The lead writer for Outriders says it's a "classic journey to the heart of darkness"

The lead writer for Outriders says it's a "classic journey to the heart of darkness"

By Heidi Nicholas, 14 Feb 2020
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Outriders, the sci-fi RPG shooter out in the Holiday period later this year, is a "dark...brutal, nightmarish" game. The devs, speaking in the official reveal stream, say it's a "classic journey into the heart of darkness", and that what was really important to them when making this game, was that it "was not clean sci-fi". We've detailed everything we know so far about the Outriders gameplay here, and have laid out everything we know about the game's story and lore below.

In Outriders, Earth is gone. Humanity's last hope is Enoch, a lush, untamed planet which represents a second chance. There are about half a million refugees on an "ark ship", but the Outriders are the vanguard. First to set foot on the planet, the devs say they're the mercenary, explorer type. There's a signal somewhere on the planet, but something goes wrong whilst the Outriders are looking for it, and they encounter an anomaly which can change time, gravity, and the laws of physics. The resulting storm forces the Outriders back into cryosleep for 30 years, and whilst they're sleeping, the planet changes. The anomaly storm hyper-evolves everything on the planet, and when the Outriders wake up, it's a much more hostile place. This is where the player comes in.

The signal is still going, 30 years later, and the devs say it'll be a key motive for players to find out what it is. Many didn't survive the anomaly, but the ones that did were "rebuilt...as gods". Even the DNA of the Outriders has been rebuilt, giving them strange powers. The game has several RPG elements, and one of them is the character classes. There are four, but the devs have only revealed three so far: Pyromancers with fire powers, Tricksters who can "manipulate the fabric of time and space", and Devastators, tank-like characters with brute force. The Outriders team say they want to avoid such clear-cut phrases as "hero" and "villain", and instead want everyone, including the player, to be "morally questionable". The trailer about the game's RPG and customisation elements say that some of the other humanoids you encounter during the game have similar powers, but "paid a heavier price".

Pretty much everything in Outriders will be customisable, including the player-character. The game will take players beyond civilisation, and the devs say that what they find over the edge in terms of history is "only just beginning" to be touched on in this first game. Enoch, the planet itself, will be vast, ranging between mountains, forests, and deserts. The game isn't open-world, but players will have an Outriders truck which will function as their home. They'll travel through the world with it, and each time they stop to "claim" a place, they'll explore the area around it. In multiplayer, other player's trucks will join yours to form a convoy. There'll be convoy NPCs to talk to, who'll repair your gear, give you side quests, and chat around the campfire with you.

The lead writer for Outriders, Joshua Rubin, says that with Outriders, getting to "build a whole new sci-fi world from a blank canvas" was a "dream job". He says the team "started from zero" and "created 100 years of lore...going back to all of the seismic conflict that destroyed our planet." They explored the "colonisation of a new planet, working with these incredible scientists...to how it would then go disastrously wrong." He has some pretty varied experience, having worked on the likes of Assassin's Creed II and Destiny, so it'll be interesting to see what he's done with Outriders when it releases in the Holiday period later this year. If it's Outriders gameplay you want to know more about, have a look through here.
Xbox One

Written by Heidi Nicholas
Hey, I'm Heidi! I've just finished studying a Masters in English Literature, but I've been obsessed with gaming since long before then. I began on the PS2 with Spyro, before graduating to the Xbox 360 and disappearing into Skyrim. I'm now a loyal RPG fan, but I still like to explore other genres — when I'm not playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, or being lured back into Red Dead Redemption 2 or The Witcher 3!