A lot has been said about Star Wars Outlaws in the past few months. Countless hands-on impressions and first previews have been released which have been mixed for the most part. A lot of people either really like it or really don’t. A lot of it has been based on certain sections of the game that has been hand-picked by the developers to merely show gameplay mechanics–which amounts to only about 4 hours. Now that we got our hands on the full build, does the game fall into the dark side or it makes itself worthy of the franchise it’s in? Here’s our Star Wars Outlaws review.
Ever since it was first announced, Star Wars Outlaws was already in my radar as one of my most anticipated games of the year. Being a massive Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember, playing as a scoundrel in a story set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is an easy way to get my attention. Ubisoft has been very forward in advertising this as the first true open world Star Wars game. And what I’ll say is that it really does live up to that promise. The game is expansive and jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Massive Entertainment has done an stellar job at creating a galaxy that I loved exploring for hours on end.
Reputation is everything
You play as Kay Vess, the “hero” of this story. She’s a down on her luck scoundrel who lives on a bar attic in Canto Bight, risking a lot for jobs that seem to go south, very quickly. She is by no means a Han Solo, but the writers do enough to make her a likeable character. Despite trying to be a part of the galaxy’s criminal world, she never felt like a villain. Kay is someone who still has her own set of morals and sticks by them. Most of what she does is only out of pure survival rather than an innate desire to be scum. And that’s a balance that’s hard to get.
You quickly find out that everyone is just trying to screw people over for their own agendas. It’s just that Kay is written in a way that she does so in a more, endearing way. It also helps that she’s accompanied by Nix, the cutest partner in crime in the galaxy. The beginning of the game wastes no time in throwing Kay to the wolves as she is forced to make a name for herself in order to stay alive. After yet another job goes wrong, one that was supposed to be her big break, she makes a narrow escape to Toshara. Your main goal is to fix up your ship, the Trailblazer. But you’re forced to form connections. This is where the game introduces most of its gameplay elements. The first real open area does remind me a lot of Dragon Age Inquisition’s Hinterlands in a way that it offers nearly endless amounts of content to easily lose yourself into. Just make sure you pace yourself to avoid burning out before you get to see what else is out there, because it’s a lot of good stuff.
One of the most important things in Star Wars Outlaws is Kay’s reputation. This will affect certain opportunities you get in the story, areas you’re able to freely go to, or vendors and characters you can interact with. A lot of the gameplay is heavily tied to whoever Kay is in cahoots with, which was an excellent way to ensure that the world felt organic and meaningful to go through.
There are several syndicates such as the Crimson Dawn, Pykes, Hutt cartel, and the Ashiga clan, each with their own distinct set of personalities and agendas. And it is up to you to determine which ones you want to be in the good or bad side with. There are points in the story where you’ll be making choices that will affect your relationships with certain groups. Do you betray a syndicate or help them out by spilling some intel on the other? You can also find yourself in certain areas where you’ll either be considered a trespasser or a welcome guest, as long as you don’t do anything too sketchy. There’s a lot you can do to earn reputation and lose it just as fast.
Is it possible to be in the good side with every syndicate? Yes, but it is very difficult to do so as certain paths or actions you take will have pros and cons for each one. You can also take in additional jobs (fancy word for side quests), that will help you gain more reputation on certain groups but you also have to balance this with the events of the main story, and how you interact with everything else during open world exploration. From the start and even hours into my game, I’m still constantly thinking about what consequences will my actions have and what I can do to maintain, improve, or even destroy the relationships I’ve built across the galaxy. It’s a thrilling system that really immerses you into the scoundrel fantasy.
Without giving away much, the story of Star Wars Outlaws was fairly enjoyable, but I’m not blind to the fact that maybe that’s a thing because I’m already in love with the IP as a fan. Admittedly, the antagonist, Sliro, was fairly forgettable in most parts of the game. He didn’t really do much, especially in the opening hours to mark his presence but this doesn’t make or break the experience at all. I just loved playing in a Star Wars sandbox and seeing it from a new perspective, separate from the Skywalker storyline.
Aside from Kay and Nix, you’ll be meeting a ton of other characters, as I’m sure you’ve seen in previously released materials, but those were just scratching the surface of the massive cast Outlaws has. Not everyone will get the proper character development, a number of them do act as just devices to propel the story or Kay’s progression forward, but it was still impressive to see that many fresh faces be introduced in Star Wars.
As I mentioned in one of our early impressions, playing as a scoundrel really brings the Star Wars universe on a, literal and figurative, ground level that the likes of Rogue One and Andor do so well. None of that high horse Jedi vs. Sith prophecy stuff. It’s cool and all but sometimes, I just want to see what the everyday citizen is like in a galaxy far, far away and Star Wars Outlaws provides exactly that.
Space cowgirl
Gameplay wise, Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t really do much to shake up the formula. Open world traversal is done through a speeder that you can upgrade and customize. While it does have a nice weight to it, the collision physics are a bit funky. While the environments are highly dense and undeniably gorgeous here, one random rock or a tiny ridge on the land, and you’ll come flying off.
