PETER HOSKIN: Reviews the ‘explosively charming’ Outriders

A server crash scuppered my space ranger: PETER HOSKIN reviews Outriders and Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

Outriders (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)

Verdict: Explosively charming

Rating:

A grenade lands at your feet. Without squandering a second, you leap from its sphere of destructive influence. While still in the air, you make one, two, three trigger pulls. That’s three enemies gone. Then it’s time for one of your special powers and… sorry, black screen. You’re suddenly back at the game’s main menu.

Welcome to Outriders. This, like many games nowadays, demands an online connection so that you can experience its war-racked world with others. Except, since its launch a couple of weeks ago, Outriders has been having server problems. I’ve been yanked unexpectedly out of its missions on several occasions.

And yet I kept re-fixing my gun belt and going back in. Outriders is also similar to many other modern games by being a ‘looter-shooter’ — the idea is that you defeat the latest set of enemies, claim better equipment for your character, then repeat. It’s a gameplay loop that’s meant to pull you in. In this case, it does.

Outriders, pictured, is an enjoyable 'looter-shooter' which allows you to claim new equipment after killing the latest round of enemies

Outriders, pictured, is an enjoyable ‘looter-shooter’ which allows you to claim new equipment after killing the latest round of enemies

This is mostly due to Outriders’ basic competence (outside of those technical issues). Very little of what it offers is new: a daft sci-fi plot involving storms on a distant planet; the usual running, crouching and shooting; superpowers to turn the battle in your favour. But it’s all done with sufficient care to make the whole experience, as bloody as it is, quite endearing.

Besides, there’s one thing that Outriders does particularly well: its upgrades. Whether its picking up new guns or choosing between unearthly specialisms, you can make your character precisely as you want to make them. Your muscular space ranger will be very different from mine, in look and in play.

Which makes Outriders worth sticking with, particularly now that the server issues are being fixed. You’ll actually be able to use that special power next time.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (PlayStation, PC, £32.99)

Verdict: Glitterball greatness

Rating:

Gosh — how to describe Disco Elysium? It’s a swirly-whirly game in which you, a drunk detective, contend with your psyche as much as with the corruption on the decaying streets outside.

It’s adult. It’s funny. It’s detailed. It was one of the best games ever made when it was originally released in 2019.

And now it’s even better: the new ‘Final Cut’ adds hours’ worth of characterful voice acting, as well as extra things to do. Wallow in its singular attractions.

Gosh — how to describe Disco Elysium? It’s a swirly-whirly game in which you, a drunk detective, contend with your psyche as much as with the corruption on the decaying streets outside

Gosh — how to describe Disco Elysium? It’s a swirly-whirly game in which you, a drunk detective, contend with your psyche as much as with the corruption on the decaying streets outside