Outriders is now out for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Stadia. For the most part, the loot shooter/RPG hybrid is pretty straightforward, but a few of its mechanics and systems could use a bit more clarification.
In the video above, Jordan Ramée details 10 tips for how to be a better Outrider in Outriders. Some of the advice is geared towards ensuring you’re always finding the best loot, whether that’s from chests hidden throughout the planet of Enoch or from World Tier rewards. Other tips should help you make Outriders a bit more approachable in terms of difficulty–if you take the time to understand how crafting and modding works, as well as when to raise and lower your World Tier, you’ll have a much easier time making it through the game.
In GameSpot’s Outriders review, Phil Hornshaw wrote, “[Outriders’] story is often funny but similarly intense; its combat requires you to take cover and to charge; its abilities make you phenomenally powerful but prone to overestimating yourself. If you can find the balance in Outriders, People Can Fly’s RPG-shooter finds ways to combine well-worn video game ideas into something new and fun.”
The first part of Final Fantasy XIV‘s 5.5 content update will arrive on April 13, and Square Enix shared a new trailer for the patch along with other details during its latest Letter from the Producer broadcast.
Patch 5.5, titled Death Unto Dawn, is being divided up into two parts and will pave the way for the game’s big Endwalker expansion, which is slated to release this fall. Part 1 of the patch will introduce the third chapter of the game’s YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse crossover alliance raid series, The Tower at Paradigm’s Breach. It will also add new main scenario quests, as well as a new trial against the formidable Diamond Weapon.
On top of that, the first part of Patch 5.5 introduces a new main story dungeon, Paglth’an. The Save the Queen questline is also being updated with a new field area called Zadnor and an increased resistance rank cap, and there will be numerous other changes and additions to the MMO, including new PvP rewards, new mounts, job adjustments, and more. You can watch a new trailer for Patch 5.5 above and read more details here.
The PS5 version of Final Fantasy XIV will also go into open beta alongside Patch 5.5’s release. As the publisher previously confirmed, PS4 players will be able to upgrade to this version for free once the open beta period starts, and it will take advantage of the PS5’s greater horsepower by offering 4K resolution support, faster load times, 3D audio, and haptic feedback. Square Enix says the full PS5 version of Final Fantasy XIV will be available for purchase when the open beta concludes.
The publisher also shared a few more details about its upcoming Digital Fan Festival, which is set for May 14-15. On the first day of the event, Square Enix will hold a keynote revealing new information about the Endwalker expansion, as well as a developer panel and a piano concert. The following day will offer a live Letter from the broadcast as well as a concert from The Primals. You can learn more about the event on its official website.
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Disney has established a new animation studio called 20th Television Animation that’s focused on maintaining current and developing new adult animation shows.
The studio, a rebranding of the Fox Television Animation unit which was consolidated when Disney and Fox merged in 2019, will be led by veteran Fox employee Marci Proietto. 20th Television Animation will be responsible for currently airing shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons, according to Deadline.
This also means that shows produced by 20th Television, including American Dad and Bob’s Burgers, will now come out of the 20th Television Animation unit.
The team has 11 series in production right now. Alongside Hulu’s Koala Man, Solar Opposites, and the aforementioned shows, the unit is in charge of Bless The Harts, Central Park, Duncanville, The Great North, and The Prince.
Disney said 20th Television Animation also has “dozens” of additional adult animation projects in development for a range of platforms. What shows these are and where they will land has yet to be clarified.
In other Disney news, the company recently raised the prices of the Disney+ streaming service. It will now cost $8 per month to subscribe.
This week’s episode of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, ominously titled “Power Broker,” had not one, but three major MCU character returns, two of them from Captain America: Civil War, and one from Black Panther. The latter was a member of the Dora Milaje, while the former were Zemo, the man partially responsible for pulling the strings that led to the collapse of the Avengers, and Sharon Carter, who was last seen giving Steve Rogers a little post-treason smooch and then, apparently, driving off into the sunset.
That last one requires some serious unpacking, so let’s handle Zemo first.
