Outriders is free to play on Steam until Thursday

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With the Worldslayer expansion almost here, Square Enix would very much like people to try it's co-op shooter.

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I liked People Can Fly's third-person shooter Outriders well enough when I played around with it last year, although I can't disagree too much with Morgan's assessment in his 63% review that it pales in comparison to the studio's previous games, Bulletstorm and Painkiller. I didn't stick with it after launch though, and plenty of others fell away with it: Its Steam numbers fell off from a peak concurrent player count of more than 125,000 in April 2021 to a little shy of 2,600 over the past 30 days.

Despite that decline (and that doesn't account for console and Game Pass players, don't forget), Outriders is still out there and still growing: In fact, the Worldslayer expansion, with new locations, gear, weapons, and endgame content, is set to go live on June 30. And because Square Enix would very much like new players to give it a shot (and lapsed players to come back), it's made Outriders fully free to play for the next three days on Steam: Until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on June 23, you can just pop over to the store  page, punch the "play game" button, and, well, play the game.

Any progress you make will carry over if you spring for the game on Steam after the free-play period is done, and if you've previously made headway with the Outriders demo (which, for the record, is still available), you can continue from wherever you left off during this freebie. Speaking of which, if the free half-week convinces you to make the jump, Outriders is also currently on sale on Steam for $22/£18/€22—the lowest it's every been, according to IsThereAnyDeal—also until June 23.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.