Outriders

Outriders showers you in guns. Blue, purple, and eventually legendary (gold) drops happen constantly. You will spend a significant portion of your playtime in the menus, comparing stats, dismantling duplicates, and applying mods. For loot gremlins, this is heaven. For everyone else, it’s exhausting.

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. OUTRIDERS

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. Outriders showers you in guns

Do not skip the journal entries. The hidden lore about the "Anomaly" and the planet’s indigenous creatures is genuinely Lovecraftian and better written than the main campaign. The Gameplay: Cover is for Cowards (Literally) Here is where Outriders shines. People Can Fly made a deliberate design choice that sets it apart from Gears or The Division : Cover is a trap. For loot gremlins, this is heaven

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.