Outriders is getting its first major expansion with Outriders Worldslayer, a brutal 1-3 player co-op experience that expands on the base campaign. Developed by People Can Fly and published by Square Enix, Worldslayer is the next step in the Outriders universe and it comes with a new campaign story, higher gear level caps, new gear, a new and brutal difficulty mode, new ways to progress your character, and a massive new endgame. But what do you need to know about it before you play? Well, first off you’ll have to have the base game purchased in order to play the new DLC. That means that for those playing on Game Pass, this will be a whole new purchase for you. But outside of the logistics, there is a lot to be had from the new expansion content.
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Well, the team at People Can Fly has taken both new and veteran players into account when designing Outriders Worldslayer. While the new campaign story can be played after the original, you can also jump into it if you haven’t played the original story by taking advantage of the Level 30 Boost feature. The new story pits you against one of the first and most powerful Altered, Ereshkigal who wields a new power. As the planet Enoch experience cataclysmic changes caused by the Anomaly, Ereshkigal stands in your way. To beat her, you have to embrace your Altered power and dive deeper into the alien nature of Enoch exploring the backstory of the world with expanded alien environments.
As mentioned, the Level 30 character boost allows new players to jump directly into Worldslayer without having ever played the game before. The boost includes the appropriate gears and guns to start you on this new expansion content unhindered. Additionally, this free boost can be used as many times as you want and with any characters you want. While this boost is vital to allow access for new players, it also serves as a way for veterans to try new classes and get straight into action. Plus, using the Level 30 boost doesn’t gate any of the previous content from the original game which allows players to use the timeline feature and scale those experiences to their current level.
While adding a new element to the story, the biggest thing that Outriders Worldslayer has to offer is the addition of the Apocalypse tiers which change how difficulty works. Originally, the game managed its difficulty through World Tiers (campaign) and Challenge Tiers (endgame Expeditions). Now, the new Apocalypse Tiers replace the latter and work as a natural expansion of the former. People Can Fly has removed Challenge Tiers entirely and will now allow players to play both Expeditions and Worldslayer content in Apocalypse Tiers – and yes, this is active thanks to the New Horizon Update even if you don’t purchase the new content. Additionally, Apocalypse Tiers go up to level 40 and will impact your max level of equipable gear, the level of rarity of the loot you pick up, and the amount of XP you earn. Though Challenge Tiers have been removed, players can choose to manually switch between World Tiers and Apocolypse Tiers in their campaign content – but only for the original content.
Of course, with a new tier system comes new loot and a gear-type that comes equipped with a third mod slot. Worldslayer introduces tons of new gear, both weapons, and armor, as well as exciting new mods. Each class will be getting two new 5-piece Legendary armor sets, and there will also be new 3-piece Legendary armor sets, which will be universally equippable for all classes. Not only that but it also contains almost a hundred new Legendary items in total, across weapons and armor pieces, and they all have new and unique mods with gameplay-altering abilities. Finally, when playing on Apocalypse Tier difficulty levels, you have a chance to get Apocalypse Gear variants to drop.
Apocalypse Gear pieces are variants of Epic and Legendary gear in the game and have a third mod slot available (a much-requested feature from the community). It is important to note that Apocalypse Gear can only be earned through drops, it cannot be crafted. The third Apocalypse mod slot also cannot be edited, making finding an Apocalypse variant of a powerful Legendary with a strong mod in the Apocalypse slot will be key to unlocking maximum power. At Apocalypse Tier 40, your Max Gear Level is level 75, which is the new gear level cap.
Finally, Outriders Worldslayer also introduces the new PAX Class Tree which gives you new class options. A separate class tree, the PAX Class Tree unlocks at level 30 after you start Worldslayer content. As you progress, you earn PAX Points to activate the tree’s nodes by completing key milestones. The PAX Tree will further evolve the existing classes in Outriders, essentially granting you sub-class specializations that broaden the horizons of your class. Each node in the PAX tree is equivalent to the major nodes in the original class trees. Additionally, the arrival of Ascension Points allows for you to focus on the long-term progression of your character.
Outriders Worldslayer introduces a new progression system called Ascension. These levels are acquired through battle and the system is intended to reward players who plan to spend time hundreds of hours in the game making every run worth it. Ascension is only available at level 30, and only if you have Worldslayer installed (read purchased). Experience points earned after hitting level 30 go towards your Ascension Level, which will reward Ascension Points. You can then invest these points into different aspects of your character abilities: Brutality, Endurance, Prowess, or Anomaly. Each of those categories has 5 options to invest in, including things like better armor, more HP, higher critical attack rates, and so on. With a total of 200 Ascension Points to be won, this is one way to ensure you don’t run out of things to do when you’re on hour 100 of the game.
Now, Outriders Wolrdslayer is something you have to purchase, and even while it includes the base game for new players, veteran Outriders may be a little hesitant. After getting hands-on with content it’s certain that the team at People Can Fly have done as much as they can to pack the game full of ways to keep progressing, playing, and embracing the world of Outriders. I mean, Outriders Worldslayer also serves up a new type of endgame. The campaign in Worldslayer will take players to Tarya Gratar where the Trial of Tarya Gratar awaits you. Entirely different from the expeditions experience, the developer isn’t adding any more details other than the location and name until later this summer.
