Review: Star Wars Outlaws | The Nexus

Touted as the “first-ever open world Star Wars game” and set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi movies, developers Massive Entertainment have set out to capture the collective imaginations of fans the world over by taking this universe they hold so dearly and finally allowing them to fully immerse themselves within the setting. Stepping into the shoes of one Kay Vess, a thief raised on the streets of the casino city, Canto Bight, players get to live the scoundrel lifestyle – getting their hands dirty for the right number of credits and making their way up the underworld ladder. And even if you’re not the biggest George Lucas or Ubisoft-style open world fan, there’s a good amount of content in Star Wars Outlaws you might find to your liking.

After a heist targeting his mansion goes horribly awry, Zerek Besh syndicate head and exceptionally wealthy crime lord, Sliro, places a sizeable bounty on Kay’s head. As a result, she is forced to assemble her own network of connections and accomplices, with the ultimate goal of pulling off an even grander heist in order to buy back her freedom. It’s a simple story setup, but it perfectly lays the foundations for the long road ahead.

Following an extended detour spent speeding around the savannahs of the moon, Toshara, repairing her stolen Trailblazer ship, and making several notable acquaintances (and enemies), Kay’s heist prep takes her to three distinct planets in search of the perfect crew members to pull off the job – the snow-swept Kijimi, the verdant Akiva, and the iconic sand-covered Tatooine. Every location truly feels unique and exploring the various winding corridors and pathways within the major cities, as well as their marketplaces and cantinas, can be quite the immersive experience. The same can be said for the sprawling surrounding wilderness of some of these planets.

Outlaws‘ depiction of the Star Wars universe is easily one of its strongest points.

Hopping on Kay’s speeder and blazing through the sandy wastes and rocky ridges of Tatooine feels great (especially with the boost and jump upgrades), a different experience altogether from the hustle and bustle of the gambling parlor found within Toshara’s capital city of Mirogana, or the quieter back alleys of Kijimi City. Outlaws‘ depiction of the Star Wars universe is easily one of its strongest points. And, as a neat quality of life feature, if you just want to quickly bounce from planet to planet with as little hassle as possible, you do have the option of fast travelling from one to another without having to hop in your Trailblazer and dealing with the protracted take-off and landing sequence animations over and over again.

In the gameplay department, Outlaws blends third-person gunplay, stealth, basic puzzle solving, and even platforming – although it does seem to rely a lot more on the stealth sections than I was anticipating it to. Sure, there are plenty of opportunities for combat, but most missions feel like they were specifically designed with avoiding detection as a priority – even if the failure criteria of “being detected” or “raising the alarm” isn’t always listed (a lot of missions do feature this, though). This does make sense from a storyline and character perspective, considering Kay’s background in thievery. Sneaking through tall grass or behind stacks of conveniently placed crates, then knocking a guard out is what you’ll be spending a lot of time doing. If you’re in a pinch, you can always tranquilise an enemy from a distance, bearing in mind that this works on a cooldown which can be sped up by incapacitating another enemy.

Sometimes, though, you’re left with no choice but to go in loud. That’s where your blaster comes into play, complete with multiple firing Module options (all upgradeable, of course). Standard Plasma Module blasts are fine for your average patrolling guard, but droids and shield-bearing foes are best dealt with by switching to Ion Module shots. For the strongest of adversaries, or to blow up debris blocking an important item or switch, the Power Module’s charged explosive rounds are the way to go.

Another useful offensive trick is Kay’s Adrenaline Rush ability, which can be activated once the appropriate bar is fully charged during combat, slowing down time so individual enemies can be marked. Confirming your selections by firing your blaster promptly one-shots all those marked – functioning similarly to Red Dead Redemption’s Dead Eye Targeting system. Regardless of how you deal with your attackers, the gunplay feels satisfying enough – if you’ve played any third-person action title involving gunfights, you know what to expect here.

Outlaws blends third-person gunplay, stealth, basic puzzle solving, and even platforming – although it does seem to rely a lot more on the stealth sections than I was anticipating it to.

The space between each planet also plays host to its own series of conflicts, smaller stations and areas of pirate activity, in addition to its own selection of events you may accidentally get roped into – responding to a distress signal and defending a ship, for example. While dogfights between spacecraft are certainly a good time, things can quickly go south if you neglect upgrading your ship.

Nix, Kay’s adorable alien companion/pet plays an important role throughout many missions by adding more strategic options to your toolbelt. During combat, Nix can be ordered to retrieve various items and bring them back to Kay. These include bacta vials for healing purposes and weapons dropped by downed enemies. If you want to pick off a group of Stormtroopers huddled around an explosive canister, you can send Nix off to trigger the detonation without directly alerting the area to your presence.

