Star Wars Outlaws Review - Tatooine Raider

Star Wars Outlaws is the first AAA game not made under the supervision of Electronics Arts in more than a decade. Driven by corporate greed and forcing the creative process into the background, EA released a lot of Star Wars games that should have been major successes but turned out to be barely passable (with, perhaps, the exception of Fallen Order). This being the recurring theme in Star Wars franchise, in both movies and video games, the pressure is on for Ubisoft, publisher of Star Wars Outlaws, to not make the same mistakes.

That scene at the beginning of Star Wars: The Force Awakens where Rey is stripping an Imperial Cruise brought you the feeling of awe and wonder? Smuggling contraband with Han Solo, dealing with criminal syndicates and going on heists is your idea of fun? Jedi are too goody two-shoes, and the Empire is too evil for your taste? You, then, might just be sharing the vision that Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft have for Star Wars Outlaws.

Out Here on the Rim Things Aren’t So Easy

Star Wars Outlaws is a third person open world action adventure stealth and exploration game (that’s quite a mouthful) set between Episodes V and VI of the Star Wars storytelling universe. You play as Kay Vess, a street urchin, a young scruffy looking nerf herder, with nothing to her name. Not even a few credits to pay for bed and board at her friend’s place in the casino city of Canto Bight. All you have are big dreams of leaving this place and being free.

Things go sideways, as they inevitably do, and you land on planet Toshara. Thrown amid always competing criminal syndicates with nothing but a Death Mark on your head, a stolen and wrecked starship and your trusty pet and friend Nix. You’ll have to create a future for yourself in this backstabbing galaxy far, far away.

No Lightsabers, Only Shadows

You’ll notice right away that gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws consists mostly of skulking in shadows, sneaking behind crates, crawling through dusty vents climbing around to reach vaults and terminals containing secrets. Kay generally avoids confrontation. She has no superhuman powers or military training. Reaching for a blaster is your last resort. Instead, she developed a particular set of skills that are highly sought after in the underworld. You’re a thief. Bilbo Baggins of Star Wars, so to speak. You’ll sneak your way into restricted areas, hoovering up every precious item along the way until you finish the mission for one of the four criminal syndicates . Gameplay mostly reminds of stealth missions in Assassin’s Creed or Metal Gear Solid with dash of Splinter Cell.

Actually, gameplay reminds me of the first two Tomb Raiders the most. I felt like I was Indiana Jones many times while exploring the alien planet open worlds with game mechanics of trying to find the correct way to reach the goal most similar to Tomb Raider. I, also, must mention the level design of each set piece that represent the points of interest and quest locations of the game. It is far from revolutionary, but it is also not basic to the point of bringing the experience down. You will get stuck from time to time, just remember there’s always a way out and that Nix is your salvation most of the time.

The Galaxy Is Full of People Waiting To Be Oppressed

One to two hour heists of imperial compounds and syndicate smuggling operations are broken up by exploration of a somewhat small open world that you traverse with a speeder. The size of the single planet open world is offset by the fact that as you progress further into the game you’ll unlock three more planets to explore; snow covered Kijimi, lush jungle world of Akiva with non-stop monsoon rains and iconic Tatooine. When all of this is brought together you get a large game space to explore and plunder. While we’re on the subject of space, you’ll also be able to go into outer space with your starship and do exploration of asteroid fields and nebulas for loot while doing space battles with Tie Fighters and smuggler cruisers. This expands the explorable game world to impressive, content filled, playground.

Undeniable Beauty

All of this is happening in the best-looking graphical engine Ubisoft has yet released and the most vibrant open world since Assassin’s Creed Unity. Various biomes on different planets are so lush with alien life and special effects that everything truly looks and feels like a proper Star Wars epic movie. Densely populated cities where there’s always gossip being heard as you pass by and other speeders that go by on the road as you travel to your next adventure make everything feel quite natural. Opportunity to visit Tatooine and Mos Eisley cantina, which are done in such high level of detail and believability, will be enough for every hardcore Star Wars fan to play this game.

Not another Assassin’s Creed Clone

All this exploring and quest finishing rewards you with items that will make further challenges easier. You can find clothes pieces that will increase your stealth or make your shooting better. Various parts will help you upgrade the blaster or change its shooting mechanics. There are also expert trainers that will unlock new abilities as you finish tasks and collect rare components for them.

All of this rounds up the gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws quite nicely. As a Star Wars fan, I’ve enjoyed a lot of it. Stealth-centric gameplay, and the slower tempo it dictates, didn’t bother me. I can imagine that people that just like to go around blasting things will find it a bit underwhelming at times.

The Fourth Pillar

All this world building wouldn’t work without a good story. Fortunately, Star Wars Outlaws is filled with good written characters and story arcs. There are very few gripes I have with the main story quests and the characters I’ve come across in them. Even the side quests didn’t feel like simple fetch quests most of the time. A lot of effort has been put into crafting the world of Kay Vess and that’s seen each step of the way – from voice acting to quest design.

I can’t praise enough how well they’ve designed her trusty pet Nix. In true Star Wars fashion, you must have a small critter or a droid as your companion and Nix plays that part here. Beside his gameplay usefulness, where he’ll push buttons for you or steal credits, items and weapons from unsuspecting victims, they’ve managed to establish a backstory so strong and emotional that its borderline up there with Grogu or BD-1.

There only remains a bit of regret that ND-5, the resident droid in Star Wars Outlaws story, is not as sharp tongued as HK-47 or K-2SO. He is, probably, the most empathic droid since R2-D2 though. As a Star Wars fan I’ve enjoyed the ensemble and storytelling immensely.

Don’t Get Cocky Kid

Star Wars Outlaws is filled with every Star Wars trope we’ve now almost come to expect from creative work set in that universe. It follows the rules to the letter, but it manages to stand out with the quality of work put into it. From the graphical presentation, that is top notch, to almost completely bug free gameplay, Star Wars Outlaws is a game hard to find a fault with.

Stealth gameplay might not be everyone’s cup of tea and that will probably be the biggest gripe people have with the game. But, if you don’t mind that or if you’re an avid Star Wars fan, Outlaws is a must-play title. Kay Vess is one the better written characters in the Star Wars universe and it’s worth withstanding a few stealth missions to be able to experience her full story. If nothing else, driving across the deserts of Tatooine, meeting the sand people and the ex-gunslinger sheriff or just visiting the famous cantina to se THE blaster shot on the wall is worth the admission price.

Review platform: PC

Developed by: Massive Entertainment

Published by: Ubisoft

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