Gears of War: Judgement and Bulletstorm are two titles you have likely heard of from developers People Can Fly. And now, the team is stepping it up to bring about a whole new “original” multiplayer co-op RPG in Outriders that will be coming to both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Set in a future where mankind has more or less destroyed the earth and has ventured out among the stars in hopes of salvation. After decades of travel, a seemingly peaceful looking planet with the comforts of our earth appears to have been found. However, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Things turn violent and the hostile forces of the planet have revealed themselves, and now it is up to you (and your friends) to save the survivors and embark on a journey across the dangerous planet of Enoch.
The People Can Fly team promises that Outriders will be full of rich “storytelling spanning a diverse world” where you will “traverse forests, mountains, and deserts” while combining various “intense gunplay” with the use of “violent powers and an arsenal of increasingly twisted weaponry and gear-sets”. You know, I am starting to get the impression that this game may not be all that original after all… In fact, it sounds an awful lot like Bungie’s Destiny.
From what we saw of the Reveal Stream earlier today, Outriders shares a lot of similar plot points and narratives and gameplay styles to that of Destiny with some Anthem mixed in, especially with the 1-3 player co-op missions (think fireteam patrols in Destiny). This should be something to get us excited, but at this point, every game in the looter-shooter genre seems to always debut with an overwhelming amount of bugs and disappointment that leave much to be desired, not to mention giving the players a sense of false advertising. And while there is nothing to suggest that PCF is going to end up doing the same, we aren’t about to get our hopes up.
Watch the Outriders Official Reveal Stream to find out all you need to know about People Can Fly’s upcoming RPG-Shooter, and see the world-exclusive Gameplay Premiere. Malik Forte is joined by Bartosz Kmita and Joshua Rubin – Game Director and Lead Writer on Outriders – to discuss
As you can see, there is a lot of Destiny and Anthem familiarity here in Outriders. But we can’t help but notice what looks like a copy/paste of some mechanics from The Division with it’s duck and cover focus with some aesthetics that resemble Gears of War. This should add for an interesting mix of combat mechanics and fun, but speaking on behalf of only myself, I am not a fan of the third-person perspective, nor am I a fan of The Division. The repetitiveness of the bullet-sponge enemies and constant hiding around corners or behind barricades is not something that excites me.
The game certainly looks pretty, but I am not entirely impressed considering it is coming to next-gen consoles. Then again, the title is also coming to Steam so fingers crossed that it serves as a worthy replacement for the looter-shooter itch we have been getting. But then, we also have Borderlands 3 to look forward to on Steam later this year as well (been holding out for that for some time).
Outriders comes to PS5, XBSX, and PC this holiday season.
