It’s safe to say we fell in love with Outriders when it released last year.
While it had some issues, mainly of the server variety, it scratched the same itch as one of our other favourite game series, Diablo. We simply loved taking down hordes of enemies, gaining inventories full of loot as we went. And as our stats went up thanks to the gear we found, modded and upgraded, Outriders allowed us to push the difficulty ever higher, meaning even better gear could be found. It’s an addictive cycle.
Eventually though, we overcome its campaign, and even its endgame content with much build optimisation. And so the arrival of a meaty expansion has us excited. Worldslayer brings yet another campaign to Outriders as well as a new endgame activity, but it’s the overhaul that it gives to the game’s difficulty system as well as new gear to find that’s going to be the biggest draw for most fans.
Carrying on from where the campaign of Outriders left off, Worldslayer finds the humans left stranded on Enoch still in danger. But the Outriders’ most trusted scientist, Zahedi, thinks there might still be hope, and so of course you’re going to take action. Your new quest to save humanity leads to a variety of new locations, a snowy tundra being just one of them. And along the way there are new foes to encounter and new bosses to beat.
It’s just a shame that the big bad of the new story, Ereshkigal, has so little screen time. She’s mysterious and seemingly powerful, but you’ll have dealt with her before you even know it. That’s partly because the new story pushes you along with gusto, moving from one epic fight to another without much room to breathe. There aren’t even any side missions to occupy your time with. But just as you think everything is over, Outriders: Worldslayer introduces you to Tarya Gratar.
The Trial of Tarya Gratar is technically the new endgame activity introduced via the Worldslayer expansion, but you also have to dip your toes in it to see the story to its end. This location is vast, comprised of numerous hubs with rooms and routes sprouting out of them. You enter with a limited number of retries, and so it’s a challenge to see just how far you can get without meeting your demise.
Chances are, unless you’re skilled at the game or working with a team, it won’t be very far at all. But it’s okay; back at the entrance you can optimise your gear, dust yourself off and then re-enter to try again. Next time, you could try a different route, explore somewhere new, or simply retrace your steps but try to do things better. Whatever you choose, you can be sure of two things: you’ll find plenty of things to kill, and you’ll accumulate lots of loot.
Savvy players will even catch on that areas of Tarya Gratar can be targeted for specific loot types. Perform well enough, and you can even overcome a sequence of bosses that will let you hand-pick a legendary piece of gear for your efforts. Needless to say, the Trial of Tarya Gratar is as fun as it is rewarding, offering an alternative to the existing Expeditions for players wanting to max out their characters and get the best loot possible.
It’s in this area that Outriders: Worldslayer raises the bar, replacing the existing World Tier and Challenge Tier systems into a single Apocalypse Tier. Previously, Challenge Tier 15 was the highest you could go, leading to a max gear level of 50. The Apocalypse Tier system offers an additional 25 tiers on top of that, meaning the new max gear level is 75. Needless to say, this means your characters can substantially grow in power.
There are other new ways to develop your character thanks to the Outriders: Worldslayer expansion, too. You’ll gain up to five Pax Skill Points as you make your way through the new campaign, for example, which can be distributed among a new skill tree unique to each class. Each of the nodes on these skill trees has a dramatic effect on your abilities, too. Take the Devastator: one of the nodes enables them to gain a hefty shield each time they use a Seismic skill, boosting their survivability to new levels.
On top of that, there’s also a new Ascension level system. This is essentially the same as Diablo 3‘s Paragon system if you’re familiar with it, allowing you to continue levelling up after reaching character level 30. The points earned upon raising your Ascension level can then be placed into one of four categories, each with five parameters that can be boosted. You might choose to increase your anomaly power, for example, or how much health your weapon leaches. With 200 Ascension points to be earned, they can make quite a difference.
For those who want to max out their characters and beat everything that the Trial of Tarya Gratar can throw at them at max Apocalypse Tier, then, there’s hours upon hours of gameplay to be had from Outriders: Worldslayer. And there’s yet another feature that will make developing your character more exciting: Apocalypse Gear.
With the Worldslayer expansion in play, any piece of gear you find, including the many pieces of new legendary gear, can be spawned with the Apocalypse status. What does it mean? Well, it means it will have three mods attached to it instead of the normal two. You can still only switch one of the mods out for something better or more appropriate, mind, but it allows for deeper character customisation and yet more synergies between mods.
After playing Outriders with the Worldslayer expansion, we just can’t imagine playing it any other way. For those who want to challenge themselves to hit the max Apocalypse Tier, there are tens, if not hundreds, of hours of fun to be had. You can even go back to previous points in the campaign thanks to the new timeline feature while still pushing your Apocalypse Tier upwards. But it won’t be for everybody.
Ask yourself this: did you play Outriders simply for its campaign and then drop it, or did you push yourself through its expeditions, going as far as you could go? For those in the former camp, Worldslayer probably isn’t for you. At least not at full price, anyway. You’ll blast through the campaign in 10 hours or less and then be left twiddling your thumbs. For those enamoured with Outriders‘ unique brand of high-octane combat seeking to max out their characters and optimise their builds, however, Worldslayer should be considered a must-have.
Outriders: Worldslayer Review – GameSpew’s Score
