put a lot of emphasis in writing the game's story, with the lead writer Joshua Rubin comparing it to Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness. The game's narrative features a much more serious tone than Bulletstorm as the studio wanted to prove that it can also write a mature story. On May 16, 2018, Square Enix announced that they would publish the next title from People Can Fly. Announced at E3 2019, the game is set to be released for Stadia, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X on April 1, 2021, after being delayed from its late 2020 timeline due to impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A game demo for the game was released in February 2021 and attracted 2 million players. On March 15, 2021, it was announced that the Xbox version would be available at no additional cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. An expansion for the game titled Worldslayer was released on June 30, 2022. Reception Outriders received "mixed or average reviews" from critics, according to Metacritic. Mack Ashworth from GameRevolution gave the game a 7.5/10, criticizing the story and characters, although praising the gameplay, level design, visuals, and combat animations, as well as the fact the game felt complete upon launch. In summary, he wrote that "it doesn’t innovate in any huge way and its many flaws are tough to ignore, but Outriders is a blast from a simpler past". Destructoid gave the game a 7/10, also praising it for being a complete game at full price and wrote, "Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun". GameSpots Phil Hornshaw gave the game an 8/10, praising that the "combination of cover shooting, loot shooter, co-op, and superpowers create intense tactical combat". Tom Bramwell of The Guardian felt the game captured "exactly what makes the genre tick", praising the guns as being universally fun to use. However, he noted the story would not appeal to everyone, citing the use of "wooden dialogue and sci-fi cliches". Jon Ryan of IGN awarded the game a 7/10, lauding the game's focus on action, and feeling the multiplayer mode was the most enjoyable way to play. He further complimented the world design and visuals, and the fact the game had no microtransactions. On the other hand, he criticized the story as "lackluster", despite appreciating "genuinely