PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws casts players as Kay Vess, a freelance mischief-maker who is looking for a way to start a new life. She quickly finds herself on the wrong side of Sliro, the leader of the criminal Zerek Besh organisation, who has recently murdered the leaders of his rival factions. Marked for death by Sliro, Kay must now survive against all odds, negotiating her way through the galaxy while dealing with the various factions and ne’er do wells that stand between her current situation and the better life that she so desires.
It seems like Ubisoft has been making open-world games since the dawn of time, and many will undoubtedly have preconceptions about what such a game will be like. Outlaws does away with much of Ubisoft’s usual open-world fare – you won’t have to climb radio towers to clear fog from the map, for example, and with far fewer collectables and distractions on offer, your map screen is pleasantly uncluttered – and instead puts the emphasis on storytelling and world-building, with your decisions and actions affecting your route through the game. Your reputation with the the game’s three main factions – the Crimson Dawn, the Pykes and the Hutts – changes based on the choices you make during the game, and affects how easy (or not) it will be to enter each faction’s territory. Beyond that, your reputation also dictates the missions that are available to you, the way you approach your objectives, and even the items you’re able to purchase. Even a small decision that might seem inconsequential at the time can have repercussions further down the line, and you’ll often be faced with lucrative rewards for betraying your instincts.
Outlaws‘ gameplay borrows heavily from the stealthier side of the Assassin’s Creed series. You’ll be doing a lot of wall-climbing and ledge-grappling, as well as hiding in long grass, around corners and behind miscellaneous objects before popping out to silently take down unaware enemies. When in hostile territory, enemies will either capture you on sight and kick you out of the area, resulting in you having to restart from the nearest checkpoint (always outside the area, sometimes even far enough away for you to “nope” out of the game and take a break), or they’ll set off alarms that summon additional enemies to make things even more tricky. Kay is ill-equipped to deal with large mobs – while she does have a blaster and can pick up additional weapons that have been dropped by enemies, she isn’t the most hardy of protagonists and can only take a few hits before passing out – so engaging too many enemies at once is never the greatest plan. Her most reliable tool is her pet, Nix, who can be commanded to highlight nearby enemies, activate switches, open doors and shutters, pickpocket NPCs, distract enemies, set off explosions and much more besides. It can still be tricky to figure out how to approach some situations, though, and it sometimes feels like Kay could do with a few more abilities that really lean into the demands of the stealth-based gameplay.
The main story will take you across four planets as well as giving you some opportunity to do a little bit of flying around, making Outlaws feel like a real space-faring journey. Across the different worlds, the merchants sell equipment and materials to repair your vehicles and weapons, you’ll pick locks and hack computers (using a fun sort of picture-based Wordle-style minigame) to gain intel, items and cash, and encounter plenty of familiar sights, sounds and characters that will delight fans of the original Star Wars trilogy. There’s no levelling up to worry about, but Kay does improve her skills throughout the game in a unique way – you’ll meet a handful of “experts” along your journey, all of whom are able to teach you new abilities. To learn from them, all you need to do is complete gameplay challenges – usually two per ability – to unlock a new skill. This provides some excellent motivation to utilise and experiment with all of the game’s mechanics, and saves having to spend hours staring at (and agonising over) skill trees.
Taking away a lot of the busywork and concentrating more on the story and setting means that Star Wars Outlaws feels very different to Ubisoft’s most well-known output in recent years. It’s still a huge game that will take hours to get through, but the stripped-back gameplay and emphasis on stealth over gunplay makes the game stand out from its contemporaries. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, Outlaws has got plenty to offer, and comes highly recommended for those looking to sink some time into an intergalactic RPG.
