Looting in video games is a tricky thing to get right. Few succeed over the many out-of-base RPGs, action games, and shooters that battle for players’ time. I have invested thousands of hours in games that manage to hand out good loot (Destiny 2, Diablo 3, the original Borderlands) and bounce many who do not (National anthem, Marvel’s Avengers). Many games find their outer groove only before you have invested far too many hours in it.
Outdoors flew quite far under the radar as it is an original property and another third person’s loot. But where I have been waiting for centuries to find interesting loot in other games, Outdoors‘demo hooked me up within two hours. And it’s all because of how the game handles its loot.
Armor changes everything
In the opening minutes of Outdoors, my loot is pretty predictable and dull. I will regularly get drops without benefits, and sometimes I get unusual armor (this is what Outdoors call us ‘unusual’ or a green loot) that can give me bonus stats or damage. After about two hours, I came across drops of rare quality.
Rare items are the first one that really makes a difference Outdoors. Rare guns come with fringe benefits that can shock enemies if I reload them, or if they envelop after shooting. Rare armor benefits are even more interesting, and these are key aspects of my character’s skills. It only takes one piece to change my character slightly, and five rare pieces help me feel significantly more powerful.
On my Devastator, the primary tank class of the game, I have an ability called Gravity Leap, where I jump into the air and crash into an enemy of my choice, moving me effectively across the battlefield in an instant. Normally, it is an excellent skill to engage groups of enemies.
If I equip two pieces of rare equipment, my Gravity Leap becomes a more powerful tool. Life Absorption, a benefit that reimburses me 100% of my damage that Gravity Leap treats as health, turns Gravity Leap into a defensive agent. Coupled with a boring benefit like Human Comet (which increases my gravity damage), my primary mobility is now also my best cure. It changes the way I use the ability.
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Image: People can fly / Square Enix
No matter how good my early game is Diablo 3 loot is, it does not really change how I play, until I have fully utilized my character and started farming Legendaries. Destiny 2 also have armor that changes the game, on the exotic items, but even the beginning comes slowly, and non-exotic armor pieces barely change how I play. This is normally how outdoor games work. In the first dozen hours, the loot is predictable and dry. You get stronger and stronger, but you also get used to how the game plays, so you can not change your abilities too much.
But in Outdoors, my two hour old Trickster class is already finding a useful loot. The Trickster’s whole sign is their ability to instantly teleport to enemies with their Hunt The Prey ability. Without fringe benefits, this ability is just a great way to get behind enemies and get them out quickly. But one piece of rare armor I found has an advantage that interrupts the target and weakens them, drastically changing the use of teleportability. Now I can save my ability for a powerful enemy, or use it to interrupt a boss if he casts a spell.
These armor pieces have changed the way I play Outdoors. It’s one thing to give me a new benefit that increases damage, but fringe benefits that offer different effects, such as healing or anesthesia, require me to think differently in battle. These changes in ability will change along with my armor. Once I get better loot, I have another benefit to think about, which will then change my playing style. As I get further into the game, I get legendary pieces of equipment that give me even more benefits and options.
In any outdoor game, players need a way to make the game feel different after their 50th, 100th or 1,000th hour. But most games require you to play for decades before your equipment makes a tangible difference. Outdoors is changing the way I play already, making my fights I’ve done a dozen times before, after just two or three hours.