Outriders May 2026

The issue isn’t the quantity—it’s the distinctiveness. Legendary weapons have unique models and set perks, but 90% of the purples and blues look identical. You’ll see the same "Double Gun" skin for twenty hours. The armor is better, with each class having distinct silhouettes, but you’ll still be squinting at stat bars more than admiring your character.

It crashes occasionally. The lip-sync is awful. The final boss is a disappointing damage sponge. But when you leap off a cliff, slow time mid-air, empty an assault rifle into a captain’s face, then teleport behind his corpse before it hits the ground? Few games make you feel that cool. OUTRIDERS

And yet… it works. Not because it’s good, but because it commits. There is no ironic winking at the camera. Outriders plays its grimdark, post-apocalyptic soap opera completely straight. By the time you reach the forest zone—haunted by a demonic entity made of pure anomaly energy—you’re either rolling your eyes or nodding along. I was nodding. The issue isn’t the quantity—it’s the distinctiveness

To the developer’s credit, they fixed almost all of it. The 2022 "Worldslayer" expansion overhauled the endgame, removed timers from most expeditions, added a roguelite "Trial" mode, and introduced the PAX skill trees (which are bonkers powerful). Today, Outriders is a stable, complete experience. But first impressions matter, and that launch tainted the game’s reputation forever. Short answer: Yes, especially with friends. The armor is better, with each class having

In the tutorial, the game literally tells you that staying behind a wall for more than three seconds will get you killed. Enemies have grenades, flanking AI, and "Breacher" units that rush you with shotguns. The only way to survive is to be aggressive. Use your movement skill (Teleport, Leap, or Gravity Jump) to close the gap. Heal by killing enemies close-range. Chain your abilities like a fighting game combo.

Cross-play was broken for months. The endgame "Expeditions" were timed, which forced players into pure DPS builds, invalidating entire support playstyles.

When OUTRIDERS dropped in April 2021, the gaming world was skeptical. Developed by People Can Fly (the geniuses behind Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment ) and published by Square Enix, it arrived in the shadow of Destiny 2 ’s dominance and Outriders ’ own disastrous demo server issues. Most critics wrote it off as "that other looter-shooter" — a game trying to cash in on a trend three years too late.