When developer People Can Fly initially introduced Outriders as a RPG third person shooter with drop-in/drop-out co-op there were a lot of assumptions that the studio was trying to make the next Destiny. But after spending several hours playing the game, experimenting with its three playable classes (four at launch), and uncovering what the world has to offer, the looter shooter comparison doesn't seem as appropriate. Personally, Outriders feels more like Mass Effect set in a Mad Max-style post-apocalypse where players have an assortment of powers at their disposal and can spec out their character in a variety of ways.

The Story and World of Outriders

The world of Outriders is intriguing based purely on its setup. Earth is no longer a sustainable planet for human living and so two ships set out to find suitable replacements. One has already failed, but the other has found a planet called Enoch that looks promising. The player character is an Outrider, a skilled fighter that leads the initial scouting troop, and it quickly becomes evident that Enoch is not only inhospitable but extremely dangerous.

Storms called Anomalies break out all over Enoch and begin eliminating the Outrider's team. They are hurt by one of the storms but lucky enough to survive. However, their wounds are so severe that they are placed in cryostasis until proper medical treatment can be administered. At the same time, the remaining ship of colonists is hailed to come down to Enoch, despite the obvious danger. Fade to black.

It's now over 30 years later and the Outrider wakes up fully healed but in an empty facility. They walk outside to discover that Enoch has been changed by the presence of these consistent anomalies. The colonists did land but they soon found themselves splitting into factions, warring with one another, and a few were “altered” by the storms – given powers like control of lightning or fire.

From there, the Outrider discovers that their contact with an Anomaly has also opened them up to special abilities and set them up to be a force for change on Enoch.

Outriders' Playable Classes and Abilities

At launch, Outriders will offer four different classes but only three were available in the demo: Trickster, Pyromancer, and Devastator. The Trickster favors up close gameplay and its abilities allow it to manipulate enemies for high damage. The Pyromancer is mid-range and has both targeted and AOE fire-based attacks. The Devastator is the “tank” class in Outriders and focuses on getting in the enemy's face, but without the concerns about damage that the Trickster has.

Paired with weapons like sniper rifles, assault rifles, SMGs, and shotguns, the three classes can work within a variety of approaches. We found that the Trickster worked best popping into combat with a shotgun or SMG, dealing big damage with its powers and then retreating for a quick recharge. Pyromancers, on the other hand, can used ranged combat to pick off distant targets and even give them a singe when needed.

Each of the classes in Outriders also has a different healing mechanic that highlights the “correct” play style.” The Trickster, for example, regains health anytime it defeats an enemy up close, whereas the Pyromancer regains health for any enemy that dies after being hit by its abilities. So, players wouldn't necessarily need to get up close to regen health, and their teammates could also help with healing as well.

Outriders Gameplay

People Can Fly put a lot of emphasis on the powers in Outriders and the game indulges the power fantasy. Cooldowns are very quick on all of the abilities so players can use them generously and in tons of fun combinations. Gunplay is solid for a third person shooter, but the combination of the powers and the gunplay is what makes the game feel a lot like Mass Effect. Zipping around as the Trickster reminded me a lot of ME's Biotic Charge ability, and was extremely satisfying when combined with the class' Temporal Slice.

But where Mass Effect's aesthetic was pristine sci-fi industrial space ships and buildings, Outriders has a grungy, cobbled together feel with bits of nature popping through. Each environment looks like an attempt was made to build something civilized and habitable, but time, the anomalies, or in-fighting between the colonists led to decay. The game is still very impressive visually, though, and should take full advantage of a high end PC or next-gen console.

Because our Outriders demo focused only on the first few hours of the game it's hard to evaluate how much focus is placed on loot. Trailers and gameplay footage has shown that Outriders has some cool loot to collect, and we could see some higher quality loot available for purchase from vendors, but it's impossible to say how deep that chase might go. In talking with People Can Fly it seems like it wants loot to be somewhat of a driving factor when it comes to replayability and advancing through World Tiers, but this doesn't feel like a looter shooter.

Of course, this opinion is based only on the intro sections of the game, where white and green rarity items were dropping at a slow pace. Perhaps People Can Fly wanted to focus on explaining Outriders' gameplay before diving into its secondary systems.

But the gameplay was enticing enough to leave us wanting more and to set Outriders up as one of the most promising games of 2020. Combat indulges the power fantasy instead of handcuffing the player, the world appears to be diverse enough to propel players forward, and the brief hints of RPG and co-op systems could give the game even more depth. Outriders may have been on many gamers' radars a week ago, but it's surely garnered a lot of attention now.

Outriders releases Holiday 2020 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.