Outlaws - On This Day

It would not be said, but the Wild West theme was not very popular in 20th-century games. Before the series Red Dead, Call of Juarez, and Desperados appeared, only a few games embraced the western theme. By far the most famous among them was LucasArts shooter Outlaws which was launched for PC on this day exactly 25 years ago.

As many called Red Dead Redemption "GTA with horses", Outlaws was once considered "Doom with cowboys". While this is somewhat true, such statements often do no justice to this game, because Outlaws was more than that.

For starters, Outlaws used the "hand-drawn" style seen in LucasArts' PnC adventures. Although the performance was reminiscent of the shooters of the time, it didn't look that way visually. In addition, this was one of the first shooters in which we had to load weapons with ammunition ourselves. It is also often stated that Outlaws was the first shooter to use aiming with an optical sight.

Starring Outlaws was retired Marshal James Anderson whose evil baron killed his wife and abducted his daughter. Although the story was original, the game itself did not hide the inspiration for the legendary film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" - so the weight settings were called good, bad and ugly.

While the lowest weight allowed for open shooting with opponents, the remaining two still directed players towards the methodical elimination of opponents from the shelter, which was not common among shooters at the time. The game also had a stamina meter and the main character could not jump and sprint forever without a break.

The weapons in the game were true to the environment and the weather context, so they fired with revolvers, shotguns, and rifles, and only Gatling Gun offered a bit of a solution. Other weapons included fists, knives, dynamite, and the like.

The game had a story campaign and five missions that took place before the campaign itself. Later, four unrelated missions were added through the Handful of Missions expansion. There was also a multiplayer mode in which six different characters from the game were played, each with its characteristics. Players were able to create their maps and share them with others, and although Outlaws was never insanely popular, it numbered more than 1,000 user folders.

In many ways the revolutionary Outlaws never welcomed its sequel, nor did it come to life outside the PC platform. Fortunately, the original game can still be purchased and played on Steam and GOG for $ 5.