Star Wars Outlaws Review

Several hours into my Star Wars Outlaws playthrough, I found myself deep within the bowels of a factory controlled by the Galactic Empire. I crouched in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. “Tink-tink-thwak!” a beeping sound went, causing me to click on my mouse the moment I heard the “thwak!” noise. Then, I took a deep breath and waited for several seconds, double-clicking with all the skilfulness I could muster upon hearing a “thwak-thwak!”

Miraculously, I successfully unlocked the keypad and the door before me opened. Inside this room was a large crate, which I opened cautiously, my heart pounding as I laid eyes on my long-awaited prize. It was an Ion Capacitor Charge, one of three materials required for a mediocre upgrade to my smoke bomb, which I rarely used anyway.

I shrugged and exited the facility, disappointed with my reward, and knowing that it was just one of many useless items I picked up over the course of my journey. This is Star Wars Outlaws, a cautionary tale of the perils of making an open-world game that’s devoid of anything iterative or inspiring.

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As your Wanted Level increases, so too will the Empire’s aggressiveness when chasing you down.

Ocean’s Devolvin’

Star Wars Outlaws is set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, with the Galactic Empire lording over numerous planets and the Rebel Alliance reeling from its losses. You play as Kay Vess, a notorious slicer (i.e. hacker) on the run from a syndicate after a job gone sideways. Alongside her is her pet, Nix, a cute little merqaal who handles numerous stealth-related functions, which I’ll get to in a while. Together, they plan on finding a crew that would help them with the heist of the century. The prize? 157 million credits in unmarked beskar ingots and a life of freedom.

Developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft, it’s clear that the studio wants Outlaws to focus on the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe, one where criminal gangs run amok, where those of morally-gray alignments thrive, and where deals and double-crosses are plentiful. One can take a look at the success of Rogue One and Andor, and it’s clear that the fanbase deserves more stories that don’t involve superhuman lightsaber-wielding Jedi.

Unfortunately, Outlaws’ “recruit a team and pull off a major heist” narrative arc is constructed in such a mundane fashion that it’s akin to Ocean’s Eleven with only the Malloy brothers and casino staff as extras. None of the characters are likable enough, bonds among most crew members are non-existent, and twists can be seen coming from a parsec away. The only character whose background piqued my interest was ND-5, a BX Battle Droid with an attitude that’s a cross between K-2SO from Rogue One and HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic.

At the very least, Massive Entertainment tried something new here with supporting characters known as experts. In Outlaws, there’s no traditional leveling or skill tree system. Instead, you need to hear of cantina rumors regarding experts, undertaking a quest line that would earn you their services. From there, you unlock perks by completing tallies which, sadly, aren’t retroactive. For example, the Scavenger expert has a perk that gives bonus materials and valuables, but one requirement of the tally is to collect 2,500 credits. I had to amass a lot of money again even though I had obtained more than this amount previously.

Likewise, several expert NPCs are left by the wayside, no longer playing a pivotal role in the story and are instead relegated to a menu screen. This includes one particular “suave” character whose appearance in the campaign will likely elicit cheers from fans. As unfortunate as it sounds, what you have here is a revolving door of characters, many of whom have underdeveloped backstories that will hardly get you invested in them.

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Many supporting characters in the game don’t have an exciting backstory.

Faction Wars

Star Wars Outlaws’ focus on the dark and corrupt underbelly of the galaxy is showcased in the form of criminal organizations: the Hutt Cartel, Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, and Ashiga Clan. You don’t necessarily side with just one group throughout the campaign, as this ever-shifting system of allegiances leads to missions that cause you to gain reputation with one while losing your standing with another.

In addition to missions, you can also undertake contracts and side quests from brokers, several of which have tasks that send you to a rival faction’s stronghold to retrieve items or plant devices. Moreover, criminal enterprises that have a terrible view of my character barred me from entering their territories and sent assassins to track me down, which caused a bit of trepidation as I roamed around regions.

Regrettably, the way the system is implemented also poses another problem with progression. That’s because there are many valuable goodies that can only be acquired once you’ve reached higher or maximum reputation levels, including cheaper merchant prices, cosmetics, and full armor sets. Rather than tackling contracts as I progressed through the main story, it became more feasible to finish the campaign first and then do side quests later. That allowed me to avoid sudden reputation drops while prioritizing each faction at a given time. This feature was certainly less fluid and dynamic than expected, especially where rewards are concerned.

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Factions with a poor opinion of you won’t even let you through the main entrance to their base. You have to find another way inside.

Unfun-Charted

Veterans of action-adventure games often tout the Uncharted or Tomb Raider series as the best in the genre. There’s an unrivaled feeling when you stare at set piece moments, along with the exhilarating thrills of sliding down a trap-filled river or falling from a plane as you clamber over cargo boxes. These moments are sorely lacking in Star Wars Outlaws. Instead, platforming sections are run-of-the-mill activities where I climbed railings, grappled over gaps, or avoided industrial fans that would’ve blown me across the room. Janky and stiff animations were also very noticeable in these portions.

Stealth gameplay, arguably the crux of most missions, is also poorly conceived. At best, I had my trusty pet, Nix, who’s able to distract, attack, or steal from targets, as well as push switches and detonate explosives. Kay Vess, however, doesn’t have a lot going for her. At most, I used her stun gun to avoid making a lot of noise and melee takedowns as I snuck behind foes.