There’s also a bit of parkour. While it’s nowhere near the likes of Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed, it does get the job done. There are moments where it looks like she can make a jump or an area is able to grapple onto, but the game only allows you to do these actions in very specific and marked areas which can be a bummer at times and can ruin your exploration if you’re feeling a bit creative with it.
Then there’s the Trailblazer, Kay’s ship in which you use to either travel to another planet or engage in space exploration and combat. While visually great, as with the rest of the game, it is the most underwhelming and seemingly undercooked part of the game. Combat is really just locking onto an enemy ship and holding the fire button. There’s not much thrill or urgency to any of it.
Combat feels punchy enough, definitely far from what online chatter wants to make you believe. Kay is not a super soldier, or a combat expert and she controls like one. While your blaster has extra configurations such as stuns and different firing modes, you’re not a Far Cry character who can just go guns blazing. One or two wrong moves, she can easily fall with just a couple of hits. You can’t expect a lone scoundrel to take on armies of troopers and criminals on her own, so you do have to think about how you want to approach certain situations. Others will call this clunky; I consider it making sense from both a thematic and gameplay sense. You can also have Nix help you out by distracting and attacking enemies, or even fetching certain items and activating switches.
Unfortunately, the enemy AI leaves a lot to be desired. They’re very easy to exploit in both stealth and loud combat scenarios because they don’t adapt as quickly as they should. It’s either they’re very blind or deaf or they bomb rush you. No flankers, no care for staying in cover. They’re all just standing around, begging for you to shoot them in the face. At first I was willing to chalk it up to “that’s because they’re dumb stormtroopers.” but eventually, you’ll also be fighting the likes of bounty hunters and syndicate members. While Kay is not supposed to control like she’s Sam Fisher in space, she sure does feel like at times when I’m clearing out entire garrisons of the Empire with not a scratch in sight.
What I really like about Outlaws and is something I didn’t expect, especially from a Ubisoft title is its progression. You don’t gain XP and level up like you normally would with these types of games. You go out and look for experts who can teach you specific skills or upgrades to your abilities and gear. You then accomplish certain tasks to learn what you want. No convoluted skill trees to pad out progression with useless abilities, it now feels like Kay is naturally improving because you’re seeking out the help and resources yourself.
A galactic sight to behold
I’ve been mentioning it a couple of times already but Star Wars Outlaws, on a technical sense is incredibly impressive. Environments and character models are brimming with so much elements in terms of geometry, textures, and intricate details. It really brings every open area, town, planet, and interiors to life. You truly feel like you’ve stepped into one of the film sets. And maybe it’s just the fanboy in me, but the sense of the world being a living and breathing character is so much more apparent with ongoing conversations and unique interactions between the NPCs. This was something that I think has been sorely lacking in Ubisoft titles.
Playing this on my PC with all settings cranked up to high or ultra had me running on around 55-70 fps on crowded and dense areas and 80-120 fps everywhere else. Ubisoft did as us to not use DLSS first with the review build as they are still trying to polish it up for the full public launch. Star Wars Outlaws ran smooth for me with not major freezes or crashes to report.
However, the only major miss on a visual sense is the facial animations. They’re still not that great. Again, another leftover from other Ubisoft titles. Motions are stiff and lip syncing is entirely off. It is a bit improved on in the pre-rendered cutscenes, but you’ll be seeing in-engine conversations more often, which really emphasize the problem given how much the camera likes to focus on faces.
Taking in the world is very rewarding. There was a time where I found a log that says an upcoming race is rigged, so I should bet on a particular contestant. Shortly after, I won the jackpot. You can also eavesdrop on certain conversations where you can find out specific locations of treasures or hidden loot. Star Wars Outlaws has created a galaxy that I can’t help but lose myself into. Definitely one of the more impressive Ubisoft open worlds in recent memory. Oh, and the music and sound design? Star Wars to its very core. There’s also a bit of The Mandalorian vibes in there with the soundtrack and that’s always a plus.
Honestly, I didn’t expect anything less from the developers of The Division and last year’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Massive Entertainment has outdone themselves here and you can clearly see, feel, and hear the passion of the team for the iconic franchise.
Star Wars Outlaws Review Final Verdict – 8.5/10
I can’t deny how much fun I’ve had with Star Wars Outlaws. Sure, the narrative is not as strong as some of the more iconic films or even video games that use the IP but the fantasy of playing as a scoundrel in the Star Wars universe has definitely been realized and executed beautifully here. For every flaw I mentioned, the good always outweighs them. The narrative elements are intrinsically ties to gameplay which enables both to bounce off of each other in unique and enjoyable ways as you progress.
If you’re a fan like me, it’s a no brainer. This is a must play. But even if you’re not, I would still urge you to take the lightspeed jump into this. It’s a fresh new look into a universe that is iconic for a reason, and it is also a shake up to the standard Ubisoft open world formula that I hope will be the blueprint moving forward. No Jedis or Siths here, but the force is strong with this one.
This review was made using a game code for the PC provided by the publisher.