Outriders - Preview of the new shooting game presented by Square Enix

The recently concluded 2019 edition of E3 in Los Angeles brought us the first images of Outriders, the new title coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC developed by People Can Fly, creators of Gears of War: Judgment and Bulletstorm. Although no gameplay images were shown directly, during the conference of Square Enix A trailer was shown (which you can find at the top of the article), in which we are presented with a violent and dark world, where science fiction and supernatural seem to merge.

A group of warriors whose names we still do not know find themselves in hostile territory, catapulted into infernal scenarios. Against them creatures that seem to have escaped from a nightmare, similar to demons. The protagonists fight these monsters with bullets and energy attacks that suggest that some kind of magic or technology with mystical powers persists in the world of Outriders. The setting is, however, science fiction and this can be seen from the first frames of the trailer, in which a girl awakens from what could be cryogenic sleep.

The design of the environment and armor, as well as that of the weapons, vaguely recalls those of the aforementioned Gears of War and Bulletstorm, both in shapes and colors, and then surprise with some elements that let us think of alien weapons of unknown manufacture . We are also shown some very different scenarios: first the three warriors look out over a town, and then enter a dense forest. In the remaining minutes of the cinematic trailer they are instead engaged in intense shootings in a battlefield engulfed in flames. Giant enemies rise up against them. One of these is even immune to machine gun shots fired at it. Outriders He therefore presented himself giving us a fleeting glimpse of the atmospheres in which he will drop us, while maintaining an aura of mystery about the real game plot. However, we know for sure that it will be a drop-in / drop-out cooperative shooter, for one to three players.

Word to the study

Always in the frame of the showcase of Square Enix, following the viewing of the trailer shown, the Studio Head of People Can Fly, Sebastian Wojciechowski, who explained how much the developers have cared about this project for years. The same stated that Outriders is one of the most ambitious projects ever for his studio. A behind-the-scenes video was also shown, introduced by Creative Director Bartosz Kmita: he was keen to specify that one of the objectives being implemented was to create “an experience with a strong history, to be enjoyed both as a cooperative and as a single person”.

From “behind the scenes” we were able to take a closer but still quick look at the weapons and design of a decidedly alien creature. In some frames you can see some of the developers testing the game, showing a third-person view shot. Also according to the Creative Director, the strengths of Outriders will be the gunplay and the game world, which will be hostile, dark and wild but at the same time extremely engaging for the players.

From the words of the developers we discover that we can "Create our outrider", but it is not clear if they have referred to the possibility of creating a character from scratch or if instead it will be a customization system based on the choice of developing certain skills rather than others, based on already existing protagonists. A fundamental part of the gameplay will probably be the exploratory aspect of the title, in search of useful resources in the game world: whether it is some form of open world?

After the "tastings" of Outriders and Square Enix gave us during E3 2019, we still have a lot of curiosity. It is difficult to say with certainty which elements (among those suggested during the presentation) really characterize the title in question. The launch window has been indicated approximately for summer 2020, so we can expect some news on this in the coming months. The real big unknown remains the gameplay of which, as already explained, it was not possible to discover anything concrete but which could reveal much more about the nature of this new IP.