I pride myself on being a Star Wars fan, having been introduced to the franchise as a wee lad. The galaxy far, far away is an expansive and diverse place filled with many engaging stories, countless species, and a world that will make you fall in love with itself. So when the opportunity came to play and review Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s latest offering in the franchise, I practically lept out of my chair at the opportunity.
Having played multiple Star Wars games and reviewed Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, I had some expectations for this game. While many of these expectations were met, much was left to be desired. Outlaws puts you in control of Kay Vess, an upcoming thief and scoundrel in the seedy underworld of Star Wars. The game is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and has little impact on the overall canon. That isn’t to say, it doesn’t have an impact.
For Star Wars Outlaws answers a burning question that may have popped up in the minds of many: what happens aside from the heroes of the galaxy, away from the lightsaber swinging and force powers? The answer: life goes on as usual for many.
Gameplay Is Stealth Focused
Ubisoft prides itself as a stealth game master with many games such as the Assassin’s Creed series, the Prince of Persia series, and more. And in Star Wars Outlaws, they try to put stealth mechanics in focus. Our character, Kay Vess, is an ordinary human. She is no heroic Jedi, super soldier, nothing of the sort. Although she carries a blaster, she doesn’t have combat training, so she can’t be expected to engage in high-octane combat.
Instead, she sneaks past enemies, knocking them out when she needs to, and if all else fails, uses her trusty blaster pistol to get out of trouble. Aiding her is her trusty alien companion, Nix, which in addition to the adorable factor, is your most useful tool who’ll do the brunt of your sneaky shenanigans while you take cover behind crates. Nix will help you set off explosives and pickpocket targets, interact with switches, sabotage control panels, and more. While Kay can do that herself, she risks being caught in the process.
On paper, the formula looks good, but in execution, it falls a bit flat, especially when you compare it to what Ubisoft has done in the past. Outlaws feels like it tries to emulate the stealth systems shown in Assassin’s Creed but in a very stripped-down way. The system is there, but the magic is not. I snuck past multiple faction members and stormtroopers, but my heart did not race.
I didn’t feel the thrill of duping them or the danger of being caught. Instead, it just felt like something I had to do. In addition to sneaking around, there is limited platforming, which the game does a job of putting out in the open. You jump, scale a few walls, and grab onto a few conveniently yellow-painted ledges to reach your objective, but that’s about it.
Although you can toggle the option of removing the clearly marked ledges and similar features, this still doesn’t improve the overall experience.
However, the game is better optimized than other recent Star Wars titles. I had to switch DLSS on, but I was able to achieve a smooth playing experience. The frames did drop to 28 FPS at times, but I didn’t feel it hindered my playing experience much. Unlike Jedi Survivor, Outlaws has a much smoother gameplay experience.
Nix Is Your Best Friend
Nix, the alien companion, is by far the most interesting addition to the game to the point I almost wished the entire game was focused on him. We have seen it work in Stray; it could have also worked here. Nix helps Kay tackle various obstacles that she cannot. He can squeeze through small openings to press a switch, tamper with control panels to disable cameras, set explosives to create distractions, pickpocket targets, fetch things from afar, and help you detect enemies and interactable objects.
The detection ability works similarly to Assassin’s Creed Eagle Vision ability, albeit shorter in range. With a button press, a pulse gets sent out, and the game highlights enemies, objects that can be interacted with, and loot that can be picked up. I found this useful as it helped me plan my routes when infiltrating a cartel safehouse or an Imperial camp. It also helped me highlight any enemies that got too close to my comfort while I was sneaking around so I could avoid them or stun them.
Considering how useful Nix is, Kay does quite a lot less. She can do exactly what Nix does, but rarely will you have the opportunity to pull it off as flawlessly.
Combat Is Limited But Fun
Sometimes, your efforts to sneak around and be a stealthy scoundrel will not go as planned, and soon you’ll end up in a firefight. Luckily, Kay Vess has a trusty blaster pistol, which she uses to fight syndicate members and Imperial Stormtroopers. It is decently powered, and most enemies go down in 2 shots. if you’re lucky, you can score a headshot and drop your targets in a single shot. As you play the game, you will upgrade the blaster, improve its damage and ammo, and get different firing modes.
