Tech Talk

Outriders is a drop-in, drop-out co-op shooter from the developers behind Bulletstorm.

Developer People Can Fly worked on a few Gears of War titles alongside Epic Games before creating Bulletstorm, an FPS notably at the time for its vulgar humor. Fast forward several years, and the developer is now on the cusp of releasing Outriders, a sci-fi co-op shooter set on a faraway alien planet after Earth's collapse. Could it become one of the best games on PS5? We'll need to wait and find out. Until then, we've gathered everything you need to know about Outriders, including what its gameplay and story are like, what you can expect out of its demo, and more.

Alien planet

Outriders

$60 at Amazon $60 at Best Buy $60 at Walmart

Follow the signal

Enoch is full of alien threats, but as an Outrider, you have supernatural powers at your disposal to help save the rest of humanity. Go it solo or team up with some friends to take on this adventure.

• What is Outriders?
• What's the gameplay like?
• What's the story?
• Will it have microtransactions?
• When does it release?

What is Outriders?

Square Enix describes Outriders as a "true AAA co-op shooter with a deep feature set and strong narrative," with gunplay that feels "tight and powerful." The third-person shooter takes place on the alien planet of Enoch, where humanity has come to colonize after Earth's collapse. The colonizers are welcomed by a massive storm known as the Anomaly, granting your character supernatural abilities while nearly killing you. After spending decades in cryo-sleep to prevent your death, you awake to encounter hostile forces, the colony seemingly having turned to war in the aftermath of the devastating Anomaly.

Outriders Gameplay

Outriders is played in a third-person perspective and features drop-in, drop-out co-op with up to two other players. Like other third-person shooters, a lot of its gameplay emphasizes taking cover while you attack your enemies strategically. What makes it so much fun is that you don't only have a few guns and gadgets at your disposal. You have supernatural abilities that really change the way you approach objectives.

What classes can I play?

Players can choose between one of four character classes, each having its own unique abilities and skillsets.

• Pyromancer - A mid-range fighter that specializes in fire. Pyromancers play a bit like sorcerers, focusing on areas of effect damage.
• Trickster - The Trickster is a close-range fighter that has control of time and space, allowing them to teleport across the battlefield. This playstyle is all about hit and run.
• Devastator - Another close-range combatant, the Devastator, is your tank. With Earth-based skills and control over gravity, you can easily crush your opponents.
• Technomancer - The Technomancer is more of a long-range support class but is versatile enough that it can be used for a variety of scenarios depending on how you build out your specs. Technomancer's have a wide range of gadgets to fight with.

All of these classes can be customized with the different gear you obtain, like weapons and armor, and tweaked depending on how you build out their skill trees.

Outriders Story

When the last of humanity makes a long journey to the alien planet of Enoch with the hopes of starting anew, things don't go quite as planned. While attempting to locate the source of a mysterious radio signal on Enoch, you're swept up by the Anomaly and put into cryo-sleep to prevent your death. Decades later, after you wake, you discover that the remnants of humanity are at war on Enoch over scarce resources, and you're not the only one that obtained supernatural powers as a result of the storm.

With war brewing and a mysterious signal to uncover, you set out to find out what the hell happened while you were asleep and how you can bring back humanity from the brink of collapse... again.

Will there be microtransactions?

People Can Fly have been adamant that Outriders is not a live service game like Destiny, and as such, it will be a complete experience from the beginning.

"We are not a games as a service title. There won't be loot boxes or pay to win scenarios. Players will be getting a complete experience out of the box," a company spokesperson said in a press release.

"We are gamers as well and we know what we don't like. So we wanted our first game to be what we would like, what we would play ourselves," said studio head Sebastian Wojciechowski. "Let's give the players, for their money, everything. There are no additional drops that will somehow enable you to play more, everything will be in, including game content."

Outriders When can I play it?

After a couple of delays, Outriders will finally land on April 1, 2021, for PS5, PS4, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. Anyone interested in the game can try out a free demo that will still be available after its full launch.

Alien planet

Outriders

$60 at Amazon $60 at Best Buy $60 at Walmart

Follow the signal

Enoch is full of alien threats, but as an Outrider you have supernatural powers at your disposal to help save the rest of humanity. Go it solo or team up with some friends to take on this adventure.