Highlights
- Outriders and Helldivers 2 both blend elements of sci-fi and fantasy, offering players supernatural abilities and alien guns in a third-person perspective.
- Both games revolve around space exploration and planetary colonization, with Outriders focusing on a serious post-apocalyptic world and Helldivers 2 taking a satirical approach.
- Helldivers 2 emphasizes teamwork and strategic gameplay, with cooperative weapon usage and a focus on mission objectives, making it a potentially enjoyable title for PC and PS5 gamers.
Outriders is a prime example of the modern trend of meshing sci-fi and fantasy elements, combining supernatural abilities and alien guns that make natural reflexes like taking cover amid a barrage of enemy fire seem counterintuitive. Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 is another instance of the growth of video games of the sci-fi genre from classic space combat to more RPG-styled gameplay, adopting the third-person perspective as players battle alien bugs, subjugate planets, and carry out missions of Democracy and Liberation. With Helldivers 2's release date officially confirmed, small tidbits of its reported elements are giving fans an Outriders vibe.
Both games have similar narratives rooted in space exploration and planetary subjugation, although the titles follow different modes of expression. In Outriders, the plot follows the gamer-made character, The Outrider. The Outrider is the last surviving member of a group of elite soldiers called the Outriders, who were tasked with exploring and paving the way for the colonists from the Enoch Colonization Authority. After losing the capacity to weather natural disasters, the world's governments combined to form the ECA, which was concerned with taking colonists on massive spaceships to Enoch. This Earth-like planet was designated to be the new home for humanity - something that sounds quite comparable to Helldivers 2's Super-Earth.
Helldivers 2 and Outriders Have a Lot in Common
The Outriders soon found out that the planet wouldn't be able to be colonized due to the Anomaly, a massive and deadly energy storm. Despite warnings from the group, the ECA sanctioned the colonization effort. Infected by the Anomaly, the Outrider goes into cryogenic sleep for about 30 years and wakes up to find the world in chaos. Having gained superpowers like every survivor affected by the plague, the Outrider is tasked with locating a mysterious signal source on the other side of the Anomaly, all while navigating the dangers of Enoch and the ensuing civil war.
In contrast, Helldivers 2 has a satirical premise. Gamers play as Helldivers, elite soldiers in a futuristic setting serving the interests of the people of Super Earth. In order to protect the rest of humanity, the Helldivers are sent to battle formidable enemies, including Bugs, the Illuminate, and Cyborgs in the Galactic War. Both games share noticeable similarities in their gameplay, featuring third-person shooter RPG elements and a strong emphasis on cooperative play, even though solo play is possible. In Helldivers 2, the importance of teamwork is evident in aspects like weapon selection and strategy planning based on mission objectives.
Cooperation even extends to weapon usage, like the armor-piercing AC-8 Autocannon efficient against armored aliens, which is more effective when one player handles the ammo for another. Stratagems, activated through simple button combinations, are also crucial to combat; loaded on the ship, they allow gamers to call in airstrikes, deploy powerful weapons, or access defensive supplies. The friendly fire feature adds another element of humor to gameplay that makes players mindful of where they stand, as a respawn pod might crush them.
In Outriders, gamers can pick from four classes, each with unique abilities, like the Devastator's ability to unleash seismic attacks. These special abilities have short cooldown times and can be combined with other skills to give players a playstyle they resonate with. Gamers can also choose from different weapon varieties, from one-shot rifles as primary weapons to Burst Fire pistols as sidearms, each with the possibility to be of five separate rarities.
The rarity of the gun also determines how many mod slots the weapon gets, and there's a skill tree that allows players to unlock and upgrade their skills. Although both games share the same narrative of planetary colonialism and exploration, they are executed a little differently; with Helldivers having a more humorous approach. Nevertheless, Helldivers 2's strong focus on tactics and teamwork has the potential to make it an enjoyable title for PC and PS5 gamers. For fans of Outriders, it could be worth trying, as there could be some overlap that goes beyond the games' similar-sounding names.
Helldivers 2 launches on February 8, 2024, for PC and PS5.
