarly severe; its combat requires you to take cover and to charge; its abilities make you phenomenally powerful but prone to overestimating yourself. If you can find the balance in Outriders, People Can Fly's RPG-shooter finds ways to combine well-worn video game ideas into something new and fun. Especially when you're accompanied by friends and put the time in to really understand the game's systems, Outriders rewards you with epic battle moments and a sprawling scope. It left me wanting to continue venturing out into the wilds of Enoch to see what I might find there--and to smash whatever it was with seismic earthquake magic.

Outriders is a game that has surprised me. The demo failed to get me excited. But with the complete game I have come across things that I liked a lot, such as its lore, and its rawness, although also others have discouraged, such as its maps with unnatural coverage. It is a game that takes time to gain pace, but it works well in all its aspects, without standing out too much in any of them. Perhaps the best thing about the game is its cooperative component, which enhances the experience.

Outriders actively props up its own strengths and encourages you to employ them, organically allowing you to experience its full potential and mostly outweighing a disjointed story.

Outriders really has taken us completely by surprise. This is a game that gets off to a pretty bad start but, once the combat kicks off properly, quickly reveals itself to be one of the slickest and most addictive looter shooters we've played in a long while. Launch weekend has been a mess of server issues, for sure, but stick with what People Can Fly has dished up here and you'll find yourself handsomely rewarded. This one comes highly recommended.

Visually the game looks good. We have not gotten a lot of titles to showcase these new consoles and Outriders does a good job with a rock-solid 60fps on Series X. The worlds are diverse, and the giant monsters are a sight to behold. The voice acting is atrocious and the story forgettable, but the actual world and shooting are simply outstanding. Outriders is a perfect storm. A shiny new game to show off these new consoles. The fact that it launched day and date onto Game Pass has definitely helped with its success, as has the fact that gamers are hungry for new experiences. I will likely be playing a bunch of Outriders in 2021, and that speaks volumes to its longevity. I hope the team continues to expand on the title as we move through the year, as I look forward to coming back to it for quite some time.

It all adds up to a solid sci-fi battling sandbox, although at the moment, the game is marred by bugs. Outriders is prone to crashes, and load times can be long. And the cross-play and cross-save features that were expected are messy and confusing (although both ideas are new for this console generation, so you give Outriders a slight flier). Such issues hold the game back, limiting the overall fun and immersion you can experience in the world of Outriders. Still, when you combine characteristics from some of the greatest franchises in gaming, you’re bound to get a pretty solid game. And that’s exactly what Outriders is.

Still, despite its issues, I mostly enjoyed my time with Outriders, and with a few more updates and tweaks I think it’ll be at a point where I’d like to go back and play more of the end-game content or roll another character class. I’d say it’s a harder sell at full price for $60 right now, but it’s more of a no-brainer to try out if you have the option to do so on Xbox platforms via Gamepass.

Outriders fails in many areas as its story is useless, lines are delivered terribly and cutscenes are awful. Despite this, PeopleCanFly has created an amazingly fun gameplay loop that will entice any loot junky out there. It may feel like a 15-year-old game at some points but once you get into the combat all of these woes will be forgotten.

Outriders might not be the best game this year will bring, it is so much fun. This game is definitely a blast with its many weapons and skills. Too bad there are so many connectivity issues.

Despite its constant flaws and lack of originality, Outriders is a very fun game that manages to bring together the best elements of various contemporary titles.

In spite of the weak story and awful launch state, Outriders still manages to be a compelling and rewarding looter shooter.

Outriders does not revolutionize the genre, and does not have the ambition to do so. The title from People Can Fly and Square Enix recites the ranges of the perfect Looter-Shooter while abandoning the Game as a Service dimension inherent in this type of game. It stands out first and foremost with its science-fiction-inspired universe, fantasy and punk movement. The explosiveness of its combat, its extremely well thought-out customization system and this propensity to motivate players with ubiquitous power gain make this Shooter-RPG an outsider to consider. However, the anecdotal scenario, the sketchy staging, the redundancy of the missions and the instability of the game do not allow Outriders to fully assert itself on the Looter-Shooter scene.

Outriders is a very well thought-out shooter, with a gameplay capable of satisfying both solo and in co-op, and good looting and progression mechanics. Too bad for the many connection problems that plagued it so far, making it pretty much impossible to play with friends. Once these problems have been addressed, just consider this review score increased by 1.

Outriders gather true and tried gameplay functionalities from many games in the same genre. There’s no originality to be found here, but it will reward everyone who takes the time to discover its generous content and challenges.

If you're willing to overlook some questionable design choices, there's plenty of fun to be had with Outriders. Despite its numerous flaws, Outriders manages to provide loads of incredible, over-the-top fun.

I have no doubt that Outriders will improve over time but I’m kind of torn about how I feel for it in its current state given its issues. On one hand I’m addicted to the shlooter treadmill, but on the other, having already reached endgame and grind the hell out of it, I think I see my end in sight without much further to do aside from yet another run for hopefully a new piece of gear. That said, Outriders is currently included with Xbox GamePass, so there’s no reason to not jump into the shoes of an Altered to save Enoch, even if it does turn into quite a grind later on and having to suffer through numerous game crashes daily.

The game shows great potential, but in its current state, the game feels a little half-baked. It needs more types of enemies, some better story missions and a much better net-code, in order for me to enjoy the game at its fullest.

Outriders semi-bravely attempts to be more than just another third-person shooter, but fails to be more interesting than the many other games it resembles. Borderlands 3 for example is a better looter shooter, Destiny 2 offers a more solid (super)powered trip, Deep Rock Galactic is more fun as a co-op experience and Gears 5’s singleplayer campaign is far more fascinating. This means Outriders is hard to recommend, except of course to those who have Game Pass and a some hours of free time to spare.

Although it features moments of satisfying action and a few good end-game design tweaks, the majority of Outriders experience consists of conflicting design ideas, technical issues in multiplayer, and poorly implemented borrowed mechanics.

The only reason you should pay attention to Outriders is the current gaming drought and the Game Pass. The combat with all its abilities is quite fun, sure, but the story is just so dull, as is the environment and uninteresting, generic activities.

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.

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.

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 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.