Battle of the Looter Shooters in 2021: Which one is for you?

Customization (Cosmetics) – Warframe

Warframe is your place to go to for perhaps the best and over the top customization in any ongoing looter shooter game. Of course, since this game is free-to-play, a handful of cosmetics, like color palettes, armor pieces, helmets, and syandanas, are behind a reasonable paywall. The variety, though, is like no other. There are so many different combinations that if you really do care about how to find the best for yourself, you’ll be spending quite some time looking just as you want.

In every major or interim update, more cosmetics are added. There’s a reason why Fashion Frame exists. It’s like playing a game within a game just mixing and matching the armor sets, colors, and themes to your liking! Don’t fret if you’re a frugal player or you want to take the true free-to-play route. There are events, periodic challenges, and in-game ways to acquire cosmetics. If you really want to snag some of the platinum-only items, you can farm Prime items, rare mods, and other highly sought out items to trade to other players for platinum.

2. Destiny 2

The armor in Destiny 2 already looks visually stunning and very reminiscent of something like Final Fantasy. Now with the transmog system being in the game and shaders no longer being consumables, players can turn their guardians into bonafide badasses. Although as of writing this, the grind seems to not be worth it just for cosmetic modifications. I can guarantee that the tedious grind will be lessened in the future, but cosmetics go a long way in this game and really give your character more pizzazz.

3. Borderlands 3

Cosmetics and different color schemes exist with your Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3, but you don’t really get to see what that looks like too much other than when you’re looking at your loadout and ECHO menu. It’s a first person game, and the argument can be made that you can really get some breathtaking screenshots with the game’s photo mode. At most, you pick one costume, a color pattern, and a helmet and almost forget you have any of it on. You’ll spend more time seeing the decals on your guns than your actual costume.

4. Outriders

Outriders weapons look absolutely over the top and that’s where the cosmetic parts really shine for me. The gear for the characters can be over the top, but what’s really limiting in creativity is the fact that you can’t really do much. There is no transmog system and colors can be very mismatched with your sets.