If you enjoyed throwing fireballs and teleporting like a ninja in Outriders last year, I have some good news: Developer People Can Fly has all the reasons for the return of Worldslayer in its upcoming expansion. While it wasn’t perfect, Outriders basically hit all the right notes with me when it launched, but some of that momentum faded due to completely miserable server issues and a largely lackluster story to begin with. With Worldslayer, Outriders seems poised to make a comeback, and if the games I’ve played so far are any indication, a 2.0 upgrade to this unforgettable raider shooter might be just what the Doctor asked for.
Worldslayer seems to be focused on making everything bigger in Outriders. Enoch’s new area has opened, allowing me to travel through a whole new set of biomes and slay some unique monsters in the process. New weapons and armors have been added to bring some new fiery freshness. Most excitingly, some new endgame progression options have been added for those who want to delve into building and playing long after the campaign is complete and the dust has settled.
New places I visited during Worldslayer included a frosty wasteland with giant snow rhinos, a place that turned me into an icicle and a swamp where a rude fisherman tried to chop my face off with a knife. Obviously the addition of various locations and enemies is welcome, but not as many as the new weapons and armor I’ve discovered along the way, which are now more powerful than ever. Some new toys called Apocalypse Items now drop a third mod slot which has helped me take my builds to the next level. I found an ice-themed automatic rifle that drains health from my enemies and scales with my anomalous energy, and a set that freezes enemies around me when my health is low armor. I already consider Outriders’ build system to be one of the best out there, and with the advent of Apocalypse Items, it seems to be getting better.
I already consider Outriders’ build system to be one of the best out there, and with the advent of Apocalypse Items, it seems to be getting better.
“
As you’d expect from any expansion worth mentioning, Outriders: Worldslayer also has a new story — though I can’t say I believe it enough to draw me into its bafflingly weird world. Maybe it’s because I’ve played too much Destiny, a sci-fi raider shooter with the same ailments for a long time, but the vanilla version of Outriders struggles to tell a story with all the excesses of space magic at the same time. So far, Worldslayer doesn’t seem to be any closer to solving this problem, with its storyline revolving around Noochy-centric The Anomaly, and a prophecy that predicts the end of the world. But as Destiny proves: if you’re successful at most other things, a lot of people won’t mind a forgettable story, so maybe that’s not a deal breaker.
But the most important thing for me is that Worldslayer introduces not one, but two new progression systems that will make your Outrider even worse. Pax Points, earned by progressing in events and unlocking new perks that expand the already extensive skill tree in the base game. For example, Trickster has a new Spectral Spike option that increases the chance of dealing bonus damage by 100% when using skills proportional to a person’s abnormal strength – some of these additions are no joke!
Once you reach max level, you’ll also unlock boost points, which allow you to boost your character’s abilities up to 200 times. It’s similar to Diablo 3’s Paragon system, with incremental improvements for those who really want to squeeze every ounce of power possible into their build. I haven’t witnessed this myself, but extending the grind of endgame beyond the base campaign could go a long way in getting me involved this time around. We’ll see if Worldslayer manages to do that when it drops later this year.
