Publisher Square Enix and developer People Can Fly have just released new gameplay footage of their upcoming third-person RPG shooter titled Outriders. The unveiling of the footage was first made available through the first Outriders Broadcast and showcased the game’s First City, introduced the game’s customizable UI, explained the game’s evolving difficulty system called World Tiers, and showcased one of the game’s classes: the Trickster.
The game takes place on the foreign planet Enoch. Players first arrive at First City, the initial settlement founded on Enoch which is powered by the crashed reactor of the massive spaceship Flores. The reactor was eventually damaged by the first of many anomaly storms on the planet which caused loss of power, contaminated food and water, and many perished. This resulted in decades of war and rioting and caused the once thriving city to turn into a wasteland full of scavengers, looters, and mutated wildlife.
Next is the game’s customizable user interface. A role-playing game shooter is guaranteed to have a cluttered user interface with your usual offenders such as the HUD, mini-map, weapon and ammo display, and other RPG mainstays such as your XP bars, skill cooldowns, and quest trackers. Players will have the freedom to customize what they want to see on the screen, whether they’re exploring, going on quests, or doing something else.
The World Tier level is the game’s main core loop. The World Tier level can be adjusted depending on whether players want to just finish the story first and worry about grinding later, or if they want a much more challenging experience. World Tiers go from Rank 1 to 15 and provide rewards such as stronger weapons, cosmetics, and resource materials. Progress for World Tiers are tracked through a bar and will be deducted if the players die.
Lastly, the class Trickster was introduced as the game’s assassin-like playstyle. Focused on manipulating space and time, Tricksters have the ability to weave in and out of the fight quickly, dishing damage in the process. As with any classes, Tricksters have their own innate healing ability which requires them to get up close and personal with enemies to regain their health. Finally, the Trickster’s four initial powers are enumerated with four more to be unlocked as time goes on. They are: Temporal Slice, which stuns enemies in its range, Borrowed Time, which leaves a clone that players can go back to, Slow Trap, which slows down projectiles and enemies, and Hunt The Prey, which highlights enemies and allows players to teleport to them.
Outriders is due out for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam this Holiday season.