As we learned last week, Zemo’s been spending his time since Civil War in a maximum security German prison where he’s being treated with some seriously Hannibal Lecter-like care. Not for long, though–because Bucky doesn’t even bother consulting with Sam before hatching a scheme to break Zemo out and force him to help them. The gambit here is that Zemo is the only other person with HYDRA knowledge that rivals Bucky’s, so he’s their best bet at tracking down the origin of the knock-off super soldier serum, a project HYDRA had been working on for decades.
Of course, springing an international terrorist from jail doesn’t necessarily go over well at first, but all things considered the plan actually does pay off. Zemo probably shouldn’t be trusted at face value but he does provide enough intel to get them all to Madripoor and face to face with the scientist who developed the knock off serum.
Oh, and Zemo’s apparently been a Baron this whole time, meaning he’s completely filthy rich and has his own butler and private jet–just something to keep in mind.
In Madripoor, the three of them wind up inadvertently stumbling into Sharon Carter, who reveals that she was branded a traitor after Civil War and forced to go on the run, which landed her in Madripoor where she now makes a living as a dealer of stolen art. Naturally, she’s a little pissed at both Sam and Bucky who, along with every other Avenger, apparently just left her to rot after they were sprung from The Raft and began galivanting around the globe as fugitives themselves. Now, even someone with a rap sheet as extensive as Bucky’s has been pardoned and she’s still left out in the cold.
Awkward.
Sharon’s baggage gets even more complicated when, as she parts ways with the boys, she surreptitiously meets with a stranger saying that things have gotten more complicated–so it’s safe to say we definitely haven’t seen the last of her. It’s even worth noting that despite being namechecked time and time again, we still don’t actually know who the MCU’s Power Broker is, and right now, Sharon is definitely a possibility. She certainly has a list of good reasons to be mad at superheroes, and has shown plenty of aptitude for secrecy.
After their brief stopover in Madripoor, Sam, Bucky, and Zemo continue following the trail of clues to hunt down the Flag-Smashers and their store of knock-off serum, which takes them to Latvia. Unfortunately, it turns out they’ve been followed. Ayo of the Wakandan Dora Milaje is also in town, though she’s not interested in the serum–she’s here for Zemo. This makes sense, given that Zemo was the man responsible for killing King T’Chaka in his attack on the United Nations, a point that Sam brought up earlier when Bucky first decided to spring him from his cell. It’s unlikely that this is something the Wakandans are just going to let go, even if Zemo is providing useful information for the time being, so we’ll have to see how this particular conflict pans out next week. Chances are it’s going to get messy.
Things to remember:
Sharon and her unknown colleague apparently have some plan in the works that Bucky and Sam might be complicating.
Zemo is anything but redeemed, but he’s making an effort to be at least a little trustworthy. In the comics, Zemo is an on-again-off-again anti-hero with his own team of “reformed” villains, the Thunderbolts. This could be the start of their MCU development.
John Walker and Lamar are also still working on tracking the Flag-Smashers down, but they’re not having the best luck. John’s professional persona is starting to crack under the stress.
The identity and the motives of the Power Broker are still unknown.
Actor Regé-Jean Page has announced he will not be returning for Season 2 of Bridgerton, Netflix’s hit TV show from Shonda Rhimes. Earlier this year, the streaming service had confirmed the show had been renewed for another season, and Page, one of the show’s breakout stars, has confirmed via Twitter he will not be a part of those episodes.
Pleasure and a privilege! An honour to be a member of the family – on and off screen, cast, crew and incredible fans – the love is real and will just keep growing ❤️💫 https://t.co/YBk4RvKNpx
News first came from the official Bridgerton Twitter account, which in part said, “Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest to find a Viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings.” The announcement, stylized as a printed note on Lady Whistledown’s stationary (Bridgerton’s scandalous newsletter columnist), promised that “the upcoming social season” will have “more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear.”
A previous, similar announcement indicated that the next season will focus on the character Anthony Bridgerton, who is played by Jonathan Bailey. Netflix said Anthony will “dominate” the season, but no further specifics or elaborations were divulged. Production on Season 2 is expected to begin sometime in the spring.