The ammo is unlimited, but the blaster heats up with every shot. If you fire it too much too fast, it will overheat, and you’ll have to wait before firing it again. Not that you will ever go full John Wick on your enemies, most of the time you will be taking cover and only firing when there is a bit of a pause in enemy attacks. Additionally, you can also use blaster rifles dropped by your enemies. These have limited ammo but fire much faster, have no overheating function, and are more powerful.
But that is all a worst-case scenario in Star Wars Outlaws. Most of the time you will sneak up on enemies and knock them out when behind them. The game plays an animation, and Kay punches the enemy in front of her from behind. The same keybind is used for melee combat in which Kay does a 3-hit combo, knocking an enemy out. Now, this is by all means a non-lethal way of taking out enemies. But if the bodies do get discovered, the enemy AI treats them as if you have killed them and not knocked them out, which can throw pacifist players off.
Speeder And Ship Controls Are Janky
You will explore the world on your speeder when you aren’t sneaking around on jobs. You will also get the chance to fly your ships and go to a choice of 4 planets. Other syndicate members, outlaws, pirates, and Imperials will also ambush you during your travels. And that is where problems arise because the controls for both are janky. Even the slightest button press can send you flying in the other direction and crash. This problem is more apparent on the speeder, which lurches forward suddenly and, if you’re unprepared, will take you by surprise.
In my playthrough, I was often thrown off my speeder and into the terrain with the slightest of button presses. The ship, The Trailblazer, is slightly better, but the speed is sometimes uncontrollable, especially when you have to navigate an obstacle. Thankfully, you can reduce your speed, unlike the speeder. This is still an advantage over The Mantis from Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor because you can’t pilot it yourself. The Trailblazer is also larger, and there is more space inside, too.
You can also upgrade the ship and swap out parts for better ones, including cannons, shields, armor coating, turrets, and engines—another point over The Mantis.
The World Is Rich But Lacks The Star Wars Feel
As you step into the boots of Kay Vess, you will wake up in the attic of cantina on Canto Bight, the casino planet from The Last Jedi. As you play and embark on your first job, which goes awry as you may expect, you see different merchants and different environments, overhear some idle chatter, and explore the streets of an otherwise richly filled world. Yet something feels off.
Soon, you’ll be running away from the planet and crash land on the first open-world area of Toshara. This is when the game begins in earnest. You will use your speeder for the first time and go to Mirogana, the area’s main hub where your first quests are based. You will see syndicates in action, NPCs going about their day, Imperial Stormtroopers extorting people, and more. But again, the feeling is there. The world is rich and populated, but it lacks the Star Wars feel. It seems like any other planet in any other sci-fi/space game.
I am all for new stories and exploring new worlds and areas in Star Wars. Interestingly, the first area was based on Canto Bight, a planet we have seen little of because Disney hasn’t touched anything sequel-related since The Rise of Skywalker. But it should at least feel like Star Wars. That essence, that soul, is missing here. Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor were better because they also showed new planets and alien cultures; they had the Star Wars essence.
The only planet that came close was Tatooine. The desert sands, the seedy town, the cantina filled with scoundrels and outlaws; only on this planet did it feel like that yes, this was a Star Wars game after all. However, one planet out of four is hardly enough to be considered sufficient.
The Verdict
Star Wars Outlaws has the formula of a good game, perhaps even a great game, but has some places where it fails. It takes inspiration from other Ubisoft titles like Assassin’s Creed and Watchdogs, but feels like a stripped-down version rather than standing on its own. It often feels too simplistic in stealth, in its combat, in exploration, and sometimes even in its mission design. Kay Vess should feel like a breath of fresh air finally being a protagonist who’s not a Jedi or Lightsaber swinger. But she comes off as shallow and annoying.
She’s after a good job and wants to earn credits, but why? What motivates her to take jobs for syndicates? To steal? She gets slapped with a death mark on her in the prologue but honestly feels extremely unbothered by it. Does she need credits to pay off the bounty? If she does, the game doesn’t do a good job of showing it. If that fact exists, it’s just there. Compared to that, Nix has much more personality and can’t even speak! It would have been better to have Star Wars Outlaws centered on him like Stray.
Despite that, it’s still a good game that runs well. Yes, it does have some janky mechanics at times, but you can learn to get the hang of them and play the game just fine. However, the biggest problem is the lack of a Star Wars feel. Without it, it feels just like a light sci-fi thief game. A good one, but it isn’t Star Wars. You’ll still have fun if you play it, don’t expect to be blown away.
