Outriders Demo Impressions — [Screen Shake Intensifies]

Surprising no-one except games industry management, looter/shooters are better when you actually make a complete product from the start.

This week has seen me playing a staggering amount of Bravely Default 2. Releasing in the same week as Persona 5 Strikers is always a ballsy proposition, yet my Bravely playtime is something like triple that of Strikers right now. And I don’t even think it’s as good as Persona! It just… has its hooks in me. I’m fully intending to do bigger write ups on both these games and my opinions on them, but I’m probably going to save it until I’ve progressed further in both.

So instead, let’s talk about the three hour break I took to play the Outriders demo.

Outriders is an upcoming third person looter/shooter by People Can Fly. It can be played with up to four people in co-op, has four different classes, and- hey, hold on a second, don’t leave. Yes, it sounds like the now officially dead Anthem, not to mention every other looter shooter on the planet. This one is showing signs of being different though. By different, I mean actually completed, functional, and competent. It’s got a story, it’s got good systems and progression, it’s got interesting loot, and it promises to be a reasonably sized game that happens to have endgame and co-op support.

There’s a demo on Steam right now, and it comes out in April. You can blow through most of the content they have there in a couple hours, but it’s the full start of the game and progress does carry over to the final release. It’s a good chance to try out the different classes and abilities to see what gels. Currently there’s mixed opinions, but early consensus on Outriders seems to be leaning towards more positive than anything. I’m definitely more positive about it.

I will not be buying Outriders — despite liking it — until a specific change is made.

Continue reading “Outriders Demo Impressions — [Screen Shake Intensifies]”