Today, People Can Fly unveiled their long-gestating Outriders expansion, Worldslayer. Outriders is PCF’s looter title that they still swear is not a live service, and I suppose that’s true in that they don’t have seasons and battle passes and such. But PCF has kept the game updated all this time with patches and a few minor additions like new Expeditions. Now, however, it’s following Diablo down one last road: a true expansion.
That would be Worldslayer, the new paid expansion that will be released on June 30, and is being previewed today. I was invited to a virtual preview event for the expansion a few weeks ago and can now talk about my time with the game, however limited it was.
My playtime with Outriders’ Worldslayer expansion was brief, but I got to experience at least a good amount of the new systems and content being added to the game. I played a few campaign segments including facing off against some new bosses, one that was a giant polar bear-ish monster, another that was a human(?) enemy that was determined to chop me and my team up with giant machetes.
I will start with what I’d say is possibly the only bad news here: Outriders Worldslayer does not bring a new class to the game. Instead, it gives all four of the existing classes a new PAX tree that is separate from the three trees each class has already, which are also not getting new skill points. Rather, the PAX tree does have nodes that offer additional power and abilities to your character, but they are separate from the existing tree you already have mapped out. You get points for this tree not through more leveling, but through completing the Worldslayer campaign and hitting various milestones.
That is not the only innate way to boost the power of your existing characters, however. Outriders now has its own version of a Paragon system called Ascension. It’s what players were asking for previously, a way to keep leveling after you hit the cap, and you can then sink points to upgrade your skills in small ways that will add up over time. Unlike other versions of this system, one unique aspect is that there is no “order” here. If you want to put your first 20 levels into Weapon Leech, you can do that, which is refreshing.
In addition to new bosses and enemy types, and the central new, mostly ice-based zone that Worldslayer takes place in, there’s a whole lot of new loot. Each class is getting two more full legendary sets, and new three piece sets are coming too. There are new legendary weapons, and now there’s something called “Apocalypse Loot.”
This loot will drop from the game’s revamped difficulty system called Apocalypse Tiers, which effectively function like Diablo’s Inferno levels. High levels mean harder enemies but more loot and XP. And in this case, better loot. Periodically, you will get drops of Apocalypse Loot that has a third, fix mod slot. At higher levels, this mod slot has the potential to drop with a legendary mod in it, meaning yes, you could eventually be getting guns or armor pieces with three legendary mods after crafting. The “chase” here is that the last mod cannot be changed, so you’re looking for that perfect roll over time through enough drops.
There is one more aspect of Wordslayer that was not really touched on at all in this preview, a new endgame activity called the Trial of Tarya Gratar that PCF was not ready to talk about, but it’s something separate from the Expeditions we have now. I’m assuming that will be its own presentation at a later date.
Finally no, you do not have to be caught up and maxed out within Outriders already in order to be ready for Worldslayer. You can instantly boost any character to level 30 and be able to start the Worldslayer campaign from there when it’s released. Again, this campaign is not free (no price yet), but you won’t be locked out by your level or anything.
Everything I saw here looks promising. I mean, I don’t think this is going to turn Outriders into some major Destiny competitor at last or anything, but if you liked the base game and wanted a reason to come back and keep farming, this certainly seems to have a lot to offer. I’m looking forward to the full experience in June and remain very curious about the future of this franchise overall, whether that means more expansions or a potential sequel. Or if PCF is moving on.
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