Bridgerton is a period piece based on the Julia Quinn Bridgerton novel series, and is the first project from Grey’s Anatomy veteran Shonda Rhimes after she signed a nine-figure deal with Netflix.
Godzilla vs. Kong is the latest entry in the MonsterVerse movie series featuring Godzilla and King Kong. Here is the complete timeline, outlining the events from all four movies: Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).
2014’s Godzilla was the second Godzilla movie fully produced by a Hollywood studio. The first was the 1998 Godzilla that “re-imaged” the character as a small, iguana-like creature that ran scared from the military. Toho, the Japanese studio that created Godzilla, weren’t fans and named this character “zilla” saying there was nothing god-like about him. And in the 1998 Final Wars movie, they killed him.
Sixteen years later director Gareth Edwards rebooted the American Godzilla franchise with a much more god-like King of Monsters. This has led to a MonsterVerse trilogy, featuring Godzilla and King Kong. Here’s the MonsterVerse Timeline Explained.
The series tells the story of the first Black samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga. While it’s a historical retelling of a real ronin, Yasuke leans into the fantastical by combining various elements like magic and mechs.
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A six-episode series, Yasuke is produced by Jujutsu Kaisen animator Mappa. It is directed by Cannon Busters originator LeSean Thomas, with the titular character voiced by Judas and the Black Messiah actor LaKeith Stanfield.
Other talent involved with Yasuke include electronic DJ Flying Lotus producing the music and Redline director Takeshi Koike providing character designs.
Outriders, the new shooter/RPG hybrid from developer People Can Fly and publisher Square Enix, is out now. If you’re just picking up the game, you’ll likely notice that it’s fairly straightforward and there isn’t too much complexity to grapple with. That said, there are a few features and mechanics that the game quickly glosses over or never explains, and they’re quite helpful. So, we’ve outlined nine tips below to help you become a top-tier Outrider.
Alongside these tips, we’ve put together plenty of other Outriders guides. Be sure to check them out if you’re looking for more information on Outriders, which is available for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Stadia. (The game is also playable via Xbox Game Pass.)
Outriders Guides
Lead With A Punch
Sure, you have plenty of incredible superpowers in Outriders, but each class has a pretty devastating melee attack too. All the melee attacks carry a secondary effect: the Devastator’s causes bleed, the Pyromancer’s causes burn, the Trickster’s causes slow, and the Technomancer’s causes frost. In a pinch, these melee attacks can save you when you’re backed against a wall and waiting for one of your abilities to recharge, but their primary use is offense. And sometimes there’s no better way of beginning your attack than running straight at the enemy encampment.
When you use a melee attack while sprinting, your character will leap into the air and slam down on the ground to deliver an area-of-effect explosion–a powerful opening move to any attack, especially if you’re playing as the tank-like Devastator or rogue-like Trickster and are looking to get up close and personal anyway.
There’s Always A Better Gun
In Outriders, you’ll find loot all the time and the game does a really good job of constantly drip-feeding you better and better firearms and armor. Early on, just keep selling old gear and equipping the more powerful. This will not only help you take on the early-game mini-bosses and bosses with the ideal power level, but allow you to experiment with a lot of different types of weapons. Don’t grow too attached to anything–trust us, there’s nothing you’ll find in the early game that you’ll want 10 hours in.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
After the intro chapters of Outriders, you’ll unlock crafting. Here is where you should start paying a little bit of attention to what you loot. Keep upgrading to the best you have, but whenever you find Rare or Epic items (or, if you’re really lucky, Legendary items), take the time to look at the mods they have. When those weapons and armor are no longer up to snuff, dismantle them instead of selling them. This will give you the mods on those items, which you can then craft onto any Rare or Epic weapon or armor you find.
