But what happens when players complete the 40-hour campaign? What comes after that keeps us playing? Enter Expeditions.
According to Square Enix, Expeditions are hard-as-nails missions that give leveled Outriders players a set of brand new challenges — and the opportunity to score potent gear in the process. Square Enix says that there will be 15 missions to complete in the post-campaign mode, culminating in the 16th and final mission, the Eye of the Storm.
The cool thing (at least on paper) about Expeditions is that these aren’t “recycled levels.” People Can Fly have developed unique levels for this mode. They “have their own mechanics, challenges, and storylines.” It reminds me a bit of Ghost of Tsushima’s Legends mode, just on a grander scale.
Like the campaign, Expeditions will use a dynamic difficulty system, but instead of World Tiers, it’s called Challenge Tiers. There are 15 Challenge Tiers, and each gifts new Epic and Rare loot. Players are judged on their completion time for each tier, with faster completion times awarding better gear and more Challenge Tiers.
For example, as shown in the broadcast, bronze times could reward 3x Rare gear and a Challenge Tier, silver times could reward 1x Epic gear and another Challenge Tier, and gold times could reward 1x Epic gear, 1x Rare gear, and yet another Challenge Tier. The best completion times unlock three Challenge Tiers at once, making progression through a mission’s difficulties faster. Of course, that means faster movement toward even better loot, as well.
Tiers can be changed at any time, but lower-level tiers will reward lower-level loot, and overall progression through Expeditions will be slower since Challenge Tiers also help players unlock more levels.
Square and People Can Fly confirmed in the broadcast that player level will max out at Level 30 at the end of the campaign. However, the loot players receive in Expeditions will increase their weapon level, which maxes out at Level 50 in the mode.
Weapon and armor modding also gets a big spotlight in the video above. I dabbled with the modding system a bit in my hands-on from August, but what’s shown here really has me excited for the heights the system can reach. Players will be able to mix and match an insane number of attributes and passive skills. Some increase the potency of class abilities, while others imbue weapons with class abilities.
It looks like a really robust system of countless possibilities, especially when you consider that players can respec their skill trees at any time, mixing and matching branches and paths.
Outriders was delayed from Holiday 2020 to February 2, 2021. It will release for PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on that date. The Google Stadia version of Outriders will come sometime in 2021, though there isn’t a concrete release window just yet. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more on Outriders.
