Sci-fi "we're not a live service" shooter Outriders has released a free update called New Horizon and also announced an expansion coming next year called Worldslayer.

There is a combined trailer for both and also a more detailed 10 minute spotlight video about today's free update.

For the benefit of non-gamers, "live service" is one of those highly sanitised PR euphemisms for "we're going to nickel and dime you into the poor house".

Ok, perhaps that is an exaggeration for some games with microtransactions but this was a major point of difference in Outriders' marketing.

One example they highlighted was appearance change.

In single-player games there is an often a mechanism for changing your character's appearance.

The same is true in many multi-player games but they frequently charge real money for this "service", which is programmed and completely automated. Up to $20 to change your appearance once.

Nothing like that in Outriders.

It appears that this aspect and also gameplay were widely appreciated, but not so much the story and characters.

For an online mutliplayer game though, story is typically played once but gameplay is forever.

Interesting to see them timing this to go up against fellow sci-fi shooter Halo.

[ Main Image: Outriders. Credit: Square Enix. ]

References

Outriders (November 16, 2021). Outriders: New Horizon & Worldslayer Trailer [ESRB]. YouTube.

Outriders (November 16, 2021). Outriders: New Horizon Update Spotlight [ESRB]. YouTube.

Wikipedia. Outriders (video game) (viewed November 16, 2021)