Outdoors looks like a cover shooter, but the cover is not for you

The enemies in Outdoors killed me after only a few seconds in each fight, and I could not realize what I had done wrong before a friend gave me some wise advice: Outdoors is for the bad guys, not you.

No matter how natural it is to hide behind the cloak, it is almost always the wrong thing to do. Outdoors. What should you do then, if you hope to stay alive long enough to cause real harm?

Heal yourself, the only way the game allows you: by killing your enemies and not hiding from them.

Foreigners’ healing system is based on killing, not hiding

Outdoors is a pastiche of so many other AAA games that it’s easy to think it will play like them. It seems like every battlefield is designed to move players from cover to cover, only when they get the chance, and take back the real estate a few feet at a time. Much of the game’s visual language seems to indicate that this is the right way to play, but do not be fooled.

Image: People can fly / Enix

It was a difficult lesson to learn. Almost every other third-person shooter in the past decade has been informed by the front page system Gears of war. As players we are almost brainwashed to think the standard game loop is to find a fight, find a cover, take out everyone you can, move on to the next front page and repeat the process until you achieve the victory. Outdoors even looks like a cross between Gears of War and The Division, two series that assume you’ll be behind the page during most skirmishes. It just did not feel right Outdoors, according to the development team.

“We have explored different ways of healing such as bowls or special finishes, but we have found that most classes are best at killing enemies,” said Bartek Kmita, director of Outdoors, in a recent blog post. ‘It forces players to become aggressive, use all their toolboxes and dive into the heart of the battle, it’s true Outdoors“battle really shines.”

It’s a similar system we’ve seen in recent Doom games, and being relentlessly aggressive was the only way to keep your health as full as possible.

I play Outdoors as a destroyer, the game’s tank class, which means I heal myself by killing enemies who are physically close to me. I have an ability that transforms me into a floating collection of rocks so I can choose where to fly, put myself back together and attack. Ideally, I kill at least one bad guy while also putting myself better on the battlefield.

But as I crouch in a swarm of enemies, I must have a plan to inflict the damage that the rest of the enemy forces will send to my side, while destroying enough of it that my health is always replenished. If I can not get it right, I better have a clear path to escape.

The game wants me to be in battle, where I need to know how to use all my weapons, abilities and the strengths of my teammates to make decisions and survive in a second. The luxury of breathing while sitting behind a barrier while I healed was completely taken away, and the director of the game seemed to: if I do not know how to use all the tools in my toolbox, I roast.

It felt awful at first because I kept thinking the amount of damage I was doing meant I was indifferent. But no matter how often enemies hit you, as long as you hit them harder, and enough of them die that your health is constantly replenished. Early in the game I kept feeling like I was hitting pretty badly, and only after a few minutes did I realize that they were all dead and that I was still in full health.

As long as you can kill a certain number of enemies if they throw their own bullets and attacks at you, you can stay there forever. If you experience your health so far, you become uncomfortable, always try to have an ability that will kill at least one enemy so that you can stay alive, or give yourself a chance to get the hell out of there.

Each of the game’s four classes handles healing a little differently, but each system is meant to place that character exactly where they need to be on the battlefield to get the best out of their abilities and help their teammates.

Image: People can fly / Square Enix

The Trickster class, for example, uses hit-and-run tactics to surprise, take out, and move enemies out of position before anyone can fight back. Killing enemies with this tactic also fills some of the Trickster’s shields as well as their health, which is good due to the class’s general health and lack of bonus armor. They have to stay mobile, hit hard and then climb out because they will not survive otherwise. The healing system for each class, as well as its abilities and characteristics, tell how they are best played.

I still use cover, but I mostly do not seek it actively, and there are better ways to keep myself safe. So always remember: the cover is for the enemies, because they must hide from you. It’s your job to stay alive by doing what you do best, and it tears everyone who comes your way.