Live your villain dreams in Star Wars Outlaws

Get your blaster ready, brush up on your Sabacc skills and be careful. Here is our review of Star Wars Outlaws.

There are so many shoes star Wars Fans would love to fill out this vast galaxy. A Jedi or Sith is a no-brainer. A flying ace for the Rebel Alliance or the Empire is another. Or maybe a soldier on either side to experience galactic battles. Fortunately, there are Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars Squadrons, And Star Wars Battlefront that you can get involved in. But there hasn't been a game yet where you can experience what it would be like to be an outlaw like Han Solo, roaming the galaxy and dealing with scum and villains.

Until now. Star Wars Outlaws is by no means perfect, but it gets you pretty damn close to being the scruffy Nerf herder you've always wanted to be.

[Hero image: Ubisoft]

Star Wars Outlaws Review: Flawed, but entertaining

Star Wars Outlaws puts you in the role of Kay Vess, a petty criminal who works random, menial jobs to survive with her trusty smol and useful companion Nix. But when one of her jobs goes wrong, she is sentenced to death by a notorious syndicate and is forced to flee. Eventually, she is hired by someone who offers to clear her name in exchange for her pulling off a big, elaborate heist. Along with a new companion droid named ND-5, Kay must build her crew, and to do so, she must contend with criminal syndicates and the Empire itself.

The game plays out like a classic heist story, complete with backstabbing, double-crossing and triple-crossing. Sometimes you're the one doing it, and sometimes you're the one suffering it. Despite all this, the story is fairly predictable. If you know your rogue movies, you know what's likely to happen.

That's not to say it's not a fun game. It's also nice to get a break from the Force and hear a story that focuses on the galactic underworld. As cool as lightsabers are, their absence in this game is a good thing.

New territory

As for the gameplay, Outlaws is very similar Unknown, especially in combat and stealth. You'll spend a lot of time sneaking through tall grass, climbing walls, and getting into gunfights. That's pretty much your bread and butter for the entire game. If you've played Uncharted and thought it was a repeat, then you probably feel the same way about Outlaws. I had fun though, and there's nothing better than escaping undetected from a cartel hideout or empire base after taking their loot – or, well, shooting everything in sight, because I just decided to go for chaos this time.

There are a few things that put a damper on the sneaking and fighting. The enemy AI isn't great, so I relied on the same old tactic of the classic “whistle and take down” to get rid of them easily. They even ignore the corpses of their allies, which makes everything much easier, but also much less challenging. Those looking for more of a challenge will probably find the enemies in this game far too easy to take out. Another thing that also bothered me was that you can pick up a secondary weapon, but you always drop it when you do something else. Go into a ventilation shaft, climb a ladder, punch a bad guy? Kay immediately drops the weapon.

About the stars

Outside of combat, Outlaws offers you planets with plenty of secrets and easter eggs to explore. I was initially scared of what the game's map would look like. Ubisoft has a penchant for unnecessarily stuffing its maps with quests, side quests, trophies, hoozits and so on that you almost get overwhelmed. Thankfully, the developer didn't succumb to this temptation, and as a result, I was actually more excited to explore the world. In addition to the brand new planets you'll visit, like Toshara and Akiva, you'll also be able to visit iconic planets like Tatooine and Obi-Wan's favorite spaceport, Mos Eisley.

Not only can you explore planets, you can also head out into space with your ship, the Trailblazer, to avoid meteorites and take part in space battles. Similar to Star Wars SeasonsHowever, the space battles are not that exciting and tough, and I found that I didn't really spend much time there. The jump into hyperspace is pretty cool though and got me, a star Wars Nerd, squeak. However, landing and taking off from planets is not quite as seamless as claimed. Still pretty cool, but No Man's Sky remains unbeatable in this area.

Your reputation era

What really immerses you in the galactic underworld is the way you must balance your reputation with the syndicates. Like any true villain, you ultimately have to look out for yourself, but that means knowing when to give in or take from the major syndicates that rule the underworld, and when to cross the line or not. Certain missions will earn you the favor of someone like Jabba the Hutt and the Hutt Cartel, but it will almost always disappoint another syndicate, so you'll have to be smart about your decisions.

Still, I would have liked to see the consequences for disappointing the cartels more severe. There was a point in the game where I was not in the good graces of the Pyke Cartel, but I needed to talk to their boss for the next main story quest. I thought my reputation would prohibit me from doing so, so I was surprised when I just went up and talked to him with no problems. Your reputation has consequences and rewards. Moving through syndicate-controlled areas will either be easier or harder, prices for goods will be higher or lower, mercenaries will come after you if your reputation gets low enough, and on the other hand, you can get rewards from each cartel if your reputation gets high enough. But that's pretty much it.

Outlaws also forgoes the usual RPG-style leveling up or collecting skill points to unlock abilities. Instead, you have to seek out contacts who will reveal new abilities to you that you can unlock. Obtaining them usually involves completing certain achievements and obtaining a piece of equipment hidden in a dangerous location. Because of this, I wanted to explore more and let the main storyline rest a bit, just so I could give Kay more abilities.

The verdict

Star Wars Outlaws is by no means a game changer, but it doesn't want to be. It's definitely fun, even if there are a few issues here and there. As with any Ubisoft game, there are glitches, but nothing serious enough to break the game, and only something as odd as a stormtrooper showing up without arms. The story was good enough that I wanted to read it through to the end, and for star Wars Fans, there are plenty of Easter eggs to delight you, including some appearances from popular characters.

In total, Star Wars Outlaws is fun and entertaining enough to make me look forward to whatever Ubisoft plans for the game in the future.

Rating: 4/5

Tested on a PlayStation 5

Star Wars Outlaws will be available on August 30th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC