Outriders | The Cold Hard Truth As Told By Brad

Never have I ever in my history of gaming paid for a game that had such a horrible launch state, and horribly applied mechanics than Outriders. Forget what the big time journos said. This game is hot garbage. It is not worth one red cent. Let me explain ...

I bought Outriders on launch out of good faith after hearing a positive reception from games journos (BANGS HEAD ON DESK). Against my better judgment I took their word for it. Upon the game's official launch telltale signs began to emerge pointing towards bad development decisions. One of the biggest glaring issues being the fact that you cannot play the game without access to the servers. You effectively just put down $60 for access to a live service title. You do not own the game. It's all locked behind online access. This of course backfired for the developer as the first few days the game was out people were finding they couldn't access what they had paid for. Myself included. This was only the beginning of my understanding of how bad the game really was though ...

After having finally gained access things began to become clearer. There were a lot of emersion breaking features including loading screens, and prompts to access menu features. Stuff that significantly stalled the fluidity of progression. Making it more about intermittent sections of storytelling, and cover based combat scenarios. Rinse, and repeat. The gameplay itself also harbored some issues that I personally feel breaks the whole purpose of the loot grind, and cover based combat. For one thing it is obvious the game is meant to be played with multiple players for distraction sake. I say distraction sake, because the AI has a hard on for singling out players as if they were a part of a hardcore difficulty setting. In fact the AI makes it impossible to properly utilize the cover system which is looped for every single enemy encounter you face. You are constantly flanked from all sides, shot from distant vantage points, and blown out from behind cover by spammed grenades. If that weren't enough the enemy AI is always advancing never giving you enough time to find your own vantage point. Weapon-wise the gameplay is also weak furthering the struggle to move forward, and do what needs to be done. Not only that, but your weapons suffer from extreme recoil, and do little damage in comparison to your three set cooldown abilities. 

When it comes down to controlling your created character within Outriders' world he/she is basically guided by old school tank controls. Utilizing the left thumbstick for movement, and the right thumbstick for directions. This makes things way more complicated than they should have been, because now you have to constantly readjust your character in the midst of combat, and utilize your weapons and abilities all while dodging whatever the hell the enemy AI is doing. This is made even worse due to the speed, and sloppiness with which your character aims, and moves. I guess the devs forgot how to make combat more precise, because what you get is really bad. No settings I found can fix this mess either.

At World Tier 3, only a couple of cutscenes into the game, and on Solo I gave up on it. I could not get past one area no matter how I played it. I tried using the cover system, and got royally fucked. I tried bypassing the cover system, and got royally fucked. Nothing I could do with the early weapons, armor, and abilities could get me to the end of that shit show. It is in that moment that I realized what the developer had done. They created an artificial problem that could only be remedied by team play. Despite your character supposedly being some kind of super powered badass he/she is weak as fuck alone. It makes no damn sense at all, and the only reason you struggle is due to things that should not be a problem. Those things including the clunky controls, the bad gun play, and the unfair AI situation. That, and the voided cover system. 

I'm trying to keep my cool typing this review up, but as you can tell I've included some choice words towards the end. Having paid $60 for this absolute train wreck of a game I find myself infuriated. Mad as hell. I do not recommend it. It's not worth your money. I pity those, who like me, bought it day one. If I could get a refund I sure as hell would.