Loot Is Good, But It Could Be Better
Be sure to mod your gear often. Though some mods have general benefits like getting health back on kill shots or adding burn damage to your guns, many of them are geared towards benefiting specific builds. You don’t have to wait until the endgame to start forming your preferred playstyle. Every time you ditch an old piece of gear for something new (which, again, you should be doing all the time), take the opportunity to craft your favorite mods onto your new gear so that you can continue to dominate with your ideal playstyle.
If you’re a Trickster and prefer using Temporal Blade over Cyclone Slice, for example, it makes no sense to equip gloves with the Healing Slice mod (receive health for each enemy killed with Cyclone Slice) over gloves with the Slasher mod (Temporal Blade can be used twice before cooldown) regardless of whether the former is a higher power level than the latter. But through crafting, you can transfer the mod on the second pair of gloves to the first pair–now you have the best of both worlds, more powerful armor and a mod that will actually benefit you. Provided you keep selling all the gear you don’t need and taking a few seconds to mine for resources as you come across them in missions, you’ll be swimming in crafting materials. Just keep modding your gear.
Torment & Agony are powerful legendary pistols that ideally fit the Trickster’s hit-and-run playstyle.
Slide To The Loot
If you’re at all worried about missing out on loot, turn on Outriders’ auto-loot feature. Open the options menu and navigate to the gameplay tab, where you should see a slider that you can adjust in order to determine what type of weapons and armor you want to auto-loot.
Maintain Your Privacy
By default, Outriders will allow any and all players to join your game. If you don’t want folks randomly jumping into your game, you’ll need to adjust your privacy options. Open the options menu and go to the gameplay tab. From here, you should see an option to change your game privacy. You can adjust it so that only your friends on your chosen hardware can join your game or close your game off entirely, requiring folks to get an invite from you in order to join.
Respec Yourself
As you level up, you’ll unlock points that you can invest into a three-pronged skill tree. You won’t be able to unlock enough points to buy every skill across all three branches, but don’t sweat things too much. Not only can you respec your skill points whenever you want, you can do so freely. So experiment with different skills and see what might work best for your chosen build.
On top of that, you can respec your skill tree in order to help out your loot game when you’re farming for better gear. Certain skills in each classes’ skill tree make your character better with certain weapons and allow them to more easily find those weapons. For example, the Trickster’s Assassin tree is filled with skills that increase the class’ effectiveness at close-range and help the Trickster more easily find the guns in order to wreck shop up close, like Shotgun Master (increase shotgun damage by 15%, increase shotgun weapons drop chance by 12%).
Considering how well the Technomancer excels at long-range, you should unlock the class’ Sniper Master skill as soon as possible.
If you’re curious, all four classes feature a skill that helps them farm for assault guns (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Submachine Guns, and Double Guns). However, only the Devastator and Trickster have a skill to help them farm for shotguns (Pump Action Shotguns and Automatic Shotguns), and only the Pyromancer and Technomancer have a skill for helping them farm for rifles and snipers (Marksman Rifles, Automatic Sniper Rifles, and Bolt Action Rifles).
Change The World, Tear S**t Up
Just because you unlock a new World Tier doesn’t mean you always have to play at that World Tier. You should play on the highest World Tier you’ve unlocked as often as possible just to ensure you’re still getting loot drops that will boost your power level. However, if you’re stuck on one fight, just lower your World Tier, get past it, and then raise the World Tier again afterwards. There’s no penalty for doing so, and it’s better than frustratingly throwing yourself at the same section of the game for longer than you have to.
Claim Your Worldly Rewards
Every time you unlock a new World Tier, you’ll get a new reward. In order to accept the reward, you need to open the World Tier menu–it won’t unlock automatically. Early on, your rewards aren’t much to write home about, as they’re largely rare gear or resources. However, you’ll eventually start to get Epic and Legendary loot. So don’t forget to claim those rewards in order to unlock some powerful mid- and late-game gear.
The optimal PC gaming resolution and refresh rate is a divine meeting between 1440p and 144Hz. Graphics cards keep getting stronger, capable of pushing even higher and faster, but with new tech like ray tracing, sticking with 1440p allows you to crank up the settings and keep that frame rate high. The LG 27GL850 gaming monitor provides those perks so you can enjoy that impressive visual experience while still backing it up with a speedy frame rate that’s both smooth and responsive. It sports a gorgeous image that pops with beautifully vibrant colors, and it’s relatively affordable for a monitor of its class.
