Outriders, an upcoming third-person shooter developed by Gears of War contributors People Can Fly and published by Square Enix, falls firmly into one of the leading game genres in today’s gaming world.

Like Tom Clancy’s The Division and Destiny before it, Outriders applies RPG progression to a cooperative PvE shooter template. This means that whether or not Outriders will succeed depends largely on how it innovates on the formula established by Destiny and other successful games in the looter shooter genre. A new gameplay video posted to the Outriders YouTube channel shows off one of its flagship innovations intended to set it apart from similar titles: the “World Tier” system.

The term “World Tier” is not unique to Outriders. The Division 2 includes a World Tier system that increases the game’s difficulty following the player character reaching the maximum level of 30 and finishing the main story. Unlocking subsequent World Tiers requires completing progressively harder missions and collecting stronger gear. New World Tiers mean that enemies in the game world, which by that point has been explored entirely by the player character, grow in strength.

Outriders’ system differs in that it’s implemented from the start of the game and is more of a dynamic difficulty setting than a necessary component for forward progression. At first players will be playing on World Tier one, a setting designed for those who want to experience the story with minimal gameplay challenge. Killing enemies on the highest Tier possible unlocks subsequent World Tiers, which can then be set to increase enemies’ strength.

World Tiers range from 1-15. Unlocking new World Tiers gradually provides players with gear and resources as rewards, and eventually, at higher tiers, allow players to equip items with a level requirement higher than the player character’s current level. As a reward for playing the game at a higher level of difficulty, better loot will appear and new unlockable accolades will become available.

Each time the player dies, however, means losing progression on the current World Tier. Dying enough times means being kicked out of the current Tier completely. This ensures that the difficulty level matches players’ skill level as closely as possible while retaining a goal post for improved skill and/or gear.

Outriders is currently scheduled to be released near the end of this year.

Source: Outriders