Outriders is easily one of my favourite multiplayer games. People Can Fly has taken a massive step forward from their initial BulletStorm offering and have revamped the entire looting shooting genre. That isn’t without fault though: since release on April Fool’s Day in 2021, Outriders has seen virtually no expansion, and with the lack thereof, entering a cryo-rest like the titular characters of the title has been assured. While New Horizons added needed quality of life improvements, and a ‘new endgame,’ it was still not the expansion players were looking for an attempt at dressing a wilted lettuce salad. Enter, Outriders Worldslayer, the much-needed meat for the over-digested carapace of a game.
Outriders is far from a perfect experience; first off, if you go into it expecting a dynamite story, you should go elsewhere. This title sparkles like a Twilight protagonist in the sun if you play it with one goal: to have fun playing a co-op cover shooter with abilities and hopefully dedicated friends, an experience that can really maim your squad with difficulty spikes if communication and cohesive teamwork aren’t achieved.
There’s a problem though, Outriders Worldslayer delivers some much-needed extra content for the endgame, but with the looming threat of new antagonist, Ereshkigal, the leader of the human insurgence faction, a very promising premise for a new story.
The plot still makes as much sense as a 14-sided Rubix cube to me though, and what could have been a Witch Queen like story update falls on its face. There are loose ends being tied up here, a good start, but Outriders Worldslayer assaults players with harder-to-understand plot twists and confusing lore, not to mention the fantastic cringey lines that could only be described as ‘imagine dads were magical soldiers’ energy. This is not a story-based experience.
However, where Outriders Worldslayer succeeds, it SUCCEEDS. There are many new weapons, visual armour pieces, and modifications that can help a player’s Outrider do an ungodly amount of damage. The inclusion of Apocalypse gear allows players to snag another mod slot on already powerful gear, to have three mods instead of two. This can make your abilities destroy groups of enemies in spectacular fashion. As the Technomancer, every enemy I basically laid eyes on proceeded to be frozen solid instantly with the ultra-powerful extra third mod slot. Turrets stuck around for what felt like weeks, and my comrades felt like we were playing with five layers of gunfire instead of three.
“Outriders Worldslayer is a solid expansion for an aging title that sorely needed it.”
There are new Ascension points and Pax perks to make your character a more unstoppable force of nature, with ascension giving small overtime bonuses like cooldown rates for abilities, and Pax perks granting new god-like abilities that allow for ultimate destruction. Outriders Worldslayer also allows for new set-like legendary armour pieces, that can flay scores of enemies if your character is built for the set, an MMO staple finally included in the shooter.
Outriders Worldslayer gives players access to The Trial of Tarya Gratar, a huge three-part dungeon activity that can net some sweet gear, but with difficult boss fights that can take a decent chunk of time. The boss fights have ‘tells’ on when they will perform certain actions, but even an advanced Outrider might need to take a few deaths before learning the mechanics properly, which is completely serviceable. This is some of the most high-octane action in Outriders, and it is a fun dungeon run, but there is a severe lack of replay ability. The dungeon is the same road travelled each time, but you’re allowed to choose different paths, unfortunately the destination’s the same.
The main gripe with Outriders Worldslayer, is the lack of more content. This is just the same ole Outriders, just with more endgame. There are new equipment pieces to farm, and more abilities to master, but there’s a lack of variety. The expansion could have included a new class, which would make the game feel brand new with another playstyle, or new weapon types.
Outriders Worldslayer just doesn’t feel like enough, which is kind of the problem the initial adventure had. This is just ‘more Outriders,’ which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for those that are fans of the title, but it doesn’t add enough to attract a new audience. Oh, and those momentum KILLING moments when entering new areas are still there, why are those even cutscenes?
Outriders Worldslayer is a solid expansion for an aging title that sorely needed it. The inclusions that were made were sound, and the content added is satisfying and challenging, but in the long run, the expansion after about 10-20 hours may give the player Outriders fatigue. After all the new armour is collected, and the level cap is reached again, players may have the same problem they initially had with the base game, that it just ran out of content. Fans of Outriders NEED to get Worldslayer, as an excuse to adventure through Enoch once more on a huge power trip, while turning enemies into small red blotches.