Display and performance
Competitive shooters excel on the LG 27GL850’s IPS display thanks to the fluid movements and twitch aiming accuracy that the 144Hz refresh rate provides. Jumping from 60Hz to 144Hz, I noticed a jump in my K/D in Rainbow Six Siege immediately. I was able to catch enemies peeking around corners more effectively, picking them off before they could get an eye on me–and when an enemy would rush the objective, I was able to react more quickly and take action accordingly.
This performance boost extends to PC games locked at 60fps as well. The monitor’s response time is quick, getting as low as 1ms when set to its “Faster” mode. That 1ms response time is nice, though you may notice some very noticeable ghosting while using it–the slightly slower “Fast” setting works well, and I never found myself wanting for more. The 27GL850 is a great gaming monitor for both multiplayer and single-player experiences because of this adept blend of responsiveness and smoothness. In games that demand the utmost accuracy from its players, such as Sekiro, this gaming display handles it deftly. I noticed a big increase in my performance when I switched from my LG CX OLED TV to the 27GL850 monitor, easily parrying samurai swords and monkey arms as well as dispatching enemies that were previously kicking my butt handily.
LG 27GL850 gaming monitor
As for its colors, the 27GL850 is a beautiful display, producing a vibrant mix of bright colors. Sekiro’s red pagodas clash with the winter atmosphere nicely, while the autumn breeze of the Senpou Temple delights with lovely browns and oranges–not to mention Sekiro’s orange clothes grappling around feudal Japan. Black and white images also look quite good, though they do tend to be a little grayer than is preferred in certain scenes–though that’s typical of most IPS displays.
The SDR presentation looks quite nice, but if you’re looking at this monitor for its HDR support, you’ll be disappointed. Enabling HDR in a compatible game delivers a weak, washed-out image. The 27GL850 just doesn’t boast a high enough contrast ratio or level of brightness to make its HDR support something worth buying the monitor for. If you snag one of these displays, it’s not worth turning on the HDR at all.
The LG 27GL850 features a near-borderless display with a thin bezel. The display is made mostly of plastic, and while not as sturdy as other options on the market, it doesn’t feel delicate. It’s held up by a very solid stand made of both plastic and metal, giving it a strong base to stay put on your desk. The stand is adjustable, allowing you to move the display up, down, left, and right. Because of its plastic shell, the adjustable neck looks flimsy at first, but upon using it, the sturdy metal innards made me feel confident in its design and security. The screen can also be turned clockwise from its 16:9 orientation to a portrait 9:16 if you want to use the monitor for livestream chat, vertical-scrolling shooters, or any other reason.
Value
The LG 27GL850 almost matches the more expensive Razer Raptor 27 gaming monitor in performance, providing a nearly identical experience to that of the premium Razer display while costing $200 less. However, there are several monitors cheaper than the LG 27GL850 that perform well in the 1440p and 144Hz space. The MSI Optix MAG274QRF and Gigabyte M27Q are both solid options in the $350-400 range.
The bottom line
LG makes beautiful screens, and the 27GL850 is no exception to that rule. Its excellent colors paired with fast, fluid action makes the 27GL850 an excellent gaming monitor that does not disappoint–as long as you’re not looking for HDR. And while this experience is truly great, it was only one of the best when it first released. It’s still a superb gaming display, but since its release, several monitors have stepped in and provided comparable experiences for cheaper. If you can find the 27GL850 on sale, though, it’s absolutely worth picking up.
The Good
Fast refresh rate works wonders with competitive shooters and more
Sturdy stand belies its otherwise cheap look
Beautiful SDR presentation…
The Bad
…but its HDR performance is severely lacking
About the author:Mat Paget has used the LG 27GL850 as his primary gaming monitor for the last eight months. He purchased the monitor himself for personal use.
