Star Wars Outlaws fleshes out the galaxy in some surprisingly compelling ways

I’ll be honest — I’ve been a bit burnt out on modern Star Wars.

Whether it was the underwhelming Ahsoka and The Mandalorian Season 3 to the pretty rough Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Acolyte, the galaxy far, far away just hasn’t been doing much for me lately. (Tony Gilroy’s magnificent Andor series and Respawn’s excellent Jedi: Survivor are excluded.)

With that said, Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, the iconic sci-fi series’ latest game, is really speaking to me so far. While so much of modern Star Wars consists of fan service-heavy stories about Force users, Outlaws aims to explore an oft-unseen area of the canon: the underworld. Specifically, the open-world game follows Kay Vess, a scrappy scoundrel, as she tries to survive in the seedy underbelly of the Empire. Since the game’s reveal last year, I’ve felt there’s a lot of potential in that premise, and after a nearly five-hour hands-on demo of Outlaws, I’ve come away even more impressed with how lead developer Massive Entertainment and co. have tapped into it.

First and foremost, there’s Kay herself. As capably voiced and motion-captured by Venezuelan-Canadian Humberly González (Ginny & Georgia), Kay has a charming, fast-talking Aladdin-like “street rat” sort of pluckiness to her. At the same time, the only person she cares about — other than her adorable and handy alien critter companion, Nix — is herself, and that makes her story refreshingly grounded compared to a lot of other entries in the Skywalker Saga. Ubisoft Toronto, who led the development of Outlaws‘ narrative, previously spoke about how Kay “couldn’t care less” about the rebellion, so hopefully, she doesn’t eventually follow the familiar criminal-turned-freedom-fighter arcs of Han Solo and Jyn Erso.

But even if that does happen, my extensive time with Outlaws avoided any such well-worn territory so far, instead providing some fascinating glimpses into the galaxy’s criminal underworld. My demo began with Kay having crash-landed on Toshara, an African-inspired savanna planet whose urban areas are overrun by corrupt governors making deals with criminal organizations. To leave the planet, she’ll have to begrudgingly work with a Rodian mechanic named Waka, who directs her to seek aid from Goran, the Pyke gang leader, in Mirogana City.

Of course, this being an open-world game means you have a bit of a journey to make to reach the city, and that’s where Kay’s speeder comes in. Right away, I was pleased with the vehicle’s handling, which was much looser and more arcade-y than I was expecting and allowed for some slick 180-degree turns and off-ramp jumps in Toshara’s cavernous terrain. Adding to my Fast & Furious: Toshara Drift experience was the mercenaries who began to chase me as I got closer to Mirogana.

While their arrival was clearly scripted, I appreciated the sort of emergent gameplay opportunities that came about from this encounter. Since I was still trying to get a lay of the land, I accidentally crashed into a little island in a riverbed, sending Kay flying off the speeder. Scrambling to my feet and crouching behind one of the rocks, I picked off the baddies with my blaster before zipping away. Unfortunately, a second group soon arrived, and so I went up a winding path to avoid them and, in the process, inadvertently entered restricted Imperial territory. This led to a three-way shootout in which Kay sadly perished. I wasn’t frustrated by my untimely demise, though — far from it. I love this sort of open-world chaos, which makes the act of going from Point A to Point B — which can sometimes feel tedious and passive — all that more dynamic and exciting.

This also just made my eventual successful entry into the protected walls of Mirogana feel that much more rewarding. And not just because I evaded my pursuers, mind you, but also because the city was a sight to behold. Being tucked away in a high-up corner of the savanna gives it this air of mystery, and as I used fake credentials to get through an Imperial checkpoint, that vibe only increased as I ran through the techno-bazaar streets and skirted around all kinds of shady-looking humans and alien creatures.

But what really added to the immersion were the criminal gangs themselves. Throughout the game, Kay will meet four criminal Syndicates — the existing Star Wars groups Crimson Dawn, Hutt Cartel, and the Pykes, plus Outlaws‘ new Ashiga Clan — who factor into a ‘Reputation’ system. Essentially, certain actions may improve favour with one Syndicate and unlock exclusive merchants, territories and missions, while also upsetting another group, thus locking you out of such benefits and maybe even putting a target on your back.

What I appreciate most about this system is that it’s not binary; like any experienced thief, you’re very much encouraged to constantly play different sides and double-double-cross people. In my demo, I quickly saw the perfect example of this. When a story mission tasked me with stealing a piece of tech, I was told this could be done either in a Crimson Dawn or Pyke base, which presented me with a quandary. Sure, I had been currying favour with the Crimson Dawn (led by Qi’ra from Solo), but I also realized that my good standing with them meant they’d let me right into their base to be met with less confrontational guards, thus allowing for a smoother heist. On the flip side, I could have gone to the Pykes’ hideout for a likely tougher stealth challenge that would have maintained my relationship with the Crimson Dawn. It’s a fluid system that presents an enticing risk-reward element to the game, and I’m eager to see how it may play out in a broader narrative sense, even if it’s just through side missions.

