Although the reception to Outriders may have initially been fairly lukewarm, things do seem to be picking up for People Can Fly's cooperative RPG. Outriders' New Horizon update saw a hike in player numbers as the developers added big changes to the 2021 title's endgame along with reworkings of key features. The online-only third-person shooter received praise at launch for the customization options, gameplay, and the visuals, but aspects like Outriders' plot and characterizations did come under fire from critics.
Although they may not have been the aspects that excited fans the most, there are still elements to Outriders' lore and narrative that might intrigue players. With further updates on the way from People Can Fly, the landscape of Outriders might change significantly from the game that players encountered at launch, but there are some key features that will remain in place no matter what, and these are the events established before the start of the game. Enoch and its native inhabitants the Pax are both significantly affected by the events of Outriders, but many players wonder what they were like prior to the arrival of humanity.
The Events Leading Up To The Game
In a last-ditch attempt to save humanity, the people of Earth combined their resources to build massive colony ships to transport hundreds of thousands of humans across the galaxy to a new Earth-like planet called Enoch. While the endeavor was not without its risks or tragedies, humanity was finally able to launch its colonization effort and arrived at Enoch after a journey that lasted eight decades. But far from the Earth-like paradise they were expecting, the few remaining humans found a harsh and dangerous landscape plagued by a massive energy storm called the Anomaly.
Before humans even launched the Flores - their only surviving colony ship - in search of a new viable home, Enoch and the Pax had their own history which had nothing to do with humanity. In fact, if Outriders players had seen the planet and its alien inhabitants before the arrival of humanity, then they would have seen a vastly different environment. The Pax (named by humans initially for their peaceful natures) were a harmonious and non-violent race, who inhabited Enoch and ensured that it was a thriving ecosystem thanks to their control of strange obelisks that litter the landscapes.
Not only were the Pax able to commune with and calm the destructive storms, but they were also able to harness and manipulate the energies to grant themselves powers similar to the Outriders' Altered. However, the Pax weren't the ones that created the obelisks, and in the past they were driven underground and forced to build subterranean settlements to escape the energy storm. But once they were able to manipulate the energy, they were able to emerge and transform the lush landscapes on Enoch into a habitable planet.
Pax And Enoch In Outriders
All of this changed, however, once humanity got their claws into Enoch and its inhabitants. Although the colony ship Caravel was initially thought destroyed back on Earth, humans were able to repair the ship and install a more advanced engine so that it made it to Enoch before the Flores. Due to humanity's greed and fear of the power of the Pax, they attacked, causing the previously peaceful aliens to transform into their Feral counterparts. Not only that, but the harmonious relationship with the electrical storm was abandoned, returning the Anomaly back to destructive and dangerous levels similar to Mass Effect: Andromeda's Scourge.
The full impact of what humanity has done to the planet of Enoch and its inhabitants is shown when players discover the Pax City. The once magnificent collection of structures and buildings is in ruins, and Outriders soon reveals that the downfall of the civilization is due to their interactions with humans that turned violent. Although players may never have the chance to see what Enoch and the Pax were like in their prime, the game peppers clues and remnants of the previously thriving society throughout the landscape. More story will no doubt be revealed as Square Enix and People Can Fly continue to support Outriders with post-launch content like Worldslayer.
Outriders is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
