Outriders is a great game that MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus regularly evokes rage screams. Although the new shooter does a lot right, our author often yells at his monitor, although he had actually given up on outbursts when gaming.
What is Outriders? The new loot shooter from Square Enix and People Can Fly was officially released on April 1 for PC (Steam and Epic), PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Google Stadia.
Since then I’ve played nearly 20 hours and taken another ten hours from the demo . Outriders gets a lot right: the shooting feels wonderful, the loot is a real reward, and crafting is a pleasure.
With legendary weapons and armor, there’s always something to look forward to. The four classes play differently and uniquely, and the crunchy endgame drives me to finally reach max level.
And all of this can be played with friends, when the servers are stable. Fixed campaign, endgame grind, cool features, and coop – basically everything I need in a game to love it. But …
And why did you scream? Broadly speaking: because I die, and that often. While “often” here means that there are a few places I simply find unfair. This has annoyed me so much several times that I screamed at my monitor.
The last time that happened was a few years ago when I was still playing League of Legends and Overwatch with too much ambition. However, I am older now and have also become a bit calmer. I had actually given up on tantrums while gaming. Nevertheless, Outriders has already caused me at least three outbursts …
High difficulty and … cheating enemies?
This drives me up the wall in Outriders: I get beaten up regularly and hard. Not even frequently – most of the time I complete a mission without problems or with at most one death.
But there are a few spots where I just run into a wall. Or more accurately: the wall runs into me.
I play a Devastator and am heavily focused on melee combat. Therefore, the snipers are especially annoying for me, who for some reason are also ridiculously strong. However, I can easily ambush them with my gravity leap.
Here comes the catch: once I break through the enemy lines, I’m pretty much sure to be dead. There are several reasons for this:
- The enemies flee and my buffs expire if I can’t kill them
- If they die too far away from me, I don’t heal as a Devastator
- NPCs somehow manage to move damn fast across the battlefield – seemingly faster than I do
- Also, they ALWAYS hit. I have no idea how they do it, but as soon as I’m not in cover, they bust out the aimbot
- Moreover, sometimes new enemies spawn in places that I have already cleared – almost as if they cheat
- This quickly surrounds me with several elite enemies that I can’t just blow away
- If my defensive buffs expire, I’m as good as dead
In such situations, I have significantly more problems with Outriders than in a boss fight. Because with bosses, I usually die from abilities I didn’t know about. There, I learn from my mistake and do better next time. But what do you do against random spawns that overwhelm you? Right, scream at the monitor.
Is Outriders too hard, are you too weak?
Is it supposed to be like this? It’s quite possible that I’m just incapable. However, I doubt that. I’ve been a gamer for about 17 years now, have spent countless hours in all sorts of games, and have even participated in semi-professional tournaments.
I consider myself to have a good understanding of a game, and shooters belong to the genre I play most often – even competitively. So, I don’t think I’m just playing badly.
I rather suspect that the game isn’t necessarily designed for my play style. My approach is always ultra-aggressive and even though Outriders isn’t a cover shooter at heart, there is indeed cover.
Presumably, it should be used – or one simply should not get behind enemy lines so quickly. That dying when surrounded is also somewhat clear. Still, it feels unfair, after all, as a “Altered” I am basically a god and these stinky rebels are just humans…
Just play on “easy”? Yes, that would of course be an option, but my pride and ambition prevent me from doing so. I’m an incredibly competitive player and want to achieve things when I start them.
In Outriders, this means: once I reach a new world tier, I want to make it to the next world tier. This is only possible if I play the current one. That’s not necessarily smart, as I lose progress with every death, but … something in me drives me to play Outriders this way.
Moreover, I’d rather sit down to analyze my mistakes and somehow do better. What really bothers me, however, is that there is no gear score. I have no idea whether my equipment is even suitable for playing at the current difficulty in Outriders. I would wish for much more overview and clarity.
Outriders is damn unfair and yet damn rewarding
Sounds kind of annoying: Yes, it is. Very much. But it’s also like that when you die for the X-th time in Dark Souls or Bloodborne against a boss. And yet you happily continue to rearrange your face, again and again.
It’s similar in Outriders, at least for me. I am driven by the will to overcome this spot. Even if I turn off the game afterward and go to sleep, I want to get through the mission.
Why do you keep playing? The feeling of reward after overcoming such a tough spot is simply wonderful. Games that can provide such a feeling are always at the top of my list of top games.
Recently, Valheim also achieved that, where the boss fights feel incredibly satisfying. And when a game rewards you for your effort, sweat, and yelling at the monitor, you keep playing.
Outriders also offers a very cool loot system. After a challenging mission, there are always new items that allow me to upgrade my build and fix weaknesses. This is great, especially since so much crafting is possible. I think anyway, that crafting sets Outriders apart from all other loot shooters.
My next love-hate relationship
At the moment, I can hardly say whether my enthusiasm for Outriders is only maintained by the allure of the new or if I will play it long-term. However, I suspect that this rollercoaster ride between rage, hatred, despair, and joy will keep me busy for a long time.
Outriders will most likely be my next love-hate relationship, just like the Soulslike games were before. I don’t want to compare Outriders to Dark Souls, the differences are too great. But this divide between frustration and relief that I bridge again and again comes pretty close.
Moreover, Outriders is complete. There is a story for up to 40 hours and then it’s “end” – only the endgame with the grind like in Diablo comes after that. But that’s optional, and whether I sink as many hours into it as in Diablo 3 remains to be seen.
The chance is at least there. And so far it has always been the case that after an outburst of rage I have continued to play with a particularly focused mindset and mastered the mission shortly thereafter. It’s especially satisfying when I can then blow away one of the bounty targets in a cutscene.
With a bit of luck, the story will continue in the future. Even though Outriders is a finished game, the developers have not ruled out DLCs. I have always liked add-ons, and if Outriders continues, I’ll definitely take another look and yell at my monitor again.
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