Outriders Reviews
After a disastrous launch People Can Fly's third-person sci-fi adventure emerges as a smart if familiar shooter.
Buried by an unsatisfying combat loop and bad campaign, Outriders is a forgettable loot game that ends right as it's getting started.
Outriders is a brash and bold looter shooter that will keep you entertained through the campaign and side missions, but its endgame content gets repetitive fast.
A surprising, old school looter propped up by a contained sci-fi campaign, ferocious combat, and a modding system that encourages endless creativity.
Taking to combat and combo-ing skills with other players is immensely satisfying and make each run-in with enemies feel exhilarating rather than a chore
That's a huge letdown, because the encounters feel tuned for co-op rather than solo play. Playing alone, I could feel the absence of other players; although enemies are tougher when playing with friends, having another person to divert a boss' attention feels more natural than having you and a boss circle a pillar as you whittle down its health, or slowly working your way through the unrelenting hail of bullets that some of the later encounters subject you to. You also get to revive your friends in multiplayer (you even get one self-revive), which makes some of the tougher fights a little easier.
People Can Fly's Outriders mixes a lot of well-worn shooter and RPG elements to create something that feels fresh, if you can get used to its balance.
I’m happy that Outriders tries to be something different and more self-contained. It might limit its longevity, but it was nice to play something that was an adventure and not a treadmill covered in bad loot and battle passes.
Outriders delivers satisfying combat but suffers from a lackluster story. For co-op players, there’s a lot to entertain you here and the banter will help fill in the duller moments. The grind is also less intense than in similar experiences. What’s more, a bonus nod has to be given for this title’s completeness at launch.
It's a lower bar to clear to be sure, but People Can Fly delivered what Bungie and other studios can't seem to do these days: a complete $60 game. Outriders is a flawed looter shooter that can fall into a rut with its core looting loop, but the gunplay is fun, and that's a decent-sized win. If you can grab two other people to recruit via Game Pass, it's a great way to spend some time.
Outriders juggles some truly captivating ideas for the looter shooter genre, yet fails to deftly execute them. While it succeeds in combining traditional third person shooting with rewarding dungeon crawling, its messy matchmaking, repetitive mission design, and a dull sci-fi story hold People Can Fly back from delivering to their fullest potential.
Either solo or multiplayer, Outriders is a fun, fast paced shooter, full of great moments. People Can Fly delivers great combat mechanics and RPG elements, but we have the feeling we´ve seen most elements in other games. We love that Outriders is not designed as "game as a service".
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Outriders has surpassed my expectations in almost every way. Months ago, I figured this would be another looter flop, but now, it’s one of the best current entries in the genre, and even with no “live service roadmap” at hand, it’s clear you could potentially extract hundreds of hours from it regardless. I plan to do just that.
For its weird flaws, bugs, always online issues, obnoxious use of cutscenes, and b-movie attitude, Outriders is still mostly what I wanted it to be in execution and I think it's built for a wealth of future content and improvements that mean it's just going to get better from here. Whether I jump into the game on my solo character or team up with my friends, I know I’m in for a good, visceral, and rewarding time.
Outriders is much more than meets the eye. People Can Fly have done a superb job to deliver a self-sustaining looter shooter that manages to come up with some great ideas.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Outriders is a looter shooter that offers many hours of fun to players, despite some structural problems such as the absence of heterogeneity in the missions. The strong point, however, is fast-paced and explosive gameplay that is well supported by interesting RPG mechanics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite a largely forgettable story and a few misfires, Outriders is a great looter shooter that feels satisfying to play alone or with others and easily holds its own among contemporaries.
Outriders has great ideas and those come shining through at various high points to spectacular effect, but it is pushing against the weight of inconsistent execution and unstable systems.
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.