Outriders’ in-depth weapon and ability customization helps it stand out from the pack - Android

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Outriders’ in-depth weapon and ability customization helps it stand out from the pack - Android

Outriders screenshot

The post Outriders’ in-depth weapon and ability customization helps it stand out from the pack appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Outriders screenshot


People Can Fly’s Outriders is far from perfect.

The looter-shooter has been experiencing an undeniably difficult launch plagued with glitches and rampant server connection issues (on the plus side, though, the studio has been very communicative about the game’s problems).

Its graphics aren’t incredible (though the game does look pretty good on the Xbox Series X), textures can sometimes appear muddy, the voice acting is inconsistent and characters’ faces often lack the detail you’d expect from a big-budget video game of this calibre.

Outriders screenshot

With that in mind, when it comes to actual moment-to-moment gameplay and, most importantly, its looter-shooter mechanics, Outriders feels nearly flawless.

First off, it’s important to point out my initial impressions of the game after playing its roughly three-hour demo last month weren’t an accurate indication of the entire experience; Outriders really isn’t a cover shooter that wants you to avoid using cover.

If you’re playing with a squad of friends on a relatively low ‘World Tier’ — the game’s mechanic that adjusts enemies based on your level — then sure, it’s easy to blast through everything in sight. But once you hit higher levels and World Tiers, cover is a necessity for survival. Given People Can Fly’s past work on Gears of War Judgment, this emphasis on hiding behind objects isn’t entirely surprising. Your character controls sort of like a lighter version of Gears’ beefy, UFC-like avatars, allowing you to lock onto cover and roll with ease.

Outriders screenshot

Speaking of your character, each class in Outriders feels distinct and handles health regeneration differently. For example, the medium-range ‘Pyromancer’ I use specializes in fire abilities like ‘Thermal Bomb,’ which ‘Burns’ and ‘Interrupts’ enemies, and ‘Eruption,’ which basically creates a mini-volcano on top of your foes.

You can also augment abilities and weapons in interesting ways with armour Mods. For example, there are Mods that allow you to use Eruption twice in a row before requiring a cooldown, and others that increase the duration and damage different abilities are capable of. The Pyromancer also regains 24 percent health every time you kill a marked enemy, forcing you to constantly use your abilities.

Other character classes include the close-range Trickster, the long-range turret-wielding Technomancer and the close-range Devastator tank. I’ve also spent time playing as a Trickster and really enjoyed the character’s teleporting ‘Hunt the Prey’ ability that allows you to instantly appear behind enemies. As a Trickster, you’re encouraged to always be at the centre of the action since every close-range kill heals you by 20 percent of your maximum health and regenerates 20 percent of your shield.

Outriders screenshot

Abilities are at the centre of Outriders‘ gameplay, with weapons like assault rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles feeling more like a stop-gap measure until your cooldown period is over. In a way, this almost makes the game feel more like a hack-and-slash title like Diablo III than a traditional looter-shooter in the vein of Destiny or The Division. Moreover, as you gain a better understanding of your character’s abilities, you’ll start to come up with different customization combos that complement other players in your squad.

Like most titles in the genre, the name of the game here is getting your hands on shiny, slightly more powerful weapons and armour, and equipping them. This makes your character incrementally more powerful over the course of the game, giving you that dopamine-dispensing reason to continue playing. Unfortunately, higher-tier gear often looks ridiculous, though towards the end of the game cool full sets of armour start to appear.

What’s different about Outriders is how it handles the looter-shooter hustle. First off, Poland-based People Can Fly isn’t positioning the game as an online service. There are no in-app purchases or season passes, and you can play the entire experience solo if you want (it’s much harder), though, like most games in the genre, Outriders is best played with a squad.