Some of the most-discussed multiplayer shooters of 2026 share significant commonalities. Both Arc Raiders and Marathon involve players venturing from a safe hub into hostile environments to eliminate enemies, gather loot, and return. These games are built around a repeatable loop that has contributed to their success. However, these contemporary titles owe a considerable debt to the maligned 2021 loot-shooter, Outriders.
People Can Fly's Outriders, published by Square Enix and released in April 2021, was not an extraction shooter but incorporated many similar gameplay elements. Players, in groups of up to three, would depart from a central hub to engage enemies, acquire loot, and return to sort through their findings, refining their character builds for subsequent missions. While Outriders did not feature player-versus-player combat and had lower stakes, its core gameplay loop provided a similar satisfaction to current popular shooters.
Ostensibly a story-driven game, Outriders is set in the 22nd century, following a group of humans fleeing Earth for a distant star system to establish a new colony. Upon arrival, they encounter an exoplanet with indigenous lifeforms hostile to their presence, alongside the development of superhuman abilities. The narrative involves common sci-fi tropes such as cryosleep, planetary anomalies, and civil war, setting the stage for a compelling single-player experience. However, the game proved less successful as a solo endeavor.
The primary draw of Outriders was its class system. Players could choose from four distinct classes: the Trickster, capable of manipulating time; the Technomancer, deploying gadgets like turrets; the Devastator, which offered defensive capabilities with stone shields; and the Pyromancer, focusing on fire-based attacks. While earlier stages of the game could be navigated with brute force, later challenges necessitated teamwork, with class synergies proving crucial for success. The shooting mechanics were also highly regarded, a testament to developer People Can Fly's prior work on shooters like Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment.
Outriders also featured an innovative difficulty system where players advanced "World Tiers" alongside their character level. This system allowed for granular control over enemy toughness and loot rewards, offering 15 distinct tiers of challenge. This level of difficulty customization was unique at the time. Furthermore, the game included settings designed to streamline the loot grind, such as options to automatically collect items of specific rarity or higher, reducing the need to sift through less valuable gear.
At launch, Outriders faced significant technical issues, including server problems and balance concerns, common for online games. People Can Fly eventually addressed these issues, and the game achieved over 3 million unique players in its first month, partly due to its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass. Square Enix initially expressed optimism, suggesting Outriders was on track to become a major franchise.
However, this projection did not materialize. A 2022 expansion, Worldslayer, failed to significantly boost player numbers, according to SteamDB data. In 2024 and 2025, People Can Fly underwent layoffs and suspended two projects, one of which was reportedly a sequel to Outriders. Despite the lack of a sequel and the game's commercial underperformance relative to initial expectations, Outriders remains accessible, with its servers still operational.