Ubisoft has crafted several Role-Playing series of games each set in a unique world providing an immersive experience regarding both narrative and character. Two of the most popular series from Ubisoft are Assassin’s Creed and Farcry which provide unique open-world experiences hinged on the setting of their worlds. The latest open-world role-playing game from Ubisoft is a Star Wars game set between the events of the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi developed by Massive Entertainment, the team behind The Division and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Star Wars Outlaws is the first-ever open-world action-adventure set in a Star Wars universe allowing players to explore the iconic and new locations across the galaxy as a scoundrel named Kay Vess, who is seeking freedom and the means to start a new life. Moreover, the game showcases a new side of the Star Wars universe with the galaxy’s crime syndicates where you use firepower instead of lightsabers.
Story
The story of Star Wars Outlaws focuses on a thieving outlaw named Kay Vess who grew up in Cantonica, the casino city of Canto Bight which is a hotspot for wealthy tourists and high-stake gamblers. Kay Vess has a rough past with no one left to rely on except her cute pet named Nix who is a primary companion throughout the adventure.
As Kay learns to survive through theft in Cantonica, she makes up her mind to pull a big score so that she can start a new life. However, she can’t pull off the heist alone and sign on with a criminal named Jaylem who then tasks her to build a crew of Galaxy’s crime syndicates to make the dream a reality.
The setting of the story is refreshing and unique which plays a decent role in satisfying the overall open-world exploration feature, allowing Kay and Nix to explore various planets and space.
Gameplay
Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure video game featuring a third-person perspective of Kay Vess, the main protagonist. The gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws is somewhat unique to other role-playing series from Ubisoft, especially the navigation of the planets, orbits, and space is what shines the most.
Additionally, one of the first things that I appreciated in the game is that it doesn’t throw various kinds of markers on your map for all kinds of quests like in Assassin’s Creed and Farcry. It keeps the fluency of exploration in your mind to discover every nook and cranny of the planet that you are currently on and undertake any side quest, partake in mini-games, intel hunts, contracts, and experts.
Moreover, the exploration of the planets and space orbits is crafted well as you will have access to a Speeder (ground bike) to traverse and explore the land locations on planets, and a Trailblazer (spaceship) to traverse around the unique orbit of every planet to find useful materials and infiltrate various stations. The world scale is huge in Star Wars Outlaws and it doesn’t sleep over portraying the Star Wars feeling, and that is what is greatly done with the exploration feature of the game.
Moving onto the actual gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws, Kay and Nix both have certain abilities that you will have to utilize to progress ahead. Kay has access to a series of tools that will help you out in all sorts of challenges starting with her blaster with multiple modules that you can modify. Feel free to shoot your way out of a threat using the blaster and order Nix to assist you in your escape. Moreover, there are certain points during your adventure where you have to use tools like Grappling Hook to get across the gap or use the Data Spike to hack open a door that is blocking the way.
Speaking of hacking the door, the Lockpicking mechanic in Star Wars Outlaws is very unique. It can be overwhelming in the beginning but it is not difficult to master as you have to listen to beats in the loop and repeat the pin triggers in the same sync of the beats. It is a rhythmic challenge that a lot of players might enjoy, but if you don’t like to wait to open the doors ahead, you can simply turn off the rhythmic challenge of lockpicking from the gameplay settings of the game.
Apart from the primary tools of Kay, there are a bunch of other tools that you can get from the Trade Posts and get creative with your approach to missions. Nix, the crime partner on the other hand is a very faithful being as he will happily listen to your orders like fetching items from a distance, creating distractions, attacking enemies, interacting with POIs that Kay cannot reach, and even protecting Kay.
Moreover, Nix has certain primary abilities like Nix Sense which highlights the interactable items and enemies in your surroundings, and Nix Quick Actions through which you can order Nix to attack an enemy.
More on the abilities, unlike other role-playing games from Ubisoft, Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t include any Skill Tree, instead, it includes six different skills for each Expert, and you can acquire the skills for both Kay and Nix by completing certain jobs for them. Throughout your journey, you will meet various Experts and each one offers unique skills, so don’t sleep on them.
In addition to the Skill system, another core gameplay mechanic of the game is the Reputation System. The Reputation System revolves around making a better relationship with the Crime Syndicates, those who you wish to hire for the great heist. However, the game doesn’t guarantee that you will hire all the best syndicates in the Galaxy. Instead, you must build better relationships with them by completing quests and certain jobs for them, otherwise, they will plot against you. It is a great feature but felt dragged out and lackluster late in the game.
Despite its unique design and features to keep players immersed in an open-world experience of Star Wars, the stealth missions are one of the few flaws that can irritate you easily. The reason why I said that is because there are dozens of missions in Star Wars Outlaws which will bound you to be stealthy in those missions and getting caught by any enemy will make you start over. It isn’t even the biggest problem because the enemy AI is what makes it not enjoyable. Enemies will get alerted from afar and even catch you from a distance even though you can run or take them out easily.
Sound and Visuals
Visuals and sound effects of Star Wars Outlaws are crafted phenomenally, especially the Score and the sound design. The score of the game is just outstanding and the overall sound design is impressive. The overall design of the world and all the little details in all the locations of the planets make the exploration more worthwhile.
However, despite the good audio design and score, the dialogue writing for the characters is not on par.
Verdict – Score 7/10
Star Wars Outlaws nails the experience of exploration in a Star Wars Universe but due to its various flaws and bugs, it probably could use a few more months or even a year in the oven to make it a perfect role-playing Star Wars adventure with better parkouring, enemy AI, and more in-depth reputation system.
Star Wars Outlaws comes out on August 30, 2024, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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