The first time I ever saw Star Wars, it scared me. This was because I happened to turn the TV on right at the point where Luke visits Yoda in the swamp. That said, it intrigued me, and I got my mom to rent me the VHS tapes one day when she took my class swimming. She would drop us off, go get movies for me and then come back to watch the remainder of swimming lessons.
It was then that I became a fan. I eventually owned the tapes, played the Super Star Wars games on SNES and went to see all of the Special Editions when they hit theatres. Hell, I still remember going to see Empire (my favourite) with family, and then going to see Episode 1 with my dad and a friend. Hell, we searched recycling bins for the collectible Pepsi cans.
Over the years, I’ve played most of the games based on the franchise, but not all. Many were fun, and some made lasting impressions. However, only a couple managed to make it onto my list of favourites. As such, I was intrigued and interested in playing Star Wars: Outlaws when it was announced, although admittedly not as much as I maybe would’ve years ago. The IP has been milked so much lately that it doesn’t feel special anymore, but that’s on Disney.
This time around, Ubisoft took the reins and got to show us its interpretation of A Galaxy Far, Far Away. The result is an open world experience that is somewhat similar to what they’re known for. A good game that is certainly above average, but is held back from being great.
Star Wars: Outlaws introduces us to Kay Vess — a young woman who’s no stranger to causing trouble. A thief and a scoundrel, she does what she can to survive on a backend planet, where she rents an attic from a friendly bartender. However, Kay takes things too far, and makes herself an unwanted tenant. As such, when a new heist comes up, she finds herself signing up with a request not to return.
Kay isn’t alone, though. She has a little friend, who’s like a larger spider type creature. His name is Nix, and he’s helpful in what turns out to be an action-adventure game with a surprising amount of stealth content. Too much stealth content, actually.
When the heist also goes bad, Kay finds herself fleeing and crash lands on a planet that’s new to her: Toshara. There, amidst sand, grasses and volcanic rock, she must come back to her senses and do what is needed in order to fix her stolen ship. This ends up introducing our heroine to a network of criminal syndicates, including the Pykes, the Hutt and Crimson Dawn. Herein lays the game’s core mechanic: the Reputation System.
The idea here is that, as you progress through the story, you’ll both please and piss off these different syndicates, of which there is one more on Kijimi. You’ll be presented with choices as to what to do with gathered information, who to turn things into and who to help or hinder. These decisions will then impact your relationship with each cartel. Early on, the decision will be between the Pykes and the Crimson Dawn, and this will have an impact on how you’re treated in different parts of Toshara.
You see, each syndicate has its own regions on each of Outlaws’ several different planets. They also have their own respective hideouts that Kay can infiltrate, as well as treasures that can be looted by stealing three different keys. If you have a good relationship, the guards will sometimes be more lenient and let you walk by. However, they’ll penalize you if they find you trespassing in their hideouts, or if you hurt any of their members.
By the end of the game, I had a really good relationship with the Crimson Dawn, but none others. I did have a good one with the Ashiga from Kijimi, but that got squandered by one specific choice. That said, I plan to go back and do more side content to improve things before the DLC comes out.
The main issue is that your choices don’t seem to have a terribly large impact on how things play out, story wise. It would’ve been nice if they’d had more weight. That said, it is nice when you can go into a syndicate’s territory and not get shot at or chased.
Star Wars: Outlaws is, at its core, an open world, action-adventure game. This means you’ll be running, or racing, around (mostly) large planets, killing enemies, exploring different areas and more. There’s lots of shooting, using Kay’s blaster (which can be upgraded, and offers different firing types), as well as assault rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles picked up from downed enemies. This is driven by a cover-aided system, though not one where you stick to cover.
As I said above, though, there is a ton of stealth to be found in Star Wars: Outlaws and, to be honest, stealth has almost never been my thing. While I do like Assassin’s Creed and Dishonored, they’re some of the only games like that which I enjoy. I expected some stealth in Outlaws, but not nearly as much as there is, so be warned. Some of it is forced, too, and if you set off an alarm you’re screwed.
The majority of the stealth content comes from sneaking around and trying to avoid detection in different syndicates’ territories, or in Imperial bases. You’ll skulk through environments, using cover and tall grass to your advantage, knocking foes out with punches as you go along. Alarms can be sabotaged, and Nix can also be asked to perform certain tasks, like attacking foes (which stuns them), distracting enemies, pushing switches, pulling vent grates down or setting off explosives. You can also send him through little openings, so that he can press buttons to open previously locked doors for Kay.
