Outriders is coming to PC Game Pass this week
People can try.
Outriders, developer People Can Fly's "smart if familiar" (as Eurogamer branded it) third-person sci-fi shooter, will be making its way to PC Game Pass tomorrow, 19th October.
Outriders initially launched for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation back in April, delivering a slice of co-operative sci-fi shooter action Eurogamer reviewer Vikki Blake enjoyed, albeit with some provisos, in her review. "For some," she wrote, "I suspect Outriders doesn't innovate enough to stand out from an already oversaturated shooter market, relying too much on the ideas of other, stronger titles that have come before it."
"[But] while it's unlikely to make fans of those of you who've sampled shooters that came before it and left unsatisfied," Vikki continued, "as a die-hard Guardian and card-carrying fangirl of the genre, Outriders tickles me in all the right places. Offering gunplay that feels solid and satisfying and an array of additional powers and abilities to keep combat fresh and exciting, I can only admit that Outriders has surprised me in all the right ways."
It is, in other words, pretty much perfect Game Pass fodder, as was proven back at launch when Outriders joined Xbox Game Pass for consoles as a day-one release - a decision publisher Square Enix later said had "worked in its favour". Indeed, Square was loudly trumpeting the 3.5m unique players Outriders had reached back in May, even going so far as to call the IP its "next big franchise".
Whether Outriders was also a financial success for the publisher is considerably less clear, particularly given the statement released by People Can Fly in August which revealed Square Enix had yet to pay it a royalty fee, suggesting the game had yet to break even.
Regardless, PC players who've been curious to try Outriders but haven't yet taken the plunge will be able to do so via Game Pass starting tomorrow, 19th October. And if you've previously progressed through the game on Xbox, Microsoft notes you'll be able to transfer your saves to the new PC Game Pass version.