Outriders

Overview

Outriders is a third-person cover shooter with role-playing progression, developed by People Can Fly and published by Square Enix Europe. It was released worldwide on April 1, 2021, though a free demo was released spanning the game's prologue and first act a month prior. PCF promised that, unlike other "live service" games, Outriders would have a complete narrative arc with an actual ending.

Setting

During the middle of the 21st Century, with Earth growing increasingly inhospitable to human life and cataclysmic disasters increasing in frequency, the remaining governments came together under the Enoch Colonization Authority (ECA) to give humanity a chance to survive by finishing two colony ships and travel to a faraway world called Enoch that could support human life. Despite widespread riots, wars, natural disasters, and even a catastrophic engine failure that destroyed the first ship, the S.M. Flores managed to launch on May 2076, with roughly half a million people on board, most of them in cryostasis.

83 years later (January 2159), the Flores arrived at Enoch, and a small team of Outriders landed on the planet's surface to scout out potential areas of settlement, as well as signal the Flores that it was safe to start colonizing the planet. The Outriders discovered strange signals emitting from one of the drone pods, but an ambitious ECA leader ignored their concerns and commanded the ship to start disembarking, then tried to burn the surviving Outriders to "contain" their discovery. Though the Outriders fought back, only one managed to survive and was thrown in a cryo pod.

31 years after that (2190), the Outrider wakes up from cryosleep in an apocalyptic nightmare, where alien storms known as Anomalies and war between the remnants of the ECA and multiple groups of insurgents has pushed humanity to the breaking point. The surviving Outrider discovers that they have been Altered by an Anomaly, and are able to use the alien energies to do things most humans cannot. The Altered Outrider can change the course of history on Enoch, but must survive long enough to save what remains of humanity.

Classes

Players can choose one of four classes for their Outrider after completing the prologue. Though they cannot change their class once selected, they can affect how their class grows as they progress through the game.

Technomancer

A long-range support specialist, the Technomancer uses their Altered powers to create semi-mechanical constructs from Anomalous energies that damage multiple enemies while keeping them out of the Technomancer's range. The Technomancer can regain health as they damage enemies, and can freeze enemies with melee attacks.

Pyromancer

A medium-range class that can work with most weapons, using the power of fire to either singe enemies up close or set entire groups of enemies on fire further out. They can heal when enemies marked by their flame are killed, either by themselves or allies.

Trickster

A lightly-armored class that uses Anomaly energies to warp the fabric of space-time itself and create bladed weapons that can cut through enemies quickly, with hit-and-run tactics. The Trickster prefers wielding close-range weapons and recovers health and shields when killing enemies at close range.

Devastator

A tank class that can take a large amount of punishment and destroy enemies at close range. The Devastator can cause enemies to bleed with their melee attacks, and recovers health when enemies die near them.

Weapons

All characters will be able to equip a maximum of two primary weapons and a secondary pistol with unlimited ammo (though it will still need reloading).

System Requirements

PC

External Links

• Outriders Official Site