Just nine months after releasing another massive game set in a very popular IP—Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora—developer Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft have released another massive game set in a very popular IP with the release of Star Wars Outlaws.
In some ways, the classic landmark staples of a Ubisoft game are very much present: the massive open world (well worlds, in Outlaws), a gazillion side quests, and lots of loot and collectibles tucked in every corner. But in other ways, Outlaws tries some new things to stand out from being “another big open world Ubisoft game”, and while it doesn’t succeed at all of them, it does at most of them, creating what has been a mostly enjoyable experience thus far.
Star Wars Outlaws (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: August 30, 2024
MSRP: $69.99
Hello there!
Outlaws kicks off in the city of Canto Bight, a popular tourism and gambling hotspot located on the planet Catonica in the Outer Rim. Star Wars fans will recognize Canto Bight and more specifically its massive luxurious casino from Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, where Finn, Rose, and BB-8 went to attempt to recruit the Master Codebreaker. Canonically, Outlaws takes place between Episode 5 and Episode 6, so it’s well before the events of The Last Jedi.
One of the coolest aspects of Outlaws for a Star Wars fan is just how many canonically cool areas, characters, and situations you get to experience as you progress. You’ll head to Tatooine, the famous desert world orbiting twin suns. You’ll also visit Kijimi, the ice planet destroyed by The First Order in Episode 9. Each planet has its own massive slice of the world that you can explore, zipping across the landscape on your speeder and taking on side quests as well as ranking up your reputation with the local faction. Massive really nailed the world design and overall immersion of each of the planets as you explore them.
I thought Massive did a great job of bringing the world of Pandora to life in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and they’ve done the same here. As you zip through the wilds of Toshara on your speeder, you’ll encounter plenty of scenarios that make the Outlaws universe feel alive: merchants transporting their goods back and forth between the cities, rogues and scoundrels waiting to ambush you if you get too close to their territory, a secret imperial outpost where you can sneak in and score some goodies.
With my ever-growing backlog of games these days, I’ve found myself struggling not to focus on just main story quests. But that hasn’t been the case thus far with Outlaws. There are definitely way more side quests than I’ll probably ever realistically do, but I’ve found myself exploring other side activities despite feeling as though I needed to complete Outlaws to get a full-scored review up.
There’s so much to do, and I’m not even talking about side quests. I’ve become somewhat of a Sabacc aficionado, and find myself seeking as much Sabaac action as I can. I’ve gambled on Fathier races, which are essentially horse races, even though I swear they are rigged. I’ve dumped more time than I care to admit into Space Arcade, an arcade-style mini-game that’s like a 3D Galaga. There’s so much to interact with and just stumble across in Outlaws that helps build that living slice of the Star Wars universe that you get to explore.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
Story-wise, you’ll take on the role of an all-new character in the Star Wars universe, Kay Vess. Kay is young and witty but often hotheaded and a bit too reactionary with her decision-making, which has its ups and downs for her line of work: a scoundrel and a thief. She’s accompanied by her companion Nix, a cute creature called a merqaal, a small doe-eyed quadruped with a long tail, which is also a new addition to the Star Wars universe.
Nix is a cool companion because not only is he a cute furry creature that will follow you around and let you pet him, but he also is a massive boon to assisting you with being a scoundrel in the world of Outlaws. In most situations in Outlaws, the first priority is to stealth your way in. Some scenarios require stealth, meaning if you get caught at all, it’s Game Over and back to the most recent checkpoint or the start of that mission. Most situations, however, are simply much easier when utilizing stealth.
Kay is armed with a blaster pistol that can certainly be used if need be, for when stealth is no longer an option. But in a lot of situations, it turns things into an uphill battle. Unarmored Imperial Troopers can go down with a single shot, but most enemies are armored, including Storm Troopers and other variants of soldiers. They take 3-4 shots even to the head, before falling. You can eventually upgrade your blaster, making things a lot easier, or even pick up blaster rifles from enemies you take out that makes it much easier to blast your way to your destination, but in the early and even mid-game choosing to fight your way through instead of stealthing often results in having to hide, reload a lot, and hope no one sounds an alarm that attracts more enemies.
Thankfully, Nix makes stealth a much better option. You can issue commands to Nix, such as distracting enemies, accessing hard-to-reach locations to grab loot and items, opening doors, and even preoccupying cameras. You can even send Nix to attack an enemy. And while he won’t kill them or anything, it will distract them and even give you the opportunity to follow up on that distracted enemy with a stealth attack of your own that will disable them. Throughout Outlaws, Nix also has some cool bonus perks, such as helping you cheat in Sabacc and telling you what cards your opponents hold. In some games, companions that are with you always can feel annoying or even cumbersome. Nix is not that kind of companion. He’s great in many ways and is essentially a staple to the story and gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws.