And speaking of side content, I’m so far cautiously optimistic with what I’ve seen. For one, Outlaws doesn’t feature the much-maligned “Ubisoft Towers,” so you’re instead encouraged to come across points of interest either through exploring the wilderness, talking to NPCs or simply leaning forward and eavesdropping in cantinas. I particularly enjoyed little maze-like areas in which an excited Nix leads you to rare treasure that can be sold to merchants, all while Kay charmingly banters with the cute critter. Then, of course, there are side activities that come directly from the story missions, like a Crimson Dawn member’s keycard I swiped in the aforementioned heist that revealed a mountainside fortress with a loot-filled vault.

I must confess, however, that the more combat-heavy excursions highlighted both the strengths and weaknesses of Outlaws‘ third-person shooting mechanics. Despite this coming from the studio behind The Division, the gunplay isn’t nearly as tight as you’d hope, with Kay rather inelegantly sliding between and popping out from cover spots. Likewise, her stealth and melee attacks consist of rather basic punches and grabs, which, consequently, feel like they lack a bit of an oomph.

On the flip side, I do like the versatility of Kay’s blaster itself. At first, it can only fire basic bolts before having to cool down, with a Gears of War-style ‘Active Reload’ expediting that process. But before too long, you can upgrade the blaster for increased utility, like a one-time use instant-KO shot that has a significant recharge period. What’s more, Nix feels like a natural extension of Kay throughout enemy encounters, both in how he can help with stealth (i.e. distracting enemies or activating machinery to affect the environment) or combat (such as retrieving limited-use power weapons like blaster rifles or rocket launchers). In one section where I had to quietly infiltrate an Imperial hangar, I first tried hopping between the different floors and into the smoke-filled hangar to avoid Stormtroopers, only to realize I could have had Nix flip a switch to open up a higher catwalk to sneak above everyone. (To balance things out, a Probe Droid monitors the upper floors, meaning I had to time my jumps and grappling hook swings between platforms.)

But above all else, my favourite parts of Outlaws‘ world were the little pockets of civilization outside of the big town. In one instance, I came across a humble settlement in which two impoverished civilians were getting strong-armed by the Empire for not having the right permits. When I arrived, I was given the choice to try to defend them, leading to Kay amusingly failing to smooth talk her way through it all and, therefore, becoming Wanted. Yes, this game has a GTA-like wave-based system in which you’re faced with increasingly tough levels of Imperial authorities, leading all the way up to fearsome Death Troopers.

Elsewhere, on the outskirts of Toshara, I came across a farmer bickering with her daughter about the risks of going to the Imperial-controlled Mirogana. The daughter, in turn, argues that the city is “much more” than the Empire. The mother asks me for an outsider’s perspective, and I can then decide who to side with. After some thought, I back the daughter, drawing from Kay’s life experience to point out that there’s always a risk of the Empire and it’s better to go now to build character and prepare before things get even worse. The daughter thanks me for the support, adding that Tosharans are losing part of their identity by just conceding to the Empire. In just a few minutes, these little slice-of-life NPC interactions did a wonderful job of fleshing out the world by showing the sorts of everyday interpersonal struggles the commoners of the galaxy must go through under Imperial rule.

Unfortunately, the open-world space sections outside of the fun ground-based content leave something to be desired. On the one hand, you can actually fly directly between planet surface and space without any loading screens (some suspense-building clouds clearly hide the game booting up the next area), which is way better than what you’d constantly face in Bethesda’s often unbearably tedious Starfield. But once you’re actually in space, there’s not a whole lot to do besides gathering resources and engaging in ship protection missions for Syndicates. Some of the art design is admittedly striking, especially in Kijimi (the snowy planet in The Rise of Skywalker) where lightning pokes through shadows and debris to create an eerie atmosphere, but I wish there were more compelling activities here. (Ubisoft promises space stations to explore and receive new quests, so hopefully, that adds more depth to these areas.)

What I did find gripping, however, was the space combat. Sure, it’s pretty simple at first, with your ship, the Trailblazer, having a similar looseness and left-and-right dodge buttons to the speeder, plus an ability to lock onto enemies for precise shooting of your turret and missiles. But these basic mechanics really just allow for greater complexity in the bigger battles. While I never survived long enough on the ground to see the Death Troopers, I was able to reach max Wanted level in space, resulting in a giant manhunt led by a titanic Imperial Raider. This led to a tense few minutes in which I had to frantically dip between asteroids and ruined starships as I made one last-ditch effort to cripple the Raider, all while Kay anxiously reacted to the opposing platoon and stern words of warning from robot commando companion ND-5. All told, it was an utterly breathtaking sequence that reminded me in the best way of The Empire Strikes Back‘s iconic asteroid field chase.

Ultimately, I came away a lot more excited about Outlaws than when I went into the preview. In particular, I finally have a better sense of the game’s open-world structure after oddly being quiet about it before, and while some of that framework feels familiar, I’m digging how Ubisoft is using it to flesh out the larger galaxy. At the same time, Kay’s story continues to show a lot of potential, both through her charming relationship with Nix and the personal, intimate stakes of her quest that, at least so far, are removed from the broader Skywalker Saga.

We’ll learn more about how Star Wars Outlaws all comes together when the game launches on August 30th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

For more on Star Wars Outlaws, check out our interview with star Humberly González and lead writer Nikki Foy.

Image credit: Ubisoft