Star Wars Outlaws Review

The boldest choice, and what makes Star Wars Outlaws such a success is reminiscent to Halo ODST and how Bungie decided to strip the player of all of Master Chiefs powers and create a more grounded experience. An intimate story and a small scale set within a grand universe created a cult hit.

Star Wars Outlaws does the same thing by creating a game without Jedi powers and instead creates a grounded experience that allows the player to become more invested and more immersed in this world. Star Wars Outlaws does what every Star Wars fan has ever wanted and allows the player to just exist in this incredible galaxy.

LIGHT SIDE

Unlike a lot of recent use of Star Wars IP that is more style over substance, Star Wars Outlaws is the exact opposite. The already great open world blueprint that Ubisoft have become known for is the substance that gets bolstered with style thanks to the use of the Star Wars IP. It’s a great story on its own that just happens to take place in a galaxy far, far away. Even the cameos featured are tastefully done which add impact as opposed to feeling forced to create fan service.

Stripping away the magic from this universe isn’t an easy choice, but the decision from narrative team creates a more relatable game. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is simply about walking in the boots of Kay Vess as she tries to become rich by being becoming the best scoundrel in the galaxy. The visuals are great, but it’s the art direction, score and narrative that truly shine in Star Wars Outlaws.

Created in close collaboration with Lucas Arts, Star Wars Outlaws blends the familiar with the new. You will explore locations both iconic like Tatooine and new like the Savanna Moon, Toshara. The core of the story is the relationship between the up and coming scoundrel Kay Vess and her dog like companion Nix.

The game itself has three layers: The Open Worlds, cities, and space with each one being extremely satisfying. The heart of the game happens in dialogue within the small towns where the backstabbing and double crossing happens with tough decisions need to be made about where your allegiance lies as you try to align yourself with one of the crime syndicates.

Star Wars Outlaws has you do jobs that will usually increase your relationship with one syndicate, while at the same time deteriorating your relationship with another. When you include major plot events throughout the game, where you have to make tough decisions, it’s to be assumed that subsequent play throughs would be very different. Relationships run deeper than just the surface level plot as they affect gameplay as well. The better your relationship with a syndicate, the easier missions will be.

As a scoundrel, adventure is yours to find, depending on what kind of fantasy you want to live? You can spend your time in space dogfighting or in the seedy cantinas playing Sabacc, gambling on horseracing, playing arcade games, eavesdropping to gain valuable intel, exploring each planet on a speeder bike and making alliances. Whatever life you choose, you will want to soak in the experience and be part of this universe as long as you can

On a gameplay level, most missions are a blend of stealth and blasters, depending on how you want to approach them. It’s usually stealth on the way in and blast your way out, or at least that was our experience. During missions is when you fully realize that Nix is much more than just a cute sidekick as the stealth element of the game is dependent on utilizing Nix to the fullest. He can sneak into a vent to get behind a security door to deactivate it, he can set traps on alarm panels, or he can even distract and attack enemies to help Kay get the drop on them.

Aside from Nix, the other crucial element to sneaking around was with the two different lock picking games which kept their initial appeal until the end. One is a hacking game that operates similar to wordle, which you can also find ways to upgrade your skills to assist you with slicing. There other one is using your data spike to unlock doors and chests, which is a rhythm game where you have to hit the buttons at the same time as the beat. It was quite fun and provided a nice challenge and change of pace from the rest of the game.

Star Wars Outlaws also features skill trees in a very unique way. First, you need to find experts around the world using expert intel with the first one being part of the story. Once you discover the expert, you will need to do certain criteria to unlock a new skills. Achieving the criteria to unlock a new skill usually has you playing the game different than you might normally, which creates a routine that essentially makes you use new skills that become part of your toolset because of this.

DARK SIDE

True to any open world game, there is some areas that lack refinement and polish in the vast, open areas and Star Wars Outlaws is no exception to this. One of the main ways that you get around planets is with your speeder bike that controls similar to sparrows from Destiny, but with less precision. The world doesn’t feel completely designed with the speeder bike in mind, as there are a lot of obstacles that will send you flying from your bike.

The majority of criticisms about Star Wars Outlaws came mostly from things that broke immersion, which is due to how strongly the game placed you into this world. Obviously some were done for the sake of a more enjoyable gameplay experience including the ability to summon your speeder bike anywhere or Kay’s superhuman wall climbing ability, but some are obviously unintended. Facial animations can be jarring, check points can sometimes start you right in front of a bunch of storm troopers and the enemy intelligence can leave a lot to be desired occasionally

Stealth was an integral part of Star Wars Outlaws, but didn’t feel like systems were completely built for it. Leaving a vent into a hallway didn’t allow you to peek and see if the area was clear, so you just had to always assume it was. Guards would sometimes walk over bodies of other guards and have no reaction or be very close when you would fire your blaster and would remain on post. It would have kept immersion at a high sustained level if you could hide bodies or put on a storm trooper outfit occasionally.

VERDICT

The concept of Star Wars Outlaws seems deceptively simple and obvious. An open world game set in one of the most iconic universes ever created, where you need to recruit a team for a big heist. It’s nothing revolutionary, but just like vanilla ice cream, the extraordinary can be found within the ordinary with the use of exquisite ingredients and craftsmanship. The ingredients are tapping into a unique point in the Star Wars timeline from an untapped scoundrel perspective and the craftsmanship is taking Ubisoft and their years of expertise in the open world genre.

It’s hard to believe that Star Wars Outlaws is the first open world Star Wars game, but not only has the wait been worth it, but the bar has been set high.

8.5