Outriders gets new missions and transmog system in major free update

Remember Outriders? I thought People Can Fly's third-person Halo-alike looked promising when I played the demo, but the full release stumbled out of the gate with some serious technical problems. Gameplay proved divisive, with players unusually split on its story, endgame, and other core aspects. Player counts on Steam dwindled and by early summer, it had largely fallen off our radar.

It's not game over just yet, though. Publisher Square Enix announced today that the free New Horizon update for Outriders will go live tomorrow with a range of changes and new content. Four new Expeditions have been added, and Expedition time limits have been removed, meaning players will earn completion rewards no matter how long it takes to get the job done. A new transmog system has been so players can customize their look without giving up on desired attributes, and the in-game store has been reworked to offer a pair of additional new options: To re-roll the legendary-tier gear available for purchase, and to purchase a mystery piece of legendary-gear kit.

Naturally, there's a smaller fixes, tweaks, and improvements coming in the update, broken down in a bunch of separate Reddit threads written by the developers:

Square Enix also announced that a full expansion called Outriders Worldslayer is in the works. There aren't any details on that, but you can catch a (very) brief tease of what's in store in the second half of the video up above.

The Outriders New Horizon update is set to go live tomorrow, November 16. Playing the game (including the free demo version) between then and November 30 will also net you a free legendary-tier armor item, which will arrive, either in your stash or on your most experienced character, within a day or two of your login.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.