Star Wars Outlaws review – Bacta basics

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were too many Star Wars games focused on swinging around lightsabers or pulling entire Star Destroyers from the sky. In comparison, Star Wars Outlaws feels refreshingly different, as the game slips a blaster into your hand, lets you smooth-talk your way out of danger, and gives you a universe of potential in which you can make a name for yourself.

The first major Star Wars game to come from a studio that isn’t Electronic Arts, Outlaws is a Ubisoft production–via its studio Massive Entertainment–that doesn’t stray far from the path of the open-world games published by the company over the last decade. With that safety net in place, Massive Entertainment uses it to add its own flair and design influences to the sandbox formula, resulting in a Star Wars game that feels comfortably familiar but still has a few surprises up its sleeve, just like Han Solo in a Tattooine bar when he’s getting harassed by a local Hutt enforcer.

Set between The Empire Strikes and Return of the Jedi, Outlaws puts you in the boots of Kay Vess, a small-time scoundrel who finds herself caught in the middle of underworld gangs, the Rebel Alliance, and the Empire. With bounty hunters looking to claim a lucrative contract on her head following a botched heist and Imperials on her tail, Kay has one chance to earn her freedom if she can assemble a crew and pull off the score of the galactic century. A rip-roaring jaunt follows across the Outer Rim, as Kay finds herself rubbing shoulders with a few famous faces in Star Wars.

Consistently entertaining, Outlaws mixes in high-stakes action with familial drama, treading recognisable ground along the way. Do you love The Mandalorian and the license to print money that is Baby Yoda? Then you’ll adore Nix, Kay’s constant partner who functions as a four-legged emotional support critter, and who can also be directed to sabotage traps, distract enemies, and maul the face of a nearby Stormtrooper so you can serve them up a fresh haymaker. Want some intrigue to go along with your casino heist? It’s not on the same level as Andor, but Outlaws has a morally grey core at its centre. The game even functions as a stand-in for a single-player Han Solo game, as Kay has her own (mechanical, not Wookie) muscle in the form of ND-5, a Clone Wars commando droid armed with a great sense of fashion, a dry personality, and a blaster.

It’s that love and appreciation for Star Wars–specifically the original trilogy of movies–that makes Outlaws stand out from its competition, namely EA and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi games. From incredibly puffy hairstyles to lightly detailed clothing, lived-in huts, and well-worn technology, the worlds and technology of Outlaws feel like they’d be right at home in a classic Star Wars movie. Interestingly, Outlaws offers a set of cinematic visual options between the usual performance and quality modes, just in case you want the game to look like it was filmed on a VistaVision camera.

That sensation extends to the gameplay, as Outlaws does at times feel like it was designed by a committee. You’ve got all the standard trappings of a Ubisoft open-world game, as each of the four worlds you can visit are full of items, trinkets, and detours to discover. This is par for the course with Ubisoft releases, but in this instance, combining easy-to-pick-up gameplay with the rich detail of Star Wars results in a title that fully sells you on its scoundrel-’em-up gameplay. Admittedly, there is some stiffness to the shooting–which is odd considering how superb Massive Entertainment’s Division games are in this department–and stealth can feel repetitive at times, but thank the Force for Nix and a clever system for growing Kay’s skills.

While most open-world games track every action and reward you with a few experience points, Outlaws takes a bolder approach to helping you improve your talents by tracking down experts. Each expert offers upgrades that cater to certain specialties–from dogfighting in asteroid belts, to firing off a barrage of plasma bolts–and you’ll be motivated to explore everything the galaxy has to offer so that you can unlock more skills. Some of these asks are easy, like getting more materials to craft better gear, while other experts will require you to risk life and limb so that you can become an expert with a blaster. Overall, Outlaws wants you to see everything that it has to offer, and this system is a much more encouraging way to do so when compared to grinding out XP.

Outlaws features a lot of options for how you can explore the galaxy, whether that be through a guns-blazing approach, cunning stealth, or mapping out a star system from inside the Trailblazer spaceship. Infiltration remains the core of the Outlaws experience, as you sneak around Imperial bases or find yourself looking for the best path to rob a Crimson Dawn stronghold blind. That said, Outlaws is at its best when you go off the beaten path.

On top of all this, the game features a Syndicate system that allows you to exploit the biggest players in the criminal underworld. Sure, you can’t please everyone, and you better watch out for that trapdoor in Jabba’s palace the next time you get on the bad side of the Hutt cartel boss, but there’s a thrill to seeing your decisions have actual consequences that can come back to haunt you. Like having your stroll on Tattooine interrupted by a gang of homicidal Pyke Syndicate members aiming to run you over on their speeder bikes.

Outlaws demonstrates the immersive magic that is typical of the best Star Wars media, when you walk into a Mos Eisley bar, keep your ears open for tips on how to swindle the high-rollers at a Sabacc table or pick up clues regarding a local treasure. That sense of freedom–with some barriers that you can overcome thanks to a few upgrades–extends to the 20-hour campaign, as the pure passion for the source material on display here Force-pulls you into the narrative. Small touches like iconic instrument sounds, recognisable fashion, and retro-futuristic technology only add to the experience, making Outlaws look and feel like it could comfortably share space with its big screen inspiration.

That’s not to say that the game is perfect, as there are some technical issues that need to be ironed out. While I waited to write a review until after Outlaws had received a launch-day patch, there’s still some jank that must be addressed. Technical glitches, enemies spotting you from halfway across the map, and speeder bikes sending you flying if you so much as nudge a rock are annoying. Hopefully, the next update can make Outlaws feel smoother than the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive during a clutch moment.

Overall, though, Star Wars Outlaws is a success. The Star Wars galaxy has always had the potential to tell interesting stories that don’t revolve around the Skywalker family, and with this game, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have carved out a slice of the cosmos that has been criminally neglected for far too long.

Star Wars Outlaws is available now, having launched on 30 August for Xbox Series X|S consoles, PlayStation 5, Amazon Luna and PC through Ubisoft Connect.