Square Enix’s Forgotten Loot-Shooter Was Years Ahead of Its Time
People Can Fly’s Outriders, published by Square Enix in April 2021, pioneered a loot-shooter formula that has become increasingly influential in modern gaming. The game featured a distinctive gameplay loop: players venture from a safe hub city into hostile territories in squads of up to three, eliminate enemies, collect loot, and return to the hub with their rewards. This fundamental design pattern has proven so compelling that it’s now central to some of 2026’s most successful multiplayer shooters, including Arc Raiders and Marathon.
While Outriders wasn’t classified as an extraction shooter—a subgenre that has grown more prominent in recent years—it established the core mechanics that define the category: risk/reward gameplay centered on securing loot before returning to safety. Despite being ahead of its time, Outriders was widely maligned at release and failed to achieve mainstream recognition. However, its influence is now undeniable, with contemporary loot-shooters inheriting and refining the formula that Outriders originated.
The resurgence of interest in Outriders’ legacy highlights how innovative game design sometimes goes unappreciated in its era, only to be vindicated as industry trends evolve. The success of recent entries in the genre demonstrates that Outriders understood player psychology—the appeal of repeatable missions with variable rewards drives sustained engagement. As Arc Raiders and Marathon continue to attract dedicated player bases in 2026, they implicitly acknowledge their creative debt to Square Enix and People Can Fly’s ambitious but underrated loot-shooter.