‘Star Wars Outlaws’ could be the dream ‘Star Wars’ game you’re looking for
Star Wars Outlaws shows immense promise. While it’s certainly not the first Star Wars game in recent memory to put the galaxy far, far away under an Uncharted-style filter, our hour with the game teased an engaging story and polished, stealth-focused combat. Yet other parts of the demo – like dogfighting and more action-heavy shootouts – left us a little concerned.
Set after the iconic Battle Of Hoth that kicks off The Empire Strikes Back, Outlaws follows scoundrel and smuggler extraordinaire Kay Vess as she wheels and deals her way through the less-travelled outer rim, working with the galaxy’s most notorious crime families like The Pykes and Crimson Dawn. It’s an undeniably cool premise: armed with a quick tongue and a draw to match, it’s hard not to think of Han Solo as she slyly trades information and favours with a crime boss.
Nix is her closest companion. This adorable axolotl-monkey-ferret-thing can help out by picking up a weapon dropped by a downed Stormtrooper, distracting a target while Kay steals something important, or (our favourite bit) activating a thermal detonator hanging from an unassuming guard’s belt. This cute little guy really cracks Outlaws‘ combat and stealth wide open. Siccing him on one guard as we knock out his partner is so satisfying, and hopefully we get to see more abilities from Nix as the story progresses.
Throughout our hands-on, we get to check out three missions. The first begins with a classic Star Wars conundrum: Vess’ ship, The Trailblazer, has been captured by the Empire. This mission starts with The Trailblazer (and her first mate), stuck in the hangar of a Star Destroyer, leaving Vess to secure their exit by sneaking to the command deck.
After stealthily disposing of a few officers and a Stormtrooper, we hack a computer terminal and set up a daring escape – but things don’t exactly go off without a hitch. A blaring alarm is triggered when we reached the hangar, where a platoon of bucket heads are waiting. This is our first taste of all-out combat, which involves ducking and weaving behind cover, then returning fire whenever a good shot presents itself. The shootout is a little shaky – we haven’t yet got to grips with Kay and Nix’s abilities, and blow up some crucial explosive barrels too early. Pinned by enemy fire with no visible way to progress, we rush the Empire’s forces and predictably die.
We respawn slightly further along – right next to a powerful sniper rifle, which we use to clear a path to The Trailblazer and escape. Worryingly, there’s a really low level of freedom or flexibility on display here, even with Nix by our side. However, it’s worth noting that this version of Outlaws is likely months behind the final version we’ll be playing this summer, so it’s possible this will be tweaked by then. Even so, it felt like making a simple mistake threw our flight off the rails in an uninteresting way.
After blasting off, we’re immediately thrown into space combat. The Trailblazer is equipped with a boost, a standard laser cannon, some missiles, and a computer-controlled turret, making it a formidable vessel. We pick off a handful of TIE Fighters before making our way to an outpost that can be hacked to shake the Empire’s tail. The Trailblazer is entirely serviceable and capable in combat, but it doesn’t feel especially fast, which is disappointing. Upon landing on a nearby planet and handing in the quest, we see a very brief glimpse of the game’s open world – but our hands-on time for this mission ends before we can step foot beyond the spaceport.
Next up is a spelunk through the centuries-old wreckage of a cruiser from the High Republic era. Driven almost exclusively by platforming around the crumbling, ancient behemoth, this section is very cinematic and impressively animated, but also kind of boring – the platforming in itself is good, but it just doesn’t do anything interesting with the movement beyond making it look cool. It’s similar to what you’d find in Jedi: Fallen Order, Uncharted, or Assassin’s Creed and doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any means. Yellow ledges and latticed metal lead the way through the ship’s reactor and made perfect footholds for Vess. Like Uncharted, a few cinematic flashes keep it from just being a climbing simulator, but ultimately it still wasn’t very entertaining.
The climb culminates on the ship’s bridge, in a boss-lite encounter against a powerful pair of enemies. Despite whiffing the one-shot stun ability (which has a very long cooldown), we dispatch one of the assailants by having Nix rig some conveniently-placed explosive barrels to blow up when they’re close. It’s considerably more fun and interesting than the first shootout, and requires using every one of Kess and Nix’s talents to win.
The final section is a quick, daring heist. This stealth-heavy section, set on crime-ridden plannet Kajimi, emphasises Nix’s versatility and is far and away the highlight of our preview. We silently pick off a room full of baddies (with Nix helping, of course) and nab the important artifact we’re here for.
Outlaws is unquestionably at its best during its gorgeous cutscenes and tense stealth sequences. Its dogfighting and all-out gunplay are less thrilling, but the demo presents several interesting and well-written characters that leave us really excited to see how Kay Vess’ story will play out. In capturing the scum and villainy of this richly-realised corner of a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Outlaws sinks its claws in – and if developer Ubisoft can smooth out combat’s rougher edges, this could wind up being one of the best Star Wars games ever made.
Star Wars Outlaws launches on August 30 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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Charlie Wacholz
NME