You will be using Nix a lot during missions, but how much of that is for stealth and combat depends on your play style. At times, I forgot he was there. Hell, I got stuck during a boss battle because I forgot I had him in my arsenal but, in my defence, I was tired.
At times, when you send Nix to do something, it will result in needing to press a button (such as L1) multiple times. There are also mini-games relating to eating food at street vendors, which gives Nix buffs, and unlocking doors. The latter can be difficult, because you have to press R2 to a beat, and it’s always different. The nice thing is that those who struggle with these three mechanics, or simply don’t like them, can turn them off. It’s also possible to make it so that the game fills your entire screen, adjust the field of view while aiming and otherwise, and more. The accessibility options are pretty great.
Although there was definitely too much stealth for me, I enjoyed it at times. I also enjoyed the blaster-based shootouts, which controlled well and sometimes got pretty hectic. Then again, I’m not the best at sneaking around, and sometimes had to go guns-a-blazing after being detected.
Being that this is Star Wars: Outlaws, there’s also vehicular gameplay by way of speeders and Kay’s stolen ship.
When you’re on a planet that allows it, you can press right on the d-pad to call a speeder, and use it to get from one point of the planet to another quickly. The controls are quite good, and the thing can move pretty quickly; especially when it’s upgraded and has the speed boost. You can also eventually go over bodies of water with it. Plus, enemies will chase you and engage in high speed shootouts.
I found a couple of speeder races on Toshara, which is the first planet, but didn’t come across any others.
Meanwhile, Kay’s ship allows you to venture out into space. There, you’ll find pirates and Imperial ships to take down, lost cargo to collect, side quests to engage in and secrets to find. The ship and dogfight controls aren’t the best, but it’s still a really nice addition that makes this truly feel like a Star Wars game.
Both vehicles can be customized and upgraded, thanks to different vendors. You can equip different types of rockets, upgrade your turrets, add a trinket to the ship’s fin and change its exhaust colour. Meanwhile, the paint jobs of both the ship and speeded can be changed. You’ll have to find, buy or unlock a lot of them though.
Kay’s blaster can also be upgraded, by buying or finding different parts. So, too, can her skills. There are side quests pertaining to specialists, and challenges to complete.
Speaking of side content, it’s important to mention that Star Wars: Outlaws contains quite a bit of it. You’ll find it easy to lose tens of hours in this interactive galaxy, although be warned that things can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to do, find, learn, steal, buy, collect and upgrade. However, the side quests types aren’t explained as well as they could have been.
I’m someone who likes to do thorough play throughs, and have tried to do that here. However, there are things I’d like to go back and do after finishing the game. I know that there’s some planned DLC, so I look forward to that too. That said, one is (apparently) to do with the in-game strategy card game, Sabbac, of which I have no interest. I know that some others have lost a number of hours to it, and respect that, but I honestly never enjoy the strategy mini-games that each open world title seems to require now. This also goes for Gwent.
The story of Star Wars: Outlaws is certainly immersive, but it’s not as deep or memorable as I had hoped. Kay is a good character, and I liked inhabiting her shoes, but I felt like the bad guy was almost an afterthought or just an excuse for Kay’s journey. He was hardly shown, and lacked depth. I won’t remember him longterm.
Then again, I think that the best thing about this narrative is the journey that Kay and Nix take together. They’re a good team.
A lot has been said about Kay’s character design, and the game’s visuals. Some say she’s ugly, but she isn’t, and it wouldn’t matter if she was. Others say that Outlaws looks dated. Although some of its facial expressions and character models could have looked better, I was definitely not unimpressed by the game’s visuals. It’s a nice-looking experience that runs well, and really shouts Star Wars through its otherworldly designs.
The planets are all unique in their designs, as well as their climates, terrain types and the like. They all also look quite nice, with lots of variety and creatures on offer. However, it could be said that the majority of them are a bit too barren.
I did have a couple of rather ugly crashes this week, despite having updated the game a couple of times. One happened on Kijimi (the planet I chose to go to first once given an option), while the other happened later in the game. The first was a basic crash, but the second made it seem like my PS5 was frozen. Thankfully, it eventually crashed to the dashboard. Those were the only real issues I had, though.
On the audio side of things, there’s little to complain about. Star Wars: Outlaws has the type of unique and large scale soundscape that you’d expect from something set in this universe, and it complements it with good voice acting. The music is really fitting, too.
It’s a shame that Star Wars: Outlaws is underperforming, because I’ve enjoyed my time with it and would play a sequel for sure. This is a good game, although it’s one that could have been great had it not been held back by an abundance of stealth, overwhelming design and too many similar, safe, main missions. Definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of the galaxy far, far away.
This review is based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, which we were provided.