Yes, an offline mode is one of them
I’ve been enjoying my time with Outriders, and while it’s too early for a review, I can safely say I’m having fun. Or I was until my connection dropped and the servers are no longer accessible. So while I wait alongside the rest of the Outriders community for the game to become playable again (we’ll talk about that another time), I had some ideas that I’d love for People Can Fly to incorporate into the game. Some are realistic, some possibly a pipe dream. One can dream, right?
Alright, let’s get to those suggestions.
Skip the opening movie: If People Can Fly do anything, it’s to make the opening movie skippable. Please give us an option to disable it because it delays us from jumping into the game, but it gets old and fast. I’m tired of seeing that bird creature; I want to blow stuff up. Sure, you can already do this by removing the splash movie, but I’d rather this be something we can do from the options screen.
More character customization options: I need more options, and what’s available in Outriders ain’t cutting it. There need to be more hairstyles, skin tones, and the ability to change my facial structure. I didn’t care for any of the presets, and I literally sat at the creation screen and ultimately just clicked on one to get started. I need more options.
More gear customization: I think the crafting and modding system in the game is aces. IT does what it does well, and I’ve already stated that it’s a great system. However, I’d also love the ability to change the color of my gear. Let me take my kickass black and red gun, and make it purple and gold. Or better yet, let us transmogrify everything. What’s in the game is good, but it could be better.
Custom load-outs: With the sheer amount of items available in the game, I’ve found myself switching between several weapons and gear. Sometimes for looks, other times for maxing out my damage or support. It would be nice if there was a way to save load-outs that would also retain the mods we’ve placed in them.
Ability to travel via the map: I don’t understand why we need to get to an access point to travel. If we already unlocked that point, opening up the map and clicking on another location should be all we need to do. Currently, we have to make our way back to the access point and then travel. I’m not a fan of this and would love to see this changed.
Learning to crawl: There’s nothing worse than having a player getting down during a co-op session and aren’t able to get to them. Thankfully, they can self-revive after a short period of time, but it would be amazing if when someone is knocked down that they could crawl over to you. Like how games such as Gears of War have a system in place, downed players can crawl over to others for some healing loving. I’d love to see this make its way into the game.
Get rid of the “Always Online” requirement: Let’s face it, the last few days with Outriders has shown that “Always On” is a terrible idea. It was terrible when other games that featured both a single-player mode and co-op mode did it, and it remains true for Outriders. We’ve seen firsthand how this causes frustration for everyone who’s waiting to jump into the single-player portion but can’t because the authentication system is down due to a server mishap. I could see if the game featured a shared-world experience, but it doesn’t. When we’re playing, we don’t see other players unless we’re in co-op. As for DRM, isn’t that what Steam and the Epic Games Store is supposed to do? So far, I’ve encountered more than my fair share of “Could not connect to Outrider servers” that I’m ready to move on. In the end, everyone loses; players are frustrated, which leads them to write negative reviews on Steam and lash out at the developers, and we all know that’s going to happen. In the end, an attempt to stop pirates but ultimately hosing everyone else at the same time. Is it worth it?
Well, that’s it for now. I’m sure I’ll come up with something else. But perhaps you have an idea or suggestion that you’d like to see make it into the game. Why not share that with us in the comments below.