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
As Kay, you’ll take on tasks for various entities and factions, often culminating in a decision to be made, each with its own rewards. However, the decision you make will often cause you to gain reputation with one of Outlaws‘ four Criminal Factions, but lose reputation with another. The four factions are the Pyke Syndicate, the first faction you will encounter on Toshara, the Crimson Dawn, one of the largest criminal organizations in Outlaws, the Hutt Cartel which is the infamous criminal faction led by Jabba the Hutt, and the Ashiga Clan, a faction comprised of the insectoid Melitto species located primarily on the ice planet Kijimi.
For example, you may get a mission from the Crimson Dawn with the task of placating the Pyke Syndicate by tampering with some important files on a terminal in an Imperial base. However, when the time comes, you can instead pull a fast one and placate the Crimson Dawn instead. Obviously the faction you side with will result in a reputation increase, while the one you throw under the bus will result in a reputation loss.
As you rise up the ranks with each faction you will gain access to certain faction-controlled areas in the cities but also at various points in the open world on each planet. I mainly focused on raising my Crimson Dawn reputation at the start, and later missions that would otherwise require me to stealth into a restricted area under Crimson Dawn control instead of letting me walk right past the guards who greeted me as a reputable member of their faction.
Even side quests will grant you a reputation with a specific faction, so if someone wanted, they could probably work hard to try and be in the good graces of each faction, which could make parts of the game much easier if you no longer had to sneak around where you shouldn’t be. As you increase your reputation you’ll also gain access to exclusive vendors and rewards, as well as exclusive missions that can only be taken on once the faction has its full trust in you.
Overall the faction system feels like a key part of “living the life as a scoundrel”, and I found myself really thinking things through before making the final decision on which way to go at the end of certain missions. I tried to stay true to what decision I felt compelled to make story-wise instead of just trying to choose the decision that got me reputation with the faction I was most worried about, but these are criminal syndicates we’re talking about. Is there really a good option?
That’s no moon.
Despite how much I’ve loved the universe in which Outlaws takes place, there have certainly been some downsides, as well. I feel like the AI in a lot of stealth-oriented games really doesn’t fare well. And while most of Outlaws holds up decently, I still encountered moments where it was just plain bad. You know, sneaking into a super restricted top-secret area, an enemy spots me for a brief second and goes “Hey, who goes there!” before slowly walking towards me. I simply duck and hide behind the same container they were already looking at, and it completely throws them for a loop. “Ah, I guess it was nothing,” they say, before turning around. I wasn’t trying to cheese it or anything, but it happened several times naturally which is discouraging.
There’s also some classic Assassin’s Creed-style jank due to there being so many things to interact with. I’d go into a side room where there is random scrap to collect as well as a datapad containing some story bits, a button that I can interact with to open and close a door, as well as a ladder leading below to where enemies are patrolling. I try to pick up the scrap but end up somehow grabbing the datapad. I’m not trying to read extra story right now, because I’m in the middle of a stealth op, so I’m slamming Circle to get out of it, then when I do randomly grab onto the ladder from when I was trying to pick up the scrap sitting on the table. Now it’s catching up to me slamming Circle so I’m releasing my grip on the ladder and falling down in front of enemies, ending my stealth mission and setting me back 10 minutes to the start of said mission. Not a fun time.
I’ve also experienced some annoyances that have pulled me out of the immersion of Outlaws. While most of the time it’s firing on all cylinders in the immersion department, I’ve had times when enemies who are searching for me will all group up in a random building, shouting about looking for me and how important it is to do so, but for some reason not actually doing so. I’m talking 5+ enemies all standing inside the same building just standing around shouting about how I’m done for when they find me. Another element of immersion-breaking is when I’m partaking in the space dogfighting gameplay, zipping through a debris field in the Trailblazer, only to hit a small rod jutting out from the nearby debris that causes my ship to instantaneously just stop in space. At least rip my ship to pieces and explode if I mess up and crash, but coming to an abrupt stop like I’m hitting an invisible wall certainly yanks me out of feeling the perils of dogfighting in space.
None of the issues I’ve encountered have been game-breaking, but annoying enough for me to wish there was an extra layer of polish in Outlaws. Even still, I’ve been looking for a more gritty adventure in the universe of Star Wars, and so far, Star Wars Outlaws has been just that. When everything is working great, the tale of Kay Vess has been an immersive and rewarding dive into the scoundrel life in the Star Wars universe. I’m enthralled by the story and excited to see how things end. Once I do, I’ll be sure to loop back and provide a finalized scored review.
In the meantime, if you enjoy the Ubisoft structure of games but have been overwhelmed by them lately, thankfully Outlaws avoids most of the pitfalls. I feel safe in recommending Star Wars Outlaws to anyone who is a Star Wars fan who is looking for a solid story in the beloved universe, with stealth-focused gameplay that allows you to truly live the life of a scoundrel on the Outer Rim.
[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Published: Aug 26, 2024 07:00 am