People Can Fly's sci-fi shooter Outriders shares DNA with plenty of other games - Destiny, Anthem, and The Division, to name a few. But another game Outriders bears a striking resemblance to, at least in its opening moments, is BioWare's Mass Effect.
While sci-fi shooters have been a dime a dozen for years, they all have their own unique flavor. Mass Effect is mostly optimistic in its outlook on the future, taking a page out of the Star Trek-style of sci-fi storytelling. In its opening hour, Outriders looks to take a similar route, putting players in the role of a member of an elite military organization dedicated to protecting humanity as it tries to make a home for itself among the stars.
It's not exactly a unique premise, but where Outriders differs is how quickly the game trades this bright, Mass Effect-like future for a darker, in-the-trenches tone. Outriders at first embraces a hopeful outlook on the future, only for it to all come crashing down.
Outriders Initially Mimics Mass Effect, Only To Pull A Bait And Switch
Outriders' story involves the remnants of humanity traveling aboard a colony ship. Earth has been decimated, and these human colonists have at last found a lush alien world called Enoch that has the potential to be a new home for mankind. Players begin the game among the first people to set foot on Enoch, making sure the coast is clear to begin colonization efforts. Enoch is a vibrant planet, full of greenery and sunlight. Scientists and researches comment on Enoch's potential as a home, in awe of the alien marvels all around them. Humanity's future is looking bright.
It's not all that different from the story of Mass Effect. In BioWare's beloved series, humanity began its journey into the stars by discovering alien technology on Mars, which eventually led to interstellar travel and interactions with alien species. Though there are conflicts, differences between the species are largely settled, and peace is the norm. Players are Commander Shepard, a Spectre - a defender of not only humanity but the galaxy as a whole. Science and technology have made the universe a better place. Humanity has blossomed, and even though the Reapers threaten to bring it all to an end, day-to-day life in the Mass Effect universe feels like something out of Star Trek.
At first glance, players could almost mistake the first hour of Outriders as a Mass Effect spin-off. It shares more than a few visual similarities with BioWare's franchise. Armor worn by the main character at the start of the game almost looks like N7 armor, while giant vehicle transports look awfully similar to Mass Effect's Mako. And there are gameplay similarities, too: Both games are cover-based shooters in which players choose a class and have special abilities.
But that's where the similarities quickly end. Unlike Mass Effect, any sense of optimism or hope in Outriders is dashed in record time. It's not a twist, per se, but the way Outriders tosses out its bright, technology-induced future for a low-tech, in-the-mud aesthetic is almost jarring. Turns out, Enoch is home to a massive storm called "The Anomaly" that causes advanced technology to stop functioning. The plan to colonize the planet quickly falls apart, resulting in the destruction of the colony ship and most of its inhabitants. The survivors are left fighting for scraps, and rival factions soon engage in a brutal war for resources. Gone are the lush forests, replaced by mud-filled trenches, foxholes, and barbed wire. Combat is bloody and messy, as enemies explode into pieces or are reduced to skeletons via psychic powers - and that's all just in the game's first few hours.
It remains to seen how the story of Outriders will play out, but it's not likely to be a tale of coexistence, peace, and stability. Considering how closely it mimics more optimistic sci-fi futures like Mass Effect before revealing the ugly truth, it's almost like Outriders is trying to lure players into a false sense of security in its opening moments. If that was the goal, it's certainly effective.
Outriders comes to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 on April 1, 2021.