Star Wars Outlaws preview – “You like me because I’m a scoundrel.”

By David Burdette

Posted on June 13, 2023

I’m sure many of you, like me, have been geeking out on your journey through Star Wars Jedi: Survivor earlier in the year. It’s the pinnacle of Star Wars gaming so far, but after seeing the gameplay for Star Wars Outlaws, we may be in for another. We had the opportunity to sit down in a closed doors session, and between that and the gameplay this is definitely on the list of must haves in 2024.

Narrative director Navid Khavari from Massive took us through a small presentation, telling us what the team looked to accomplish. There are three pillars they are focused on in development; dense, living cities full of activity; vast and stunning open environments; and a lucrative but risky outer space.

All of these are prevalent in the gameplay trailer. The moon of Toshara is the signature location you see, with Jaunta’s Hope the main hub. It’s teeming with life, speeders flying through the streets, starships landing, and civilians going about their day. As populated as everything is, I can only imagine the depth it will take once Massive has time to polish things past the “leaning against the building” stage.

The vast, stunning open environments also seem like an easy win. We didn’t see a lot of the open world in the trailer, but you can see it all in the distance, with an incredible amount of detail already there. Khavari said we can expect quite a few locations, with some familiar ones popping in. The hope in each is to make them feel unique, whether it’s the bigger, neon city location we see in the trailer or the Akiva system coming in from the Aftermath novels. One thing is for sure, there’s going to be a lot here to explore beyond the main story.

That main narrative is going to be a driving force behind Star Wars Outlaws. Contrary to anyone thinking this might be a spiritual “Division 2” spin-off, this is a single-player adventure game. Khavari said Outlaws will be “immersive and story driven”, which is exactly what a player like myself wants to hear. The timeline being used is also a fantastic choice, landing between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. After all, the Empire is showing cracks, and the Rebellion isn’t exactly filling them, so the ability for crime syndicates like the Pikes and Hutts to gain power is enormous. And yes, you read that right, the Hutts.

In the middle of all of this is Kay Vess, an “outlaw” who has a job go wrong and ends up on the galaxy’s most wanted list. She’ll not only look to shake the designation, but arguably take even more chances, including setting up one of the biggest heists ever. She will take jobs from crime syndicates to make that happen, but as you see in the trailer, it’s not always as clean as doing a mission. The gameplay showed Kay’s reputation with the Pike’s taking a dip after stealing from them, so it seems you’ll have to be on your guard every time you proceed further. I’m curious if we’ll be able to keep reputation if you manage to sneak through undetected, but being smart about who you tick off will be something to keep your eye on.

As far as the gameplay, everything we saw in the trailers looks to be a mixture of Uncharted and Mass Effect. There was plenty of sneaking, a little bit of platforming, and then a whole lot of shooting. I’m interested in the weapons that Kay will have available, especially with a blaster that has different modules to do different things. Swapping between the blaster mode and a more focused shot is awesome, and adds to the strategy of battle. There’s also that extra narrative layer with choices in dialogue, and I wonder how heavily that will be implemented. Personally, I’m hoping for a lot, with diverging dialogue that will require a few playthroughs to grasp every possible plot point.

Of course, it’s not Star Wars if you don’t have a cute little animal or droid to do things with. Nix looks to be an amazing addition, who seems to be very useful in the demo. Not only can he attack, but we saw him distract enemies, press buttons, and even grab weapons for Kay. One thing’s for certain, the Merqaal is adorable, and I can’t wait to see how his relationship with Kay develops.

That’s one of the reasons I love what I’ve seen, the way Massive has gone about portraying Kay. She seems self-assured, and very brash, but has a soft side when it comes to Nix. Finding ways to expose her fears and show her personality will be a challenge I’m looking forward to seeing Massive continue to figure out. Humberly González is the actress in charge of bringing Kay to life, and from the Meet Kay Vess trailer and gameplay her character looks to be in good hands.

Traveling across both planet and space is part of what opens up the world around you, and you’ll have a few ways of doing that. One is the speeder, which is one of the more iconic vehicles in Star Wars. Khavari told us it will be a sort of “MX” bike, with the ability to do stunts and drift that will keep you engaged.

The other avenue we saw was of course the TrailBlazer, Kay’s ship. You will indeed be flying it, whenever you’d like, and you’ll have to be on your A game to avoid Imperial dogfights. As mentioned before, Massive wants your traversal of space to be lucrative (with hidden secrets to find as well), but you’ll be risking exposure in the midst of your missions. Sometimes you’ll fight a patrol, but it also sounds like larger scale space battles are on the table.

Everything we’ve seen and heard from Ubisoft Massive checks off every box. This is a Star Wars adventure through and through, with Lucasfilm being involved every step of the way. Kay looks awesome, and with Nix and ND-5 (love the reference) in tow, we’re in for quite the ride. There’s so much more we don’t know, but we will certainly see more media blowouts on this one once it arrives in 2024 on Xbox Series consoles, PlayStation 5, and PC. Stay tuned to Gaming Trend for more Star Wars Outlaws news and info, and May the Force be with you.

Star Wars Outlaws preview – “You like me because I’m a scoundrel.”