Outriders: Technology disappointment in the mediocre coat in the test

Outriders

After Destiny, Anthem and what feels like hundreds of other offshoots of the loot shooter genre, Square Enix is ​​now also trying its hand at the concept with Outriders. That it is not easy to stand out from the gray crowd should have become clear after Anthem's failure and the recent termination. Even nowadays, graphics and staging alone are not enough to convince in a genre that is particularly focused on the endgame. Outriders tries despite everything in the shadow of failed competitor predecessors. But it is precisely the important release phase that is particularly negative.

Table of contents

Page 1 Outriders in the test, Page 1 1.1 Technology nightmare for every gamer 1.2 80s action film story sends its regards 1.3 Search for the world in snake level 1.4 Choice of agony in the game style? 1.5 Two souls beat in the gameplay's chest page 2 Outriders in the test, page 2 2.1 Linear content in bits 2.2 Experience fun and frustration together - the co-op mode 2.3 The rough edges of the game 2.4 Mediocre game design? Page 3 Image gallery for "Outriders: Technology disappointment in a mediocre coat in the test" Expand Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I agree that external content can be displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration.

Technology nightmare for every gamer

Whoever bought the full price title in anticipation of the release could have been bitterly disappointed. Server problems thwarted many game attempts. Because Outriders relies on an always-online connection, although it is actually not absolutely necessary. Players who want to play through the campaign on their own are just as excluded as those interested in multiplayer.

Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I agree that external content can be displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. The initial rush was apparently enough to fully utilize the capacities. The lucky ones who were not affected were allowed to face the next technical hurdle: game crashes at the start, in the menu, when submitting quests (partially reproducible and cross-platform) and other activities. Sometimes there was even inventory wipes, and that where collecting items in the loot shooter is so important. Developers and publishers promised improvement, of course. But that kind of recovery takes time. Time in which gamers have to live with the diseases of software. Smaller and larger patches are published again and again, but the technical structure of Outriders simply remains unfinished and unpolished, and that probably for a long time.

The character creation does not have the cyberpunk variety and there are not great possibilities. Source: PC Games Little things like character creation seem almost unimportant. As both female and male protagonists, we have eight ready-made faces to choose from and can roughly decorate them with scars, make-up and piercings. The game doesn't need a cyberpunk editor either. We can hide our helmets in the menu and we can always be seen in cutscenes, but most of the time we only see opponents in the blood slaughter on the screen, even without a first-person perspective. A little more freedom in this regard would have been nice, but that wouldn't have made the roast any more fat.

80s action film story sends its regards

The setting for Outriders (buy now) is Although simple, the staging of the story and the characters only leave us as players embarrassed. Eye-rolling one-liners and completely insane and unimportant comic book villains (without real motivation and, of course, with a villain cliché cape) constantly give each other the handle in Outriders. None of the characters depicted in the game behave naturally, instead we are served exaggerated caricatures of people. Almost nothing makes sense. And that doesn't mean the supernatural abilities and the world, but rather everything else.

In the prologue everything still seems to be peaceful. With sunglasses instead of protective gear, we happily trudge through a strange alien jungle. Source: PC Games You don't have to look far for an example. In the prologue and the beginning of the story it says first: The earth has been destroyed. Humanity has managed to completely wear out the planet. Survival is no longer possible there. Two space ships, the Flores and the Caravel, with hundreds of thousands of occupants, were sent to the supposed paradise planet Enoch to ensure the survival of mankind there. The Caravel was destroyed, the Flores, in which we are the protagonist as a replacement mercenary, arrived undamaged. So far so good. Before all passengers are awakened from the cold sleep, the mercenary unit of the Outriders should ensure that no surprises or dangers await the rest of the colonists. Said and done. So we set off with our colleagues and scientists to explore the new planet.

Alien planet, mysterious, levitating, black substance? Of course, as a top scientist, you take a bold step! Source: PC Games And of course, as elite soldiers, we sometimes do it with a helmet, but sometimes without. We happily trudge into a black something, breathe it in with relish and are hardly surprised at obviously dying mercenaries. And clearly, how could it be otherwise, the leading scientist bravely packs into the obviously toxic substance. Probably for a taste test, what else? Our own character is not that extremely stupid, after all, we heroically keep the scientist from packing in the unknown black without protective equipment, but at times we can only shake our head about our alter ego.

As One-line machine, we don't think about precautionary measures like a helmet or anything else, at least not at the beginning. Just go in, it fits. Still in the prologue, there is a kind of supernatural storm in the jungle after the black goo. Our team suffers heavy losses, but we barely escape. Now one might think that the soldiers' unit was able to establish in an absolutely exemplary manner that the planet is anything but habitable and safe for hundreds of thousands of people. The only problem with it is that the commanding head of the detection mission is ridiculously exaggerated and childishly nasty nevertheless gives the green light and orders that the mercenary group kill each other due to contamination.

