There is an offline line Outriders this sure sounds like a reference to the failed January 6 uprising in Washington, DC According to the game’s editor, any connection you could make to it is “purely coincidental.”
Developed by People Can Fly and published by Square Enix, the class-based shooter Outriders officially published last week for everything but the Switch. In the future — you will never believe it— “Earth [is] dead ”, ruined by war and famine and all that other apocalyptic agitation that tends to serve as a garnish for science fiction novels at airport kiosks. To preserve humanity, Earth governments unite and fund a colony ship that will transport thousands of survivors to a habitable planet, Enoch, about a dozen light-years away.
You are chosen as a titular outrider, a badass launcher in charge of exploring Enoch before the rest of the settlers leave the safe confines of the ship. In the first 30 minutes, you are betrayed, badly wounded, trapped in a storm of energy, bequeathed supernatural powers, and wrapped in a cryogenic chamber. He wakes up three decades later, and you’re all like, “What the fuck …”? Soon, you find an old friend, Jakub, who takes a moment to recognize you, but it’s also like “What the fuck …” And then you go on adventures.
An initial mission, “Reunion,” which can also be played in the meaty free demo of the game, features some jokes between your character and Jakub, with the two remembering the good old days of killing people on Earth.
G / O Media may receive a commission
You: “I am having an important déjà vu in this place. It reminds me of this mission in Damascus, where we rescued those diplomats. “
Jakub: “I had to save your ass from that machete crowd.”
You: “Ha! More at that time, I had to save the lost ass of that red-necked mob that assaulted DC. ”
You will not be mistaken in thinking that this line is a reference to the failed coup attempt that took place agitated by the Republican political leadership. On January 6, thousands of supporters of twice accused President Donald Trump rushed to the U.S. Capitol with the apparent intention of overturning legitimate election results. Five people died. In the following weeks, two agents he died by suicide. (Although the authorities are currently looking for and arresting civilians who stormed the Capitol, so far no Republican party leader has had any serious legal repercussions).
When contacted for feedback Kotaku, representatives of Square Enix and People Can Fly said this: “We wrote and recorded the script for Outriders a couple of years ago and all of its aspects are completely fictional and are related to the history of the game. Any resemblance to real world events is purely coincidental. “
So you already have it.
In retrospect, suppose that Outriders the benchmark events of early 2021 would be out of place. The riot, to reiterate, occurred on January 6th Outriders the demonstration became available on February 25th. Any facet of game production, and even less in a pandemic, is a thorough process. The People Can Fly team is certainly full of talent, but given the complicated certifications the games have to go through before the launch, it is imagined that making a change at 11 a.m. is not a ride.
But you can also pick up what’s obvious from the game’s tradition. Outriders you may not have the best dialogue (selected a solitaire: “I thought this was the bathroom”. [kills dudes]), but that doesn’t mean there isn’t decent writing. It’s just that most good things — mostly world-building — exist on the margins.
Look in the Diary menu and you’ll know Outriders begins in 2159, the first year in Enoch. You’ll also learn that the journey to Enoch didn’t begin until the mid-2070s. While your character is steeped in longevity, superpowers, and all that jazz, these goodies are the result of events that fell on Enoch. They are, at most, 40, and that is a very generous estimate on my part. (Square, drop the file Outriders If you follow the timeline, it’s virtually impossible for your outrider to have been alive in 2021, let alone conscious and tied enough to survive a “red-necked crowd”.
It’s fun to imagine the fictional Outriders presents a punctual line referring to an insulted insurrection that resulted in tragedy, but the notion is apparently just a fantasy. This contrasts with the real reality we inhabit, in which these things can happen with seemingly no repercussions for those who set them in motion.