5 
0 After two recent successful releases where you play as a Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is “The first open-world Star Wars Game;” where you play as a regular nonforce sensitive thief, Kay Vess. Star Wars Outlaws was developed by Massive Entertainment, and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on August 30th, 2024 on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Star Cry
Ubisoft has become synonymous with the open-world genre in recent years. Running around sprawling, yet often repetitive, maps, chasing question marks, and collecting dozens of meaningless trinkets just to tick another box off the checklist. For many players, including myself, the formula has grown a bit stale. So, when early previews for Star Wars Outlaws dropped, I was immediately intrigued by the promise of something fresh—a different kind of open-world experience, at least by Ubisoft‘s standards.
Did Outlaws deliver on that promise? Well… Sort of.
Gameplay
Ubisoft has always been gameplay first. Unfortunately for Star Wars Outlaws, that doesn’t help the narrative in the long run. We’ll dive into that soon enough, for now, let’s get the basics out the way.
You son of a Sith Lord, I’m in.
The story kicks off with players following Kay Vess, A young thief taking odd jobs and getting by however she can. Alongside her Merquaal companion, Nix. Kay quickly finds herself in hot water. She’s tasked with robbing the mansion of gang leader, Sliro Ruback, leader of the Zerek Besh Syndicate. Predictably, things go sideways and Kay gets her reward, a death mark on her head. Shortly after, Kay receives a job to open and rob the vault once more, now with all the added security. Kay must scout out a crew for the score and pull off a grand heist. Get ready for a high-stakes ride filled with exploration, double-crosses, and plenty of blaster fire.
There is some cheesy writing here and there, and some contrived plot points, but it’s hard not to get invested in Kay and Nix’s story. Their journey is told through a series of flashbacks and It’s not hard to feel for Kay and her struggles. However, the story stumbles in its adherence to Ubisoft’s familiar formula.
Structure
Ubisoft‘s open-world games are all about giving players the freedom to choose their own path, and Star Wars Outlaws is no different. Early on, you’re given the option to recruit team members from various planets in any order you prefer. While this adds to the sense of player agency, it also means that each planet’s storyline is self-contained and disconnected from the larger narrative.
This structure can make the game feel more like a series of side quests rather than one cohesive adventure, as the main story takes a backseat to these individual, isolated missions. It’s great for exploring at your own pace, but it can dilute the overall impact of the plot.
I’d often find narrative inconsistencies thanks to this, and it made the crew, never really feel like a crew. Due to the fact you can recruit crew members in any order, any form of character development with any of your base crew is thrown out the window. Take ND-5. A cold, intimidating commando droid donning a trench coat. As soon as I felt some semblance of development with his character, his dialogue would reset back to square one whenever I hopped planets and into a new mission chain.
Your crew members will barely interact with each other either since the game doesn’t know what order you recruited them in.
There is also a choice system, with some choices causing an effect on your standing with certain factions. In theory, the idea of having to find different ways to enter clan territory based on your standing is interesting; I hardly ever found my standing dropping.
You better like yellow paint
Thankfully, the opening and closing hours of Star Wars Outlaws are where the game truly hits its stride. Packed with thrilling space battles, not-so-unexpected twists, conspiracies, and enough references to keep die-hard fans grinning, these moments are pure Star Wars fun. The characters finally get their time to shine, and the narrative feels much more focused and engaging.
If the entire story had followed this cohesive structure, rather than being chopped into a series of disconnected missions, Star Wars Outlaws could have been something truly special. It’s a glimpse of what could have been, leaving you wishing the middle section had matched the high stakes and emotional depth of the beginning and end.
That being said, the missions themselves are a blast. Thankfully, Star Wars Outlaws breaks away from the traditional Ubisoft formula of repetitive open-world objectives. Instead, the story missions feel fresh and well-crafted. One standout moment for me was exploring an abandoned ship in true Tomb Raider fashion—it was a perfect blend of stealth, combat, and traversal, with excellent pacing to keep things engaging. Unfortunately, the game falls victim to the curse of yellow paint that marks every climbable object.
So anyway, I started blasting
I quite enjoyed the blaster combat in the game. Kay’s blaster packs a punch and has a decent amount of customization. That’s right, blaster, singular. Combat falls short with its weapon variety. Occasionally around mission areas and from drops off of enemies you’ll find an array of weapons. These range from automatic weapons to snipers, to some heavy weaponry after some upgrades. The issue is, that Kay drops these weapons whenever you interact with anything. Traverse to a new area? Not with that gun you’re not.
This severely bogs down combat as it limits your tactical options. You’re never able to scout out a position on some high ground and pick away at enemies from afar, instead, being forced to choose between mid-short ranged combat and stealth. It’s a frustrating limitation that ends up affecting player choice. Kay also has an ability that is straight up dead eye from Red Dead Redemption, a time-stopping ability that recharges and allows you to mark and eliminate enemies in quick succession.
There’s ship combat too, but it plays about as you’d expect. There are upgrades for your ship, but most of the time you’re just holding aim and shooting.
Ded-Sec has really expanded its operating range…
Three words. Forced. Stealth. Missions.
Now, I imagine that made some people immediately disinterested in Outlaws. Me? I love the stuff. However, the game’s stealth always had a feeling of inconsistency. The AI is dumb. Dumb dumb. I recall a moment where I stood directly in front of an enemy completing an objective while they were none the wiser. Other times, I’d be spotted by an enemy halfway across an area. The stealth has a sort of Watch Dogs feel to it thanks to Nix. You can do all the same things you can do in that game with him. Blow stuff up, cause distractions. stun enemies, and even steal from them. Overall though, stealth gameplay was made fun through an array of options and upgrades, namely Kay’s fast talk ability, allowing her to delay the reaction of enemies if she is spotted.
Side missions
By far my favourite part of Star Wars Outlaws is the natural feeling of exploration. I never chased question marks on my map, and there’s no need to. Overhear people discussing a plot? Find a place to listen in and naturally gain that information.
Side quests can range from grabbing a few materials scattered around the map to full-on quest lines. Some are inseparable from the main