Loot based games have become a popular genre over the years, spearheaded by franchises like Diablo and Borderlands. Plenty of titles have released in the years since with the highest profile of these games likely Destiny 2, a first person shooter focused on acquiring gear to grow stronger. Early next year, People Can Fly will be entering this crowded market with its own unique take on the looter shooter genre, Outriders.

While there are plenty of examples of games in this genre that have either gotten off to a slow start or ultimately failed to live up to the hype, Outriders appears to be attempting to learn from the mistakes of other games in this space. Not only is the title ditching some questionable mechanics typically associated with these games, but it also appears to be incorporating some more beloved elements as well such as doubling down on the game's story and making the player actually feel like a powerful super being.

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For fans of games like Mass Effect or Borderlands, Outriders may be the blending of both iconic games that fans may not have realized they wanted or needed. Here's why the game may be worth taking a look at once it launches in February.

outriders dark art

Outriders is a Sci-Fi RPG, similar to BioWare's Mass Effect franchise which took players all across the final frontier to strange planets and meeting all sorts of alien creatures. While Outriders doesn't planet hop quite like BioWare's fan favorite game, players will be exploring the mysterious planet known as Enoch, which was originally a location that humanity attempted to colonize. However, a massive energy storm known as The Anomaly not only devastated the expedition team but it granted them abilities.

The narrative experience is clearly important to developer People Can Fly as the studio has indicated numerous times that Outriders isn't a live service title and will have a definitive start and end. Players will be exploring numerous areas on their adventure with hub locations that will feature NPCs, shops, and locations to pick up new side missions as well.

In fact, People Can Fly has also created a home base in the form of a truck that will help transport players to where they need to go. Unlike the Normandy in Mass Effect, this truck is described as a moving RPG village and can be personalized by the player. The truck also comes with a crew, which offer the player various services, quests, as well as exposition for those who want to learn more about the world  and characters of Outriders.

outriders devastator class

At first glance, the most obvious influence from a game like Borderlands, besides the skill tree progression, is the loot. Outriders is a loot driven RPG where players not only get stronger from leveling up, but finding better gear and weapons to use as well. As expected, loot has rarity tiers ranging from the more common level gear to the more unique, legendary, and exotic items. The better the gear, the more perks it'll likely come with with the best stuff even potentially having set bonuses or unique traits to really help players build out the best version of their character.

Similar to both games, Outriders is also a class-based RPG, letting players select from four different classes each with their own skill trees to fill out and abilities to acquire. Each one plays a bit differently, giving players serious options as to how they approach combat. The Trickster class from Outriders even features a few similarities to the Vanguard from Mass Effect 2, with a teleporting rush strike.

Thankfully, each class also has a little bit of wiggle room due to the three unique class trees. While the four all have specific playstyles to consider when picking a starting class, players can tweak them a little bit by speccing points into certain skill trees. For example, the Pyromancer is described as a medium range fighter that has great crowd control abilities but isn't great at getting up close and personal to enemies like the Devastator or Trickster. However, players can offset this weakness a bit by investing in the Tempest skill tree which not only increases the maximum health but reduces incoming damage as well.

Featuring a lot of elements from beloved action RPG games like Borderlands and Mass Effect and after a delay moved it out of the crowded holiday season, Outriders is making a major case to be a game that fans need to keep an eye on in 2021.

Outriders releases February 2, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, with a Stadia version coming later in 2021.

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