With the “New Horizon” update, Outriders receives its first brand-new content. We at MeinMMO have already tested the content and reveal what you need to know and how the loot shooter stands seven months after release.
What is New Horizon? The first major update to Outriders not only overhauls the endgame but also brings fresh content and other changes.
Here’s what to expect:
- 4 new expeditions
- Endgame 2.0 with changes to the expedition system
- Merchant Thiago has been revamped
- A transmog system that allows you to customize your appearance freely
- Balance changes
Previously, the loot was radically changed to save the game.
When will the update be released? The update is free and available to all players from November 16. But does it make the game better? MeinMMO author Tarek Zehrer had the chance to play the content in advance and summarizes his impressions for you.
Here you can watch the trailer:
The endgame finally gets the much-needed refresh
What exactly was played? During the play event, I was allowed to try the four expeditions together with some other journalists and content creators.
In this context, we were able to get at least a brief impression and play for about four hours. During this time, we could examine all the changes.
The most important adjustment: The expeditions in the endgame no longer have a timer.
How was it before? Previously, the reward at the end of an expedition depended on how quickly you completed the mission.
- This led to the consequence that build diversity was greatly restricted and DPS was automatically the most important factor in the endgame.
- The more damage, the faster you completed a mission, and the higher the probability of legendary loot.
- This not only caused monotony but also wasted Outriders’ potential with the 4 classes and their possible builds.
Fans have been demanding this change for months, and with New Horizon, it has finally come to pass. And you can feel it directly while playing. Finally, you don’t have to rush through missions anymore. Especially while playing the new expedition, it was a blessing.
The new areas are very interesting and diverse. We had time to examine them carefully and play at our own pace. They also differ from one another and offer a lot of variety.
There are numerous open areas as well as narrower sections in the new expeditions. In total, there are four brand new missions:
- Molten Depths
- The Marshal’s Complex
- The Wellspring
- City of Nomads
Like the previous expeditions, these will also take you to different locations on the planet Enoch. While the Molten Depths leads you into a spider-infested cave, the City of Nomads takes you to an old desert town of the planet’s natives.
Each of the expeditions confronts you with different enemy types and several bosses. If you know the previous expeditions, you shouldn’t expect any huge surprises.
Here you can see some images of the new expeditions:
Nevertheless, I liked them well, and there are even some new enemy types. Thus, there is at least for a while fresh content for the endgame, including some new weapons. A few new enemy variants are also included.
Without the timer, the expeditions play out much more relaxed and allow for more experimentation with your gear. For me, this was a long-overdue and important change. Additionally, there are further innovations with the update.
Transmog and overhaul of the merchant further spice up the endgame
What is transmog? The second biggest innovation of the update is the transmog system. With it, you can optically adjust your gear without changing its stats.
The system is free of additional costs. You won’t need to spend any materials for it, and there are no microtransactions or anything like that.
Through your in-game gear, you can access the new transmog library and see which gear pieces you have already found. This is the only requirement to adjust your gear.
For example, you can make your Trickster look like a Devastator or Technomancer.
What is changing with the merchant? Thiago, the merchant in your camp who is the only NPC selling legendary gear, has also been overhauled.
You can now reroll his offer if you invest Drop-Pods accordingly. Thus, you have the chance to obtain desired legendary gear through his offerings.
Additionally, you can buy a random legendary item in his shop. However, all of this costs Drop-Pods, the in-game currency you receive through expeditions.
It is currently hard to say how exactly the balance changes will affect players. According to the developers, players should primarily feel more powerful, and the play session was unfortunately too short to verify that more accurately.
What about new weapons and armor? In our play session, there were already a few new epic weapons to see. However, we do not know details about them yet. It is also not known whether new perks will be added to the game with the update.
Outriders is now a large, complete package
Is it worth it now? After the rocky start of Outriders, New Horizon is something like a conclusion to the release phase. Even though it took seven months: I think the developers at People Can Fly wanted to release the game in this state all along.
With the update and the changes that have already been made in recent months, Outriders now feels complete to me. This also includes the fact that there are no serious bugs and glitches anymore.
The endgame is still not comparable to live-service games like Destiny 2 or other titles, but Outriders doesn’t want that and never wanted to.
If you’re now in the mood for some farming tours, you can look forward to a much more relaxed and motivating experience in the expeditions. The most important thing for me is that Outriders can finally unleash its biggest strengths: its really good classes and the associated build options.
Whether it is worth it for you depends of course on your preferences. But Outriders now offers a good package:
- A campaign that you can spend 15-25 hours on, experiencing a cheesy but entertaining story and just enjoying good loot shooter action.
- On top of that, there is the endgame system with a total of 19 expeditions that can finally be played without stress.
The price-performance ratio is quite good here, as Outriders offers considerable volume and is free of microtransactions.
So, if you want to play a good loot shooter that is now mostly free of bugs, you can confidently get Outriders or revisit it if it had too many errors before.
Especially since there will also be a proper large expansion named Worldslayer next year. However, unfortunately, no further information is known yet.
What do you think about it? Will you give Outriders another chance with the update? Or is the time for you gone?
