Outriders, the upcoming looter-shooter from People Can Fly, has been steadily building interest in the approach to its February release date. As a third-person sci-fi cooperative adventure with RPG elements,Outridershas been compared a lot to Bungie’sDestinyseries.
While it doesn’t seem likely that the game willunseat Bungie’s popular looter-shooter, it doesn’t need to. It’s perfectly possible for titles that share similarities in gameplay and art-style to flourish alongside each other. People Can Fly may have an uphill struggle ahead, but here’s whyDestinyplayers should sit up and take notice.
People Can Fly Knows Sci-Fi Shooters
Polish studio People Can Fly was founded in 2002 and released its first title,Painkiller, two years later. The frenetic first-person shooter did well for a debut title, giving the studio the clout it needed to persuade Epic Games to allow it to port thefirstGears of Wartitleto PC in 2007. From there, the studio became more heavily involved in the landmark sci-fi third-person shooter series.
People Can Fly co-developedGears of War 2alongside Epic in 2008, then did the same for the sequel in 2011. During this period, the studio also worked withEpic Games onBulletstorm, another shooter title that received a warm critical reception.
In 2013 the Polish studio releasedGears of War: Judgment, its first solo-developedGears of Warproject. Again, the spin-off title received praise from critics, with many applauding its multiplayer modes, visuals, and action. People Can Fly has demonstrated that it has a solid grasp of these three elements, all of which will be core to the upcomingOutriders. Just like Bungie after its work on theHaloseries, it’s impossible to deny that People Can Fly have the chops to produce a high quality sci-fi shooter.
A Difficult Field
One of the main reasons that some may have been doubtful ofOutriderschances to attractDestinyfans is that there is very little historical precedent. Time and time again, the looter-shooter genre has proven to be a very hard one to break into. The delicate balance of reward, grind, satisfaction, and excitement can easily be tilted too far in one direction, leaving players unsatisfied.
For examples of this, fans don’t even need to look that far into the past.Anthem, BioWare’s attemptto break into the genre, was panned for its repetitive grind and empty world. More recently, Counterplay Game’sGodfallhit the same problem, receiving only middling reviews following its November 2020 launch. In February,Outriderswill be stepping onto a field littered with Triple-A titles that failed to achieve their promise. Nevertheless, People Can Fly has made it clear that it’s aware of the difficulties in producing a looter shooter that feels satisfying on launch day. Armed with this foresight, and many examples to learn from, there’s no reason thatOutriderscan’t find its own place in the genre.
RELATED:Outriders May Just Be a Marriage of Mass Effect and Borderlands
Similar Doesn’t Mean Identical
It’s no secret that there are a lot ofsimilarities betweenOutridersandDestiny. The art-style is the most obvious one, with its blend of sci-fi cloaks, shiny super-powers, and sleek weaponry. The classes are also similar, withOutriders' Devastator, Trickster, and Pyromancer seeming to fill identical roles toDestiny’s Titan, Hunter, and Warlock, although it should be note these comparisons are only surface level. However, this doesn’t mean that the game won’t have something new to offerDestinyfans.
One of the most obvious differences is thatOutriders will also offer a fourth class, the Technomancer, which has its own unique gameplay style. Another feature that may be of interest toDestinyplayers is the World Tier system, which allows difficulty to scale based on player performance. If People Can Fly can pull this off, the studio will be able to deliver a title where players can always feel challenged, but never overwhelmed. This alone may not be enough to tempt players away from their Guardians, but it should definitely make them take notice.
Outridersreleases Jul 20, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Stadia version in development for later in 2021.