Really normal, human characters are coming almost never among us in Outriders. Instead, we get action movie villains and heroes, including one-liners. Source: PC Games So there is a fight. Although we prevail, we can no longer stop the comers from orbit. In the chaos of the moment we are injured and put into a cold sleep again until we can be healed of our injuries and potential illnesses at some point in the future.

The actual start of the game begins from the moment you wake up. Confused, we find that we didn't sleep for a few weeks or months, but for a full 30 years. Unharmed, we encounter a huge battlefield, are captured and get a glimpse of the consequences of the stupid decision to declare the planet safe. Bloodthirsty rebels and slave traders fight against remnants of the original organization, supernatural and almost immortal people are up to mischief and more or less cook their own soup and we are right in the middle of it.

We have barely woken up from the cold sleep in the prologue we captured and dragged through a war zone. Source: PC Games So much can be revealed, later in the game, the shame of others does not decrease because the quality increases, but rather because we get used to it. As part of the main story, we collect various friends and pave our way through war deserts and forests on the planet Enoch. We are following a mysterious signal in the vague hope of at least finding something. If you are looking for a profound story, you will not find it in Outriders.

Search for heaven in snake level

Collectors can let off steam in Outriders. The collectables include notes, diary entries, quest items and also character code pages. Source: PC Games If, on the other hand, you like to look for collectables in straight hose levels, you can look forward to it. Smaller diary entries, notes and objects can be found and collected in certain places, including lore backgrounds. Not all of them are quest-bound. Quest givers such as the historian, the hunter-bartender or the hitman tell us which items or people are wanted. It is then up to us to search the back alleys of a region or to ignore these tasks completely. Theoretically, quest goals can be pinged without any problems, so that the route to them is displayed in the game world itself. Theoretically. Because pinging likes to hang up and leads us on a wrong or old track.

There are further side streets within an upper world. The fast travel over the placed banners makes quests and Co. easier. Source: PC Games The fighting style in which we fulfill the quest objectives depends on our choice of class and weapon. After the prologue already mentioned, we are spoiled for choice between four classes, with different characteristics in terms of fighting distance, skills and healing system.

Choice of agony in terms of playing style?

Basically, all classes play similarly in that you heal through dealt damage. There are differences in the form of the damage. As devastators, for example, we heal ourselves through dying enemies in our immediate vicinity. Inevitably, the distance to the opponents also changes. The Demolisher is classified as a tank class and is limited to short range. The assassin is also trimmed for short range, receives less HP, but a shield. It is easier for the technomancer, who generally converts part of the damage into life, regardless of the distance, which is why this class is more inclined to the sniper rifle. The pyromancer heals himself by killing himself with his abilities and stays at medium range.

The technomancer relies on gadgets, distraction and support. Recommended especially for solo beginners. Source: PC Games No matter which path you take, the gadget skills of the technomancer, the time-space distortion of the assassin, the inferno wonders of the pyromancer or the protective earth skills of the devastator, aggressive gaming behavior is rewarded in the beginning. It is true that three skill directions can then be improved in the skill trees, but the class itself can be selected once, but no longer changed. If you want to try a different class, you have to create a new character. After all: the prologue can be skipped after the first game, you get the choice of class straight away. The classes and their tech trees get a little more depth through the eight class skills, of which we can have three active each, in order to perfectly round off our build. Skills include placeable turrets, shields, time-space bubbles, fire tornadoes and other fun looking superpowers.

Each class has its own skill tree. We can easily determine which links we select. Resetting does not cost anything. Source: PC Games Even if the class skill trees all seem very similar, you can experiment and try them out without any problems. The points can be regained and redistributed at any time without the need for resources. Praiseworthy!

Two souls beat in the gameplay's chest

Aggressiveness not only results in a higher damage output, but also heals. On lower levels of difficulty, this ensures that you slice your way through the masses of opponents like a superhero, don't have to worry and switch off. That can of course bring its own comedy and fun to play. The interesting highlight of Outriders in this context are the 15 world levels. Each level brings more bonuses, better loot and more difficult opponents. Unlocked world levels are freely selectable. Higher levels are embraced bit by bit by using the highest possible world level. Source: PC Games

The original Homelander gameplay quickly becomes a cover game with bullet sponges. If you have poor equipment or a class build that doesn't work perfectly, you will die quickly. The nice thing about it is the optionality. Nobody is forced to constantly play at the currently unlocked world level, you can switch to a lower level at any time. At this point it should be mentioned that the cover system is not exactly flowing. Especially in combat, our protagonist likes to look for cover in the wrong place, which can quickly lead to death.