Outriders Direct

Every piece of armor can slot a mod that fundamentally changes how a power works. For example: one mod makes your "Earthquake" ability hit twice. Another makes it apply Bleed. Another makes Bleeding enemies explode on death. Before you know it, one button press clears a room in a chain reaction of red mist. This is Outriders at its best—chaotic, loud, and deeply satisfying. The Loot Problem: Quantity over Quality Okay, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the loot treadmill.

The tone is aggressively early 2010s. Characters scream lines like, "I didn’t sign up for this!" and "That’s classified!" with absolute sincerity. The main antagonist, a dictator named Seth, monologues about "order" while wearing a leather trench coat. It’s ridiculous.

When OUTRIDERS dropped in April 2021, the gaming world was skeptical. Developed by People Can Fly (the geniuses behind Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment ) and published by Square Enix, it arrived in the shadow of Destiny 2 ’s dominance and Outriders ’ own disastrous demo server issues. Most critics wrote it off as "that other looter-shooter" — a game trying to cash in on a trend three years too late.

Outriders is a game of violent contradictions. It is janky yet hypnotic. Its story is laughable, yet its lore is fascinating. Its endgame is repetitive, yet its core combat loop is arguably the most visceral in the genre. So, grab your favorite anomaly-infused sidearm, and let’s dive back into the planet Enoch. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Outriders is not subtle. You wake up as a custom protagonist who has been in cryo-sleep for decades. The moment you step out, you are immediately thrown into a civil war on a hostile alien world, betrayed by your own commander, and accidentally imbued with reality-bending superpowers called "Anomaly abilities." OUTRIDERS

In the tutorial, the game literally tells you that staying behind a wall for more than three seconds will get you killed. Enemies have grenades, flanking AI, and "Breacher" units that rush you with shotguns. The only way to survive is to be aggressive. Use your movement skill (Teleport, Leap, or Gravity Jump) to close the gap. Heal by killing enemies close-range. Chain your abilities like a fighting game combo.

And yet… it works. Not because it’s good, but because it commits. There is no ironic winking at the camera. Outriders plays its grimdark, post-apocalyptic soap opera completely straight. By the time you reach the forest zone—haunted by a demonic entity made of pure anomaly energy—you’re either rolling your eyes or nodding along. I was nodding.

People Can Fly set out to make a brutal, power-fantasy looter-shooter. They succeeded. It just took a few patches to get there. Every piece of armor can slot a mod

This creates a rhythm I haven’t felt since Doom (2016) . As a Devastator (the tank class), you’re an immortal boulder rolling downhill. As a Trickster, you’re a teleporting reaper. As a Pyromancer, you’re an area-denial arsonist. And as a Technomancer—well, you get to break the rules with turrets and long-range artillery, but even then, you’re encouraged to stand your ground, not hide.

To the developer’s credit, they fixed almost all of it. The 2022 "Worldslayer" expansion overhauled the endgame, removed timers from most expeditions, added a roguelite "Trial" mode, and introduced the PAX skill trees (which are bonkers powerful). Today, Outriders is a stable, complete experience. But first impressions matter, and that launch tainted the game’s reputation forever. Short answer: Yes, especially with friends.

But now, looking back with clear eyes and countless patched updates, I think we were too harsh. And at the same time, maybe not harsh enough. Another makes Bleeding enemies explode on death

Do not skip the journal entries. The hidden lore about the "Anomaly" and the planet’s indigenous creatures is genuinely Lovecraftian and better written than the main campaign. The Gameplay: Cover is for Cowards (Literally) Here is where Outriders shines. People Can Fly made a deliberate design choice that sets it apart from Gears or The Division : Cover is a trap.

8/10 (7/10 at launch, 9/10 if you main Trickster) Have you revisited Enoch lately? Did the Worldslayer expansion win you over? Drop your thoughts in the comments—and for the love of the Anomaly, don’t forget to dismantle your blues.

Cross-play was broken for months. The endgame "Expeditions" were timed, which forced players into pure DPS builds, invalidating entire support playstyles.