Star Wars: Outlaws Review

SHOULD YOU GET THIS?

To put it simply, this game is great! If you like Star Wars in any way, shape, or form then you should absolutely get this game. It's a game made for Star Wars fans from all corners of the galaxy making it accessible and interesting to everyone, even newcomers to the franchise. You get pulled into the Star Wars universe within a new story as new characters, Kay Vess and Nix, travelling to new and familiar places with some new and familiar faces. You get to explore what it's like being a scoundrel working your way up through the criminal underworld which I found refreshing and clever from the story and gameplay perspectives. You’ll gain and lose rank with the different clans while also trying to avoid getting in trouble with the Galactic Empire. You go to new and familiar worlds that feel alive with different creatures and characters interacting with each other constantly. They even change how they interact with you based on your in-game choices making each decision feel more personal. Not being a lightsaber wielding force sensitive character was refreshing and made the stakes feel higher and more intense.

STORY

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment carefully weaved a story in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi while also referencing lore from all over the Star Wars universe from The High Republic, Solo: A Star Wars Story and more. The main story involves you working your way up from the criminal underground and eventually putting together a team of scoundrels for a grand heist. Along the way, in true scoundrel fashion, you’re betrayed and put into situations with those who will help or hurt you in your quest to become rich. You also get the backstory for Kay Vess and Nix with various flashbacks adding depth to their characters. Even better is that we are getting more content on the way exploring my new favorite droid companion, ND-5, who owes Jabba the Hutt an unpaid debt which I’m looking forward to see play out. All in all if you’re looking for a fun, immersive Star Wars story then Star Wars: Outlaws is for you. And the cameos, if you will, feel naturally embedded within the story.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is fun and allowed me to just sit back and enjoy what was unfolding whether it was sneaking around the Galactic Empire facilities and taking down stormtroopers, playing Sabacc, having a snack with Nix, or just randomly petting wildlife. Simple things like riding around in my speeder just looking at the twin suns on Tatooine was such a nice feeling that brought me genuine joy. Side missions would come naturally to the point where I would genuinely stop what I'm doing to complete the side missions. They never felt like a burden and would often times elevate the main story. One example very early on was when I was riding my speeder and someone asked me to race them, so I did. When the race was over I ended up near someone else’s land that was being invaded so I decided to help them by blasting away the invaders. After that I just relaxed and pet some creatures that were walking around then went on my speeder to my next mission, all of this so seamlessly.

Just walking around a cantina with playable arcade games, Sabaac, betting tables, and characters to interact with was fun for me. I really felt like I was in the Star Wars Universe simliar to something like Walt Disney World’s Galaxy’s Edge but maybe even more immersive. It feels alive, even just walking around the towns with people, wildlife, and droids constantly moving around all over.

You have customizable upgrades to your blaster, speeder, ship, and cosmetics for Kay Vess and Nix. There are a nice amount of options for you as you progress. Some practical, some more fashionable. Kay and Nix are a great duo though Nix is kind of overpowered in that he can open doors, distract people, fight people, scan for things, sense enemies and more. The animations while these things are happening cement Nix as another adorable companion in the Star Wars universe.

I found riding in a speeder was fun and unique looking depending on the time of day and which planet or moon that you’re on. I personally enjoyed Toshara the most but exploring all the different planets and moons was a delight. I like how you can call your speeder to come right next to you in any location a speeder is allowed. I do wish that you could jump on other moving vehicles or steal them from others instead of being tied to your speeder. I had the urge to do this so many times especially anytime I saw an AT-ST. Maybe in the sequel…

Your ship, the Trailblazer, is also fun. I like how seamless it is going from a dock to space then to hyperspace and beyond. How you have to pivot your ship away from debris before launching into Hyperspace, much more realistic in that sense. I also enjoyed just flying through debris or other people fighting and throwing myself into the fight. Getting treasure or cargo and delivering it while being chased by fighters is also fun for me and in this case did not disappoint though again, more vehicles would’ve been fun here. I do love me some Tie Fighters…

Now I did have some issues on the ground level like when a person showed up in between a floor and a ceiling, some occasional freezing on my PC when I pushed the graphic settings but that could be partly my fault too with my settings as I put together my computer very quickly to get this review out to you all. There was one time where I was hacking a terminal and the sound cut out but again, not sure what happened there and nothing really game breaking. Overall though no real game breaking bugs and the few problems I did have I’m sure can be day 1 patched or shortly after if an issue persists.

VISUALS

I played this on PC but decided not to use max settings as I just wanted to relax and enjoy what was unfolding. It was a great experience and the game looked great, sometimes incredible, even without me changing my settings. Some of the best moments I had were watching the sun (or suns) rising or setting while on my speeder. Other times, I’d be somewhere, like on the cliffs Tatooine, just looking out into the distance and it just looked gorgeous. I don’t recall having any load times, everything was seamless. The cutscenes look very good, some of my favorites being on Canto Bight with fireworks going off in the background.

MUSIC

From when the game loads the music is superb. The start screen music felt like pirates meets Star Wars. It felt very much within the realm of Star Wars but in the underground criminal world. I especially enjoyed combat music when fighting other clans or the Galactic Empire. Also, in every cantina or bar you’ll usually find a jukebox to play different songs which are all pretty good in my opinion and fit in well within what you’d expect from the Star Wars universe, which I can’t always say is the case. In this game though, it all worked for me.

RATING: 4/5

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment clearly put a lot of passion and love into this and created something truly special here while managing to carefully weave a new story into all corners of the galaxy from The High Republic to the films and more. There's something here for everyone and I can't wait for you all to check it out. If you pre-order certain versions of the game or get Ubisoft+ you can play it early.

Thank you Ubisoft for allowing me to play this great game early and if you like Star Wars follow me at the links at the bottom of this page for more. Video review here.