Unlike its movies and TV series, which have been receiving less-than-favourable feedback of late – I’m looking at you, Book of Boba Fett and The Acolyte! – Star Wars video games have been well-received in recent times. Obviously, the standout has to be Electronic Arts’ Jedi: Fallen Order and its brilliant sequel, Jedi: Survivor, which gave players the opportunity to live out their Jedi fantasy.

So it came as a surprise when Ubisoft was unveiled to be the studio working on the next Star Wars game, Star Wars: Outlaws which flips the script of many Star Wars games in the past. Will Ubisoft be able to live up to lofty expectations whilst expertly crafting their own Star Wars lore, set well within the established continuity?

Developing the game is Ubisoft’s subsidiary, Massive Entertainment, best known for Tom Clancy’s The Division, The Division 2, Ground Control, and World in Conflict.

As Fallen Order & Survivor satiated our yearnings of traversing the universe as a hunted Jedi, Outlaws aims to address the question of ‘What does it feel to be part of the Star Wars underworld?’. Briefly touched in the original trilogy with lore peppered throughout the nine mainline films and a one-off spin-off in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Disney Plus TV series such as The Mandalorian and Boba Fett all but gave a tease on what and how a crime syndicate is run in the Star Wars universe.

Thanks to the folks at Ubisoft, we were recently in Sydney Australia where we got to talk to the game’s World Director Associate, Cloé Hammoud and Samuel De Vos, Lead Concept Artist for Star Wars: Outlaws.

In Outlaws, players step into the boots of Kay Vess, a scoundrel plying her trade in the Star Wars underworld. So how do the folks at Massive Entertainment make players empathize with a lead character who is morally ambiguous as opposed to the Jedi or Sith in previous games?

“I think it goes back a little bit to Kay’s initial intentions,” said De Vos. “She’s not from a very fancy upbringing. She basically just has Nix while growing up in a cantina – so in that way it sort of sets you up for a very open and approachable narrative. There is quite a lot of people that can relate to starting with not much. And then wanting to have a bit of freedom, like Kay, she seeking freedom, wanting to explore the galaxy. I feel that is something that makes her quite relatable for a lot of us working on the game as well.

And when attempting to achieve a particular in-game goal, go you as a scoundrel, which is rarely explored when we look at Star Wars stories specifically. You will not be looking to really make any friends. You will want to reach a particular goal – Not at all costs, but you will not shy away from befriending a certain criminal syndicate.

So the morals for the game are to achieve freedom and the way to get there is a little bit lawless but that stirs that’s counter fantasy which is what we think are quite interesting archetype wind and the Star Wars down. There is the relationship with Nix as well, which was very much influenced by our relationship with our pets. So, I hope all of these different elements translates into making it relatable to good characters.”

With Star Wars: Outlaws being set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, we prodded on the challenges Massive had in setting out the story, especially where most players would have known what happens next in the in-universe timeline.

“We had a lot of freedom in in creating all of these different characters and locations,” said Cloé. “From a pure visual point of view, with the story being within that original trilogy, Ralph McQuarrie’s initial conceptual design was really, really visible.”

Emphasizing on McQuarrie’s work, Cloé and Samuel shared the 3-second rule in filmmaking being implemented into their game’s design. This involves players to quickly identifying the who, where and what of a particular scene or set-piece. The 80-20 ratio of familiar and alien elements in design makes elements in Outlaws stay close to the design language as seen in the original trilogy movies, as well as other media set within its time period.

“Every element should appear natural at first glance. But once you take a closer look, you’ll start to realize certain elements which are alien. We want to make that clear in their outfits, in our architecture, the way that they behave that the game was designed in collaboration with Lucasfilm. We ensured that we we create something that feels authentic and that when you step into the territory of an organization, for example, Crimson Dawn, it is distinguishable from the others.” she added.

For a franchise of Star Wars’ size, it is inevitable that fans of the IP ending up working on, and continuing the story told for almost 50 years. So how and where do the game devs draw the line when it comes to creating new stories, balancing their own fiction whilst staying true to the fandom?

(L) Cloé Hammoud, World Director Associate at Massive Entertainment & (R) Samuel De Vos, Lead Concept Artist at Massive Entertainment

“The characters are definitely something where, as I said we want to make sure that immersion and believability is not broken,” said De Vos. “The Galaxy is so big. You don’t want to pull in everyone that was alive at these points (in the game). But there’s definitely, as you said, things that the players will be excited about; characters that they will be very excited to meet, but will most importantly, serve Kay’s story and experience.”

Here’s hoping that at the very least, stories told in Star Wars: Outlaws jive well with what Star Wars is familiar with. Expanding on the universe by adding more nuanced, standalone stories which enhance what’s already established, rather than embellishing them. More Andor, less Acolyte, we’d say.

Published by Ubisoft and developed by their in-house studio, Massive Entertainment, Star Wars: Outlaws is set to release on all major platforms come August 30th 2024. We had a go at the game earlier. To learn what we thought of it, hear over here.

Disclaimer: The press junket in Sydney for Star Wars: Outlaws was organized by Ubisoft who paid for travel and lodging. However, they had no say, purview over this piece ahead of its release nor influence on the final outcome of the game’s review which we aim to publish ahead of its worldwide release.