A week later, I still haven’t committed to an Outrider class

Over the last week, I have immersed myself about 25 hours in Outriders“Plus the dozen I spent repeatedly running the demo.” And yet I have not yet committed to a core class. That’s not indicative of indecision on my part (okay, okay, maybe a little bit). That’s a testament to how awesome all the classes are in this game.

The boot shooter Outriders, officially released last week for everything but the Switch, introduces you as an interstellar mercenary tasked with plotting terrain on a possibly habitable exoplanet. After an over-the-top prologue, which takes you through an hour of painted-by-numbers third-person shooter gameplay, you can choose from four distinct classes, each of which imbues you with a different kind of frankly overpowered space magic. . That’s when the game gets good.

I’m currently shooting with four characters, three of whom I’ve kept roughly the same place in terms of story progression and level. I’m totally at a loss as to which one I should focus on.

The Trickster is clearly the coolest, or at least the newest. By choosing this class, you can instantly teleport behind enemies or draw a sword and spin like a dreidel, cutting everything in your path. A power allows you to create a bubble that slows everything in it, except for your character, at a slow rate. It’s a lot like cordoning off a small strip of the battlefield and saying, “This space is now Matrix. “What a blast. I’ve been rocking this Trickster solo at times, but more often in co-op sessions with KotakuZack Zweizen (well, when he deigns to take the time to play with me).

There is also the Devastator, basically the Outriders version of a tank. Choose the Devastator class and you can lock yourself in a cape of stone, nullifying damage taken. A medium level skill allows you to place a force field that reflects the bullets. You also unlock a move that is literally called Impale. (It works exactly how you imagine.) I’ve been playing this with a friend who is a Cheater. The two kinds go together like baked brie cheese and fig jam; once you try it, it’s sad to imagine one without the other.

For solo play, the Technomancer seems the best. When people can fly He showed Outriders Last spring with only three classes, saying that a nameless fourth would appear in the main endgame. It turned out to be the Technomancer, a type of Inspector Gadget that can place turrets, launch land mines, summon rocket launchers, and heal when commanded. Each class in Outriders restores health through various combat parameters. (For example, Ravagers heal a bit when you kill enemies in close combat.) In this sense, Technomancers are superior: all the damage you deal will heal you.

Lastly, there’s the Pyromancer, who can shoot flames and immolate enemies. I’ve spent the least amount of time with this class, partly because fire powers have been done a lot in video games, and partly due to circumstances. I created my Pyromancer during the demo, when cross-play between PC and consoles something worked and could play with a friend linked to the PC. On the heels of some server issues from launch weekend, developer People Can Fly temporarily disabled cross-play between console gamers and PC gamers. in a cheep This week, People Can Fly said that full cross-play functionality will be included in a future patch. I’ll probably wait until it turns back on, when I can team up with my friend again, before I revisit this character.

So yeah, I’m in a bind.

My indecision has led me to a situation where I am playing the game three times simultaneously. I’ll go through a region, including all the side quests, because that’s how my brain works, then I’ll switch to a different character and run it again. Most of the missions follow the same structure, in that you just push forward and shoot everything you see. But I haven’t been bored for a moment, especially since the four classes are so distinguished, almost as if I’m playing a different game with each one. The same mission can feel like a typical cover-based shooter while played as one class, as an up-close and personal action game as another, and as some of the Bazonkers Platinum Games work as another.

Either Destination or BorderlandsIn loot games, it’s natural to focus on reinforcing one character before starting over with a second. In Outriders, at least for me, it is less straightforward. I’m baffled, unable to make up my mind, juggling three interstellar guys I love equally. However, when it comes to problems, I guess it’s not bad to have it. We’ll see how I feel after another region or two.

Plus Outriders