The shooter Outriders has introduced new content for players who have completed the campaign: Expeditions. These sound very much like the “Greater Rifts,” a popular feature from the action RPG Diablo 3.
What is Outriders? The new RPG shooter from Square Enix and People Can Fly focuses on co-op PvE and mixes elements of classic role-playing games and loot shooters, similar to Remnant: From the Ashes. Roughly it is a mix of Diablo and Anthem.
Weapons and skills in combination take you through various levels of a story campaign and the new endgame content.
What are Expeditions? The new endgame feature consists of repeatable missions with adjustable difficulty levels. They are available once the approximately 40-hour long campaign is completed.
In the Expeditions themselves, you have to defeat enemies and complete tasks to reach the end within a given time. This is designed for experienced players and groups who can coordinate their playstyles.
You unlock up to 14 Expeditions by ranking up in the available tiers. Once you have mastered all 15 difficulties, you gain access to the final Expedition: the Eye of the Storm. We’ve included a video on the Expeditions for you:
Greater Rifts – Just in a Shooter
How exactly do Expeditions work? You start the Expeditions via a map in your camp. There you will find various important points through which you can start the new missions. Each Expedition is uniquely crafted and is not made up of reused content.
The Expeditions utilize 15 “Challenge Tiers,” which can make each mission harder or easier. The difficulty, along with your speed, determines how good your loot in the Expedition is.
The faster you are, the better the rewards. The loot is only available at the end. Therefore, you can focus on completing all assigned tasks as quickly as possible. By successfully completing them, you then gain access to higher tiers.
This feature is intended to further upgrade your character after reaching the max level of 30. Weapons and equipment you have collected can level up in the Expeditions up to level 50.
What does this have to do with Diablo 3? The feature is structurally similar to the “Greater Rifts” in Diablo 3. They are also the ultimate endgame content in the action RPG for anyone looking to improve. Greater Rifts work as follows:
- you start at a low level and work your way up
- the faster you complete a Rift, the greater your reward and the higher you climb in the tier
- you receive no loot until defeating the last boss
- the Rift must be completed within a given time, otherwise it is considered failed
The Rifts are designed for you to adapt and optimize your character builds and abilities to ensure you come through the levels ideally. Each season, players come up with the best builds for their class and level up with them.
This works the same in Outriders: You should specialize and can freely and costlessly change your talents to adapt to your group.
Crafting and Mods Enhance the Expeditions
What else is there: Closely tied to the Expeditions is Outriders’ crafting feature. This allows you to manufacture or modify weapons. Weapons and armor have slots for mods, passive skills that change their properties or add effects.
You obtain mods by breaking down special items that they are found on. You can break down legendary items with unique abilities. This way you get this special mod that you can then insert into another item.
There are general mods for weapons and attributes as well as specific mods for classes that can only be applied to armor. Combining both, you can create your own builds and generate strong synergies.
When can I play Outriders? Outriders will be released on February 2, 2021 after a delay on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Epic and Steam). It will also launch on Google Stadia during the course of the coming year.
