"Outriders" sometimes feels like two separate games in the same package. There is a fun and creative multiplayer shooter with a better than average story and plenty of customizable character builds. There is also a broken, buggy online component that can ruin your inventory even if you can log in.

The good news is that the latest Outriders patch fixes an important problem. Previously, cross-platform multiplayer did not work well, but the game now allows PlayStation, Xbox, and PC players to team up freely. The downside, however, is that the patch did not successfully address a devastating bug that completely wiped out a player's inventory. In fact, the bug seems to be more prevalent than before.

The information about the cross-play and inventory bug comes from the Outriders team; a Twitter post congratulates them on the cross-play fix. Similarly, a Reddit thread directed players to reassure them about inventory issues.

First, the good news. The development team declared on Twitter:

"This patch is now available for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, allowing cross-play between these platforms.

The patch worked as intended; according to Twitter replies, Outriders players seem to have less trouble teaming up across platforms than before. However, many players logged in, were kicked out, and rejoined the game to find that their entire inventory was gone. Especially at higher levels, they have lost large amounts of rare, expensive, and irreplaceable loot.

According to a Reddit thread, Square Enix is aware of the inventory bug and has made fixing it a "top priority." Since the developer has not offered a solution or workaround, the best way to protect your equipment is to simply not log into the game. Square Enix has been working on the patch for at least four days, so it is unclear how long it will take to fix the problem.

The good news is that if you lose your inventory, you can get it back, but not exactly the same as what you left behind. Square Enix has a detailed plan to make sure that every player gets something similar to what they lost, although not every item can be replaced exactly as it was.

"We are going to do a massive one-time restoration, so everyone affected by this will have their items restored," a Square Enix representative wrote on Reddit. 'We can only restore the most valuable tiers of lost items, such as Epic and Legendary. Restored items do not necessarily have the exact same status as the lost item.

Each player must decide if it is worth the risk, but Tom's Guide recommends waiting until the next patch comes out before returning to Outriders. A loot shooter without loot is only half the experience it should be.