The problem is that there’s no way to carry fallen opponents so they’re not spotted; you just leave them lying around in the open, which causes other guards to go on high alert. As a funny aside, I recalled how Metal Gear Solid, released for the original PlayStation back in 1998, still has stealth gameplay mechanics that are more fully realized and creative than what Outlaws offers.

Worse, there are missions and areas where getting caught leads to a game over and instant reload of the last autosave, as though you have no other recourse left. In some cases, where the objective was to simply prevent hostiles from sounding the alarm, I found that it was better to just punch everyone to death – most enemies, barring Dark Troopers and Gamorreans, can be taken out with just three punches anyway so this became my go-to in dealing with frustrating stealth sections.

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(1 of 2) You can send Nix to annoy hostiles,

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You can send Nix to annoy hostiles, (left), and you grab onto ledges or platforms to traverse levels. (right)

To top it all off, Kay only has a blaster as her primary weapon. While there are other firing modes to choose from – full-auto plasma lasers, an ion shot that’s effective against droids or shielded Stormtroopers, and a power blast for heavy-set and clustered foes – this limitation causes third-person shooter gameplay to become extremely repetitive over time.

Coincidentally, Kay can pick up long guns like rifles and grenade launchers, but these are automatically dropped when climbing ladders, squeezing through ventilation shafts, or hopping on your speeder. I even stared in disbelief whenever Kay held a launcher in her hands, only to drop it whenever cutscenes played. It’s nothing short of flabbergasting that one of the galaxy’s most notorious slicers couldn’t even afford a sling or backpack for additional weaponry.

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There are missions where the Rebel Alliance swoops in to aid you.

Picking Locks Only to Obtain Schlocks

Perhaps the most egregious facet concerning Star Wars Outlaws is the inclusion of two of the worst minigames ever conceived. The first, lockpicking, is what I mentioned at the start of this review. It involves clicking your mouse at the correct time when you see blinking lights or hear a beeping noise. The second is slicing, which is like Wordle but with glyphs (these can also be turned into numbers via a setting). Some passcodes require up to five of these, and you have to guess the correct sequence.

A smattering of these throughout the game would’ve been fine, but they’re found in every area and in every mission. Some locations can have around half a dozen of these, so imagine having to complete multiple Wordle puzzles each hour and in between firefights or stealth sections. The only thing that these minigames accomplished was to kill the momentum and add to the tedium. Mercifully, there’s an option to disable them completely via the gameplay settings menu.

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(1 of 2) The lockpicking minigame,

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The lockpicking minigame, (left), and the slicing minigame are best left forgotten. (right)

On a more positive note, Star Wars Outlaws has vibrant worlds with wondrous sights and immaculate vistas. Apart from Canto Bight, which is the campaign’s starting zone, I got to visit four other planets: Toshara, Kjimi, Akiva, and, of course, Tatooine. This is where the game truly shined, as open-world locations gave me the freedom to explore on my speeder.

From the dusty plains of Toshara and the jungles of Akiva, to the deserts of Tatooine scorched by its twin suns, I was amazed by the sheer scale and layout of these regions. At certain points, I ransacked outposts and bases, angering the Empire so much that they struck back, triggering a Grand Theft Auto-esque “Wanted Level” notification that led to high-speed chases.

Then things fell apart once my speeder bumped into a rock: Kay flew through the air in the most comical manner, and things got worse upon realizing that I can’t hijack any other vehicle. My woes were further exacerbated whenever I sought treasures, which I soon learned were nothing more than materials and cosmetics. Did I really need to scale a cliff, drop down a tunnel, and unlock keypads and containers via dull minigames just to obtain one of six key items that unlocks a single Nix cosmetic? Probably not.

Granted, other open-world games, such as last year’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor from Respawn Entertainment and Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed series, fill its worlds with many landmarks and points-of-interest, but discovery and exploration still felt gratifying. I can also draw comparison to a more recent title, Black Myth: Wukong, which isn’t an open-world game but still has numerous secrets that lead to meaningful rewards.

In Star Wars Outlaws, however, very few activities felt worthwhile. One of these is Outlaw Legends, a scavenger hunt quest chain where you use a holographic map to find the correct locations. Another involves the hunt for well-hidden caches, such as the one in an area called Flyer Ridge which is situated beneath a mountain. But these instances that sparked my curiosity were few and far between, and the open-world bloat became too much.

I should also add that you can pilot a ship, with takeoff and landing sequences somewhat akin to No Man’s Sky. It’s also possible to engage in space dogfights, but this feature felt tacked on, too, given the poor controls and limited ways to combat enemy vessels. Lastly, there were several notable bugs and issues, such as drab textures when viewed close up or during cutscenes, Nix button commands not working until I restarted the game, quests where a faction asked me to aid them in their own settlements that were hostile to me, and crashes that affected my latest saves due to cloud syncing.

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The Holotracker shows you where legendary outlaws left their stash.

All in all, Star Wars Outlaws tries to do everything at once, but neither excels nor is passably good in most facets. Stealth mechanics are outclassed by games like Metal Gear Solid and Hitman, while third-person shooter action is trumped by Massive Entertainment’s own The Division duology.

Platforming and adventure aspects don’t provide you with the same highs as Uncharted or Tomb Raider. Similarly, open-world exploration is too formulaic and derivative even when compared to other titles published by Ubisoft. If this is but a glimpse into the underworld of the galaxy in video game form, then it’s best left frozen in carbonite.