Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Open-World, Stealth, Third-Person Shooter, Space Combat

Part of what makes Star Wars unique even amongst many other iconic science fiction franchises is the seedy criminal underworld in its universe. Syndicates, smugglers and bounty hunters have been iconic parts of the Star Wars lore since Episode IV: A New Hope. Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world AAA game that finally attempts to explore that part of the franchise instead of focusing on the Jedi/Force or the war/conflict. As an avid Star Wars fan myself, I’m happy to say that Star Wars Outlaws succeeds in doing just that and making players feel like a scoundrel in a galaxy far, far away.

I’ve Got A Good Feeling About This

The question on everyone’s mind when Star Wars Outlaws was released was whether it would play like a Star Wars skin on an Assassin’s Creed game. What some may not realise is that Star Wars Outlaws was developed by Massive Entertainment, which made the various Tom Clancy’s The Division games and 2023’s Avatar Frontiers Of Pandora. Gameplay-wise, controlling and playing as protagonist Kay Vess pretty much feels like a cross between Nathan Drake from Naughty Dog’s Uncharted franchise. There are a lot of platforming sections where Kay has to jump from ledge to ledge and climb walls, as well as use grappling hooks to swing across to navigate the environment. Most of the story missions, especially the ones involving infiltrating bases or navigating through temples/ruins, will require lots of climbing and platforming challenges.

When Kay Vess is not climbing or jumping around, the combat is a third-person shooter that feels inspired by Massive Entertainment’s own The Division games and EA’s Star Wars Battlefront’s overheat system (if you press the trigger at the right time, the weapon will instantly cool down). There are multiple ammo types to choose from, including Ion ammo to neutralize shields and stun ammo to easily take down enemies (though this can only be used once before you have to wait for an extremely long cooldown). You can also use weapons from enemies (such as Stormtrooper’s blaster rifles) during combat, but you can’t keep them outside of combat situations as Kay will drop them as soon as they’re out of ammo. Overall, it feels very familiar and nothing that you haven’t experienced before from these types of games.

The game prioritizes stealth in many missions, but there are also plenty of them in which you can just go out guns blazing. That being said, Star Wars Outlaws feels like it was designed to be more of a stealth game than an action one. Firstly, it’s because Kay Vess dies pretty fast in combat. The other is that levels and environments, especially in story missions, are designed around stealth mechanics such as sabotaging alarms and a ridiculous number of vents to sneak around in (trust me, you’ll get tired of vents after playing this game).

Some of the story missions can be a quite frustrating experience when they force you to go stealth. Getting caught or triggering alarms will often fail the mission, forcing you to restart from checkpoints, which can be annoying. Star Wars Outlaws is both a stealth and action game, but don’t expect flexibility like the recent Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry games where you can just kill everyone to proceed every time. A lot of the time, you’ll have no choice but to go stealth.

Players can use their cute animal companion, Nix, to distract enemies before silently taking them down or to open doors. Sometimes it’s unclear what exactly Nix can do in a given situation so it’s always best to take things slow. There were a few times I was lost and confused when it turned out that I could just use Nix to open a button somewhere or something to progress. Essentially, you’ll be using Nix as a way to solve certain puzzles and obstacles. However, Nix isn’t particularly useful in combat, besides being able to fetch items or detonate the enemy’s grenades by triggering them.

Besides that, Star Wars Outlaws also features hacking (referred to as slicing in the Star Wars universe) and lockpicking minigames. This might annoy some gamers because many doors and obstacles require completing these minigames to progress. The lockpicking minigame in Star Wars Outlaws uses a rhythm mechanic, while the hacking minigame is more of a puzzle. Thankfully though, the developers have included a ton of accessibility options in Star Wars Outlaws. You can just turn off these slicing and lockpicking minigames if you want to, which makes the game a lot more enjoyable. More games should allow you to skip unnecessary minigames, so kudos to Massive Entertainment for this.

Meanwhile, the space combat in Star Wars Outlaws is good enough. This is coming from someone who has hundreds of hours in Ace Combat games and who also reviewed the space combat sim Star Wars Squadrons. The space combat in Star Wars Outlaws is more simplified and the controls feel appropriately responsive. You can shoot blasters or use missiles to take down enemy ships, as well as unlock more options to customize the ship with. The ship, called the Trailblazer, controls well, though dogfights don’t really feel as exciting as in games like Star Wars Squadrons because enemies aren’t much of a threat on standard difficulty. Also, I would like to praise how the game features almost seamless animations and cinematics for taking off and landing on planets with the Trailblazer, even though they’re actually just masking a hidden loading screen behind it all.

