After rinsing the generous dollop of content that was the Outriders demo, I was left with a question: soldier on when the game comes out, or leave it there?
“I see potential in Outriders’ endgame…,” I wrote in March. “But it’s just so… old-school, I’m not sure I’ll be able to suffer it long enough to get to that point.”
Yesterday, after downloading the full game on PlayStation 5 and picking up my Devastator where she left off at the end of the demo, I ventured forth from the brown sludge of Rift Town to see if Outriders got more interesting.
Five hours and 10 character levels later, I’ve got an answer to that question: I’m going to stick with Outriders.
Outriders: The Devastator Watch on YouTube
I stand by my demo criticisms of People Can Fly’s looter shooter. Much of the level design is last, generation stuff, that paintball field layout with waist-high cover conveniently stuck in the mud. The demo was a linear, tight-feeling experience, and while the next three main areas offer slightly bigger play spaces, Outriders is so far still very much a linear shooter. When you see a big open space you know a boss fight is about to begin. It’s all very predictable.