See You, Space Cowboy
HIGH Solid open-world gameplay set in the Star Wars universe.
LOW An overly-familiar gameplay loop.
WTF I was recognizing different alien languages, like a nerd.
As we keep hearing about more Star Wars TV show and film cancelations, it makes me appreciate how many more stories the series is telling through videogames. Last year, I looked at one of the best and through it examined my own relationship to Star Wars as a whole. Now, a year later, I’m excited again for another triple-A adventure set in a galaxy, far, far, away.
Star Wars Outlaws is developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. Taking place between the first two Star Wars films (A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back), the latest installment set in our favorite space opera series is an open-world actioner played from a third-person perspective.
Players control a young scoundrel named Kay Vess. After a heist gone wrong, she’s marked for death by one of the most dangerous crime syndicates in the galaxy. In order to clear her name and pay off the massive debts she owes, she and her companion, a small creature named Nix, must make a score on a major heist.
Pulling thematically from old western war and heist films like The Magnificent Seven, Kelly’s Heroes and even Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, most of the narrative involves recruiting outlaws with various skills to help with Kay with this job. One early recruit is a safe-cracking Chadra-Fan (these bat-like creatures) named Ank who loves explosives. She’s held captive and forced to work, and the process of recruiting her by sneaking in and fighting their way out reminded me of an old prison escape sequence one might see in a classic Westerns.
Without spoiling much, many characters fit other movie archetypes too, just with a Star Wars twist. One such is ND-5. He’s a repurposed commando droid who fought in the Clone Wars, now working with Kay to make sure the heist goes as planned. His demeanor is serious, hardened by battle experience and he fits the ‘grizzled veteran’ role. Kay herself is bright-eyed and brings levity to most situations, feeling most like another famous scoundrel from the Star Wars universe, Han Solo. She’s always trying to talk herself out of a sticky situation, but is quick with a blaster as well.
All of the characters in Outlaws serve a world that is brimming with as much personality as they are. Every planet is gorgeous, with beautiful vistas and large, explorable terrain. They are also dense with detail, featuring signage, architecture, and landmarks that seem ripped straight from Star Wars movies.
Early on, I was walking through a small plaza full of bars and card tables that felt lived in. I absolutely loved the grimy aesthetic and the amount of NPCs populating it. I also appreciated how they each spoke their appropriate fictional languages. Initially, I recognized someone speaking Huttese even without subtitles on (like a dork) and it was such a cool touch. It should be noted that Massive Entertainment also developed last year’s Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora which I considered a wonderful visual translation of another well-known science-fiction world. That said, the team outdid itself with Outlaws, adapting both established and new content in one of the most gorgeous games I’ve played all year.
Gameplay, while familiar to open-world fans, is still excellent. Primarily consisting of third-person shooting and stealth, missions frequently involve Kay retrieving some sort of item, running an errand for another character, or simply trying to fight her way through a swarm of enemies. in addition, players can often use stealth to sneak away undetected, which I was surprised by.
Rather than feeling tacked-on, most of the levels felt built to support stealth-rich gameplay, with dozens of hidden pathways and intricate architectural challenges to force players to think about how they want to approach (or avoid) encounters. At one point I was sneaking into an Imperial base and found a computer. Slicing through the security allowed me to shut off cameras, and that blind spot gave me an opening to sneak past undetected. Kay’s companion Nix can also be used to distract enemies, hit switches or open doors from a distance, allowing Kay to move without fear of getting caught.
Of course, things can occasionally get loud and that’s where combat comes in. Kay is equipped with a highly customizable blaster that lets players attach mods like rapid-fire or electricity. These offer different advantages, like being specifically effective against droids and shields, or rapid-firing to overwhelm most enemies.
My only major gripe with combat however is how floaty and light the melee feels — just mashing the attack button in succession never feels satisfying. I also wish there were more options in stealth, like being able to drag incapacitated bodies out of the way to avoid other enemies noticing them.
When not sneaking, there’s the open-world exploration. The planets of Star Wars Outlaws are huge, with distances so far that traversal on a hover speeder vehicle is necessary, and each one is full of various side activities like fetch quests, gambling minigames and even hunting for intel. I love how big and dense these worlds feel, each one offering so much to see and do. Even after 20 hours, I have a huge backlog, like tracking down treasures or completing challenges that unlock new abilities and upgrades. While those who are tired of the Ubisoft open-world model of following waypoints and checking off lists of collectables might not be on board, I found this loop satisfying.
Something else worth mentioning is the implementation of factions and syndicate reputation. Throughout the story, Kay is introduced to different gangs, cartels and factions, each offering new missions and various rewards. Performing positive (giving them vital intel) or negative actions (trespassing on the wrong territory) will either earn Kay favor or make her name mud. This, in turn, will affect things like shop prices, or how violent gangs will be if she’s caught in their presence.
Obviously, with an experience this big, there are bound to be some bugs and glitches. I experienced a few odd ones, like my speeder getting stuck in some rocks, a character’s arms stretching out across the screen for a few seconds, and even a bizarre one where my camera would keep bobbing left to right during a stealth mission. Most of these would either stop after a few seconds or after a reset, and didn’t interfere with my enjoyment. I had one crash but the generous autosave system started me exactly where I left off.
Outlaws is sure to satisfy anyone with a hunger for Star Wars thanks to its open worlds and abundance of things to do. Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have crafted one of the greatest intergalactic theme parks I’ve been to in some time, while also capturing the essence of the universe it’s adapting. Star Wars Outlaws is easily one of the finest adaptations of the series yet.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is published by Ubisoft and developed by Massive Entertainment. It is available on PC, PS5, and XBS/X. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 20 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. There is no multiplayer.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T for Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, and Violence. According to the site: “This is a third-person action-adventure game in which players assume the role of an outlaw navigating the underworld of the Star Wars universe. As players explore open-world environments, they can accept missions/jobs for various criminal factions. Most missions involve using stealth to sneak through heavily guarded compounds or shooting through waves of hostile enemies. Players use a variety of gadgets and blaster-type weapons during missions. Players can perform dramatic punching takedowns when using stealth or close-quarter combat. Fighting is highlighted by futuristic gunfire, explosions, and cries of pain. During the course of the game, players can wager in-game currency on Sabacc, a blackjack-like card game with detailed rules; one area allows players to wager on fantasy races in order to further a plot point. The word “bastard” appears in the game.“
Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles can be resized, adjusted, and customized in different colors, as could various visual elements that can guide players. For example, subtitles for characters during gameplay have arrows next to them to indicate where they are standing, allowing for easy navigation. Other major visual cues include indicators to know where enemies are standing, highlights around them to gauge how far they are, as well subtitle options to determine how much information players want at once (such as miscellaneous sounds and random dialogue via NPCs in the world). This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped on PC. Console controls have some preset configurations but they cannot be fully remapped.
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