Even outside of combat, Nix can be utilised for completing environmental puzzles. Commanding the little fella to lower hatches, distract a security camera, pull inaccessible switches, or fetch an item just out of reach has been incorporated consistently throughout the game, so it never feels like a gimmick or something you’ll use a bunch of times and then forget about. And yes, you can obtain outfits and passive ability-granting treats for Nix as well.

If you’re looking to enhance Kay’s abilities, however, you’re going to have to keep an eye out for missions that put you in contact with one of several “Experts”. Once an Expert mission is complete, a series of permanent upgrades can be unlocked by acquiring specific items or fulfilling certain criteria as detailed in the corresponding Expert’s menu. It’s an interesting approach and feels a lot more natural than just min-maxing yet another skill tree. Interestingly, most of these Expert unlock missions are completely optional, but aren’t necessarily difficult to stumble across – so if you want to beef Kay up, you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled and prioritise these tasks.

Nix, Kay’s adorable alien companion/pet plays an important role throughout many missions by adding more strategic options to your toolbelt.

At the core of Outlaws‘ gameplay mechanics lies the syndicate reputation system. Depending on the decisions you make during missions, Kay’s standing in the eyes of each of the four main criminal organisations (the Hutt Cartel, Crimson Dawn, Ashiga Clan, and Pyke Syndicate) will change – for either the better or worse. Typically, a positive outcome for one group will negatively impact another, so every decision carries that additional trade-off weight.

Reputation levels have an impact on almost every single facet of your journey. If you’re in a faction’s good graces, merchants will offer discounts on your purchases, information brokers will have more contracts (smaller side missions) available for you, and you’ll be allowed to enter certain syndicate-affiliated areas of the map with no repercussions whatsoever. Conversely, if your relationship with a group drops to a dangerously low level, fewer contracts will be displayed when talking to brokers, faction members will regard you with hostility, and a kill squad will even be dispatched to take you out of the picture permanently – although these assassins are, in all honesty, more of a frustration than a legitimate threat.

Trying to find some sort of balance between all syndicates is the ideal outcome here, as favouring one group over the others is only going to limit your options in the long run. As an added incentive for cozying up to some of the most infamous figures in the galaxy, various tiered rewards are obtainable as you rise through each faction’s ranks – including weapon cosmetics, upgrade materials, and clothing sets boasting abilities reflecting the related syndicate’s values.

Alright. This is the part of the review where I inform you that I experienced several technical and performance-related issues of varying severity during my playtime, and you pretend to be surprised at this statement. Frame rate drops in crowded areas, micro-stuttering in cutscenes, strange lighting behaviour (often resulting in making Kay’s hair look worse), and NPC pop-in were easily the lightest offenders. On a slightly more annoying note, the camera would also occasionally bounce off, or around, nearby scenery and objects whenever they got close enough. At the absolute tippy-top of my list, however, lies the rare crash from reloading a checkpoint upon dying, and a seemingly unremovable depth of field effect – as well as a progress-halting moment early on in the game where a doorway refused to open, prompting a restart that mercifully fixed the problem and allowed me to continue.

Frame rate drops in crowded areas, micro-stuttering in cutscenes, strange lighting behaviour (often resulting in making Kay’s hair look worse), and NPC pop-in were easily the lightest offenders.

Some buggy shenanigans can be a source of entertainment, though. Take the always amusing ragdoll death animations, for instance. Or that time I punched an enemy so hard they merged with the wall to my left before furiously jiggling like an electrified plate of Jello. NPCs, as is the case with many other open-world Ubisoft titles, barely display any genuinely believable facial animations or expressions during conversations – which, as you can imagine, may likewise lead to many moments of unintentional comedy.

Unfortunately, and on a more serious note, Kay is simply not a very interesting protagonist. Not only does her dialogue and writing often come across as stilted and unconvincing, but she is also completely overshadowed by the accompanying cast of side characters she runs into on her quest. There are, admittedly, a few great exchanges between herself, her droid companion ND-5, and a number of other characters I won’t mention due to spoilers that serve as a much-welcomed breath of fresh air.

Aside from some technical rough spots and an underwhelming main character, Star Wars Outlaws delivers exactly what you’d expect it to, along with a heaping helping of fan service on the side. With a reputation system that works its way into nearly all gameplay areas, an incredible amount of attention to detail, and a satisfying mix of stealth and action sequences (both on and off-world), Star Wars fans waiting for their favourite franchise to get the full open-world/Ubisoft treatment will want to give this one a gander.

*PS5 Review code provided by Ubisoft | Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius