If there’s one fixed trendy Star Wars can attest to, it’s the continued cultivation and success of its video video games. The final a number of years have seen a strong portfolio of titles that develop the recognized Star Wars universe, while remaining true to type all whereas rivaling the live-action output in the identical franchise.
These seeds proceed to be sown with the discharge of Star Wars Outlaws, as Ubisoft and developer Huge Leisure step as much as the plate with an all-new motion sport in an try to make their mark on the taking part in area. This time, it’s open world and it received’t be targeted on a Jedi story, as lots of Star Wars video games have been wont to do.
Star Wars Outlaws is promising a brand new journey the place you tackle the Han Solo-esque position of a scoundrel and trek by a galaxy that isn’t as black and white because it first appears.
As somebody who has at all times been eager on Star Wars as a online game medium, Star Wars Outlaws caught my eye due to that sort of pivot. Right here we have been going to play as somebody who isn’t a Pressure consumer, who should depend on crafty, stealth, and blaster ability to get by.
Having the ability to play as a standard individual in a fantastical galaxy far, far-off definitely has its attraction. However how does it maintain up in follow? Let’s dig in.
As with most Star Wars video games, Star Wars Outlaws is a narrative-driven journey throughout many hours, advised by quests, cutscenes, and the varied worlds you’ll go to in an period between the movies Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Again and Return of the Jedi.
This story introduces Kay Vess, a younger lady simply attempting to scrape by, taking over odd jobs as a thief in an effort to safe her personal freedom. Star Wars Outlaws kicks off her journey with a grand heist and this units the stage for a lot of what comes after.
Kay is tasked with sneaking right into a high-stakes vault within the collection’ acquainted location of Canto Bight, a metropolis famend for its wealth and leisure. The aim? A large vault with riches untold, however sneaking in received’t be straightforward. She’ll have to make use of each instrument obtainable to her, alongside along with her trusty sidekick Nix, to drag it off.
As this opening units the stage for Star Wars Outlaws, so too does it kick off the opening to the larger journey Kay could have within the shadow of the Empire. With a bounty on her head following the occasions at Canto Bight, she has nowhere to go however up – actually, as she makes her method to different planets, encounters the galaxy’s varied syndicates, and places collectively a crew value heisting with.
It’s a world-spanning narrative with loads of twists and turns with one lesson that basically sticks: you possibly can’t belief anybody. It’s a lesson that I finally got here to understand as a result of it saved the story contemporary, and it saved me on my toes as a result of it wasn’t at all times apparent simply who was on Kay’s facet or not. Very like the live-action collection Andor, there’s quite a lot of depth crafted in each the person tales, in addition to the bigger politics at play.
The story of Star Wars Outlaws is well-woven into its fundamental quest and all of the secondary quests that make up the sport world. Issues like native lore and discovering new areas are fed into the dwelling planets Kay will get to go to as a type of natural storytelling.
It’s additionally bolstered by its distinctive solid of characters. For instance, there’s Kay herself, whose no-nonsense perspective isn’t dampened by her state of affairs; Nix, her companion and beloved member of the family; and ND-5, a droid from the Clone Wars period who’s surprisingly fleshed out in a optimistic means.
All these completely different elements come collectively to border an thrilling journey that by no means loses its spark.
This after all performs hand in hand with the action-adventure components of Star Wars Outlaws. The gameplay loop is established early on, and I discovered the gunplay controls fast to select up and get used to, together with the addition of the sidekick Nix, who can help with particular duties out within the area.
Most of Star Wars Outlaws could have you preventing, sneaking round, and exploring by land or house. They’ve actually outfitted Kay right here with various talents, together with devices reminiscent of grenades, in addition to melee fight to assist her get round and thru conflicts with out the usage of a lightsaber or Pressure talents.
The gunplay is fairly commonplace however turns into bolstered by the varied upgrades that may be put in on Kay’s blaster. This contains enlargement to varied blast sorts together with plasma, ion, and energy.
Plasma, because the title suggests, fires commonplace plasma bolts and might be upgraded to enhance accuracy, add fast firing, and extra. Ion fires off ionized particles and is nice in opposition to enemy droids or enemies with shields. Energy fees a heavy plasma blast that may take down armored enemies or assist get by sure obstructions.
It’s a easy setup, however it’s efficient in how one can select to customise every improve, in addition to the gathering of various weapons Kay can choose up throughout exploration. My solely gripe is she doesn’t maintain any of them past her personal blaster, and it was typically tedious to have to select dropped weapons again up after interacting with a door or different merchandise within the midst of fight.
When unsure, Kay can simply punch a man and that’s a lot satisfying by itself. The formulation largely doesn’t deviate a lot aside from that, and your mileage could differ relying on the variety of hours sunk into taking part in the sport.