For traversal purposes, Kay Vess has access to a speeder, which can also be upgraded and customized like the Trailblazer. The open-world environments in Star Wars Outlaws can be pretty massive (pardon the pun). There are only four explorable planets in the game, including Toshara, Kijimi, Tatooine and Akiva. Certain planets have more places to explore, such as Tatooine, Toshara and Akiva, while Kijimi is pretty much just one city. Tatooine provides a desert environment, Toshara is a grassy plains kind of environment and Akiva is a jungle planet. Tatooine and Toshara both feel better to explore with a speeder because of the vast open spaces. Akiva’s jungle is a chore to navigate because, for some reason, Akiva’s open world is designed with specific narrow paths instead of being an open space.

One of the biggest mechanics in Star Wars Outlaws is the Reputation System, where your actions during missions and the choices you make as Kay Vess will affect your relationships with the crime syndicates in the game. Most of your choices and actions in missions or quests will either increase your points with one syndicate and/or decrease your standing with another. The largest impact that the Reputation System has on the gameplay is that you’ll get rewards when your relationship reaches a certain tier and there are also specific areas where a certain syndicate will have control over, their territory, so to speak. If you have a good relationship with a syndicate, you can usually casually walk into their territories and even get access to extra items from their vendors. Some missions that take place inside syndicate territories will become easier too. However, if you have a bad relationship with a syndicate, it’s the opposite. You won’t be able to enter their territories, so if you have any missions there, you’ll have to sneak in and resort to stealth. If you get caught, you get thrown out and have to start again.

While the Reputation System has some layers to it, it doesn’t affect the game’s main story at all. The choices you make during missions for syndicates or side quests don’t impact the main plot at all. This means that the Reputation System still isn’t as integral or complicated as similar mechanics in other games like Mass Effect, where your standings with certain characters or the choices you make with them will affect the ending. So, yeah, engaging with the Reputation System doesn’t change the game’s ending. That being said, I understand why it had to be that way. Star Wars Outlaws is meant to be canon to the franchise lore so it’s pointless to make multiple endings.

Speaking of the story in Star Wars Outlaws, the premise of the plot is essentially the Star Wars version of any heist story. In fact, it feels similar to 2016’s Rogue One A Star Wars Story but with scoundrels instead of rebels. In Star Wars Outlaws, the plot is basically Kay Vess going from planet to planet recruiting crew members to pull off a heist with. While the plot is simple, I was surprised by some of the twists and turns. Fans will also appreciate all the easter eggs and references. It’s clear that the folks at Massive Entertainment have devoted a lot of passion, blood and energy to making the game as detailed and immersive as possible.

That’s perhaps the best thing about Star Wars Outlaws. Gameplay-wise and story-wise, it’s nothing too remarkable, but the game succeeds in making me feel like an outlaw moving through the seedy underbelly of the underworld in the Star Wars universe. A lot of effort went into making sure the game’s world feels detailed, authentic and lived in, especially the cities and the cantina. All the small little details such as being able to play the Sabacc card minigame (which is actually a lot of fun and that’s a pleasant surprise because I usually hate card minigames).

Plus, there are several characters in Star Wars Outlaws that will probably become fan favourites. The best is arguably the BX battle droid ND-5, who is sardonic and likeable. I hope we get to see him in future Star Wars stories, maybe even in live-action. Kay Vess herself is a decent protagonist and it’s nice to see her grow from a typical criminal to developing into a better person. While I won’t spoil any of them in this review, just like recent games in the franchise like Star Wars Jedi Survivor, you can expect a few familiar faces to pop up in Star Wars Outlaws.

All that being said, I believe that’s also it’s difficult to say how much non-Star Wars fans will enjoy Star Wars Outlaws. All the gameplay mechanics in Star Wars Outlaws are decent and good enough, but it’s nothing innovative, new or amazing. And while the game does a good job of presenting the syndicates and characters, some of them won’t be as impactful if you’re not familiar with them via the movies or comics.

Last but not least, Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t suffer from the same typical bloated content or busywork like in other open-world games from Ubisoft. It took me almost 30 hours to finish the game and that’s with a good amount of side quests and exploration (and playing Sabacc, of course). If you just play the game for the story, it will probably only take about 20 hours long, which is not overly long for an open-world game like this.

Scruffy-Looking Nerf Herder

Massive Entertainment did a great job of making players feel like scoundrels in the Star Wars universe. While Star Wars Outlaws won’t be turning heads or wowing anyone with its gameplay mechanics, the painstaking amount of effort and detail into bringing the Star Wars underworld to life must be commended. It’s a game any Star Wars fan should pick up, even if it doesn’t have lightsabers or Jedi.

PROS

• The game nails the experience of exploring and being part of the Star Wars underworld.
• Lots of easter eggs and references, as well as small details that Star Wars fans would appreciate.
• Playing Sabacc is fun (no gambling, kids).
• There is no open-world bloated content, only takes 20 to 30 hours to finish the game.

CONS

• Forced stealth sections during story missions can be frustrating.
• Gameplay-wise, the game doesn’t offer anything new or innovative, mostly familiar mechanics from other games (such as the climbing and platforming from the Uncharted franchise).

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

Review copy provided by the publisher. Star Wars Outlaws launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on 30 August 2024.