An auxiliary system often called Specialists does alleviate this a bit by with the ability to unlock new talents by regular gameplay – lots of that are optionally available.
Whereas preventing is an enormous a part of Star Wars Outlaws, I used to be shocked at how large of a job stealth performed in, effectively, just about every thing for higher or worse.
Proper from the beginning, it’s obvious that sneaking round, stealing objects, and dodging alarm techniques is one thing Kay will turn out to be very conversant in. I discovered myself taking the time to discover as a result of the sport does allow you to method these sections in several methods. I failed fairly a bit, however it was a studying expertise to find what labored for me.
I did discover all of the sneaking round to be tiring a methods into the story, and I simply wished to maneuver on to the subsequent a part of the motion as a result of I used to be extra taken with that than a pale go-around at Metallic Gear Strong.
One of the useful components of the stealth sport inside a sport is the usage of Nix. He’s basically the second fundamental character right here and an extension of Kay past what she will do on her personal.
Not solely can Nix sus out enemies and context clues within the atmosphere, however he can be made to do fast actions reminiscent of opening doorways, gathering objects, disabling alarms, and even distracting and preventing enemies. It was handy to simply let Nix go ham and scope out most of an space earlier than I moved or did something. He’s an awesome asset, and his loss may be very noticeable within the areas the place you possibly can’t use him.
One other key tentpole of gameplay in Star Wars Outlaws contains the varied autos you get to fiddle with.
On the bottom, Kay will get entry to a speeder, which may zip throughout the terrain at excessive pace, and later be upgraded through the course of the primary story. There’s additionally a starship she will get a maintain of often called the Trailblazer, which too might be modified with further elements reminiscent of turrets and propulsion techniques.
This takes us into outer house, the place true exploration and fight are realized. It’s not only a glorified loading display screen both, there’s a lot to pay attention to upon exiting a planet’s environment.
There’s by no means a uninteresting second as you’re prone to be confronted by pirates, Imperial forces, or different syndicates jousting for superiority. There’s additionally a component of exploration with ships in search of rescue, or hidden treasures amongst floating particles.
Whereas controlling the ship might be considerably tough at occasions, I do admire that house is greater than only a journey level. There’s one thing notably satisfying about pulling the analog sticks and hitting the soar to lightspeed in any case.
Again on land, the breadth of Outlaws’ open world circles again round as one thing I thought of to actually cater to my sensibilities. The number of quests involving the main syndicates (Pyke, Crimson Daybreak, the Hutt Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan) could have you taking over contracts in an effort to increase your fame with any one among them and touring round detailed landscapes to take action.
The fame system is printed by your relationship with every faction and dictates how syndicates will work together with you and which areas you possibly can enter with out battle. Status can be misplaced by doing issues reminiscent of trespassing or selecting to go in opposition to a rival syndicate throughout a quest selection.
On prime of all that, the Empire has their very own type of engagement with the Imperial Wished System. Very like in Grand Theft Auto, getting caught doing crimes in opposition to the Empire will put you on their wished record. Which means they’ll be chasing after you with rising firepower relying on simply how a lot you’ve gotten into hassle.
Kay can clear her title by avoiding detection after a time, hacking computer systems, and even bribing officers to look the opposite means. My ideas on this open-world system are pretty impartial, however it could add a degree of tedium with stealth such an enormous facet of the sport already.
It’s simply one among many ways in which Outlaws tries to cater to its open-world sensibilities, and there’s lots within the sport to maintain you occupied together with facet quests, mini-games, and unlocking talents.
What’s useful too is all this stuff are largely spelled out – there’s a stunning absence of the standard open-world jank, what with quite a lot of what Outlaws makes you do really feel natural and complimentary to the primary quest. That stated, there nonetheless are the occasional fetch quests that really feel like they’re simply there to pad time and do not do a lot past that.
Outlaws places all of it along with some superb artwork path and impressed music, and though the character animations do depart just a little to be desired, the world is diversified sufficient that it’s a small criticism within the grand scheme of issues. I additionally encountered some visible and efficiency points throughout my sport on PC, which can hopefully be ironed out for launch.
General, Star Wars Outlaws represents one other optimistic achievement for contemporary Star Wars in the identical capability we have already seen from the Star Wars Jedi video games. Whereas sure facets like fight and stealth might be extra fleshed out to maintain issues contemporary, and a number of the facet quests extra partaking, the story and characters carry a fundamental story that manages to ramp up and stick the touchdown. I cherished spending time with Kay, Nix, ND-5, and the remainder of the crew. It’s protected to say they’re a welcome new entry to this huge universe, and if Outlaws proves something, it is that their story is just simply starting.
TechRaptor reviewed Star Wars Outlaws on PC with a replica proved by the developer over the course of 32 hours of gameplay – all screenshots have been taken through the strategy of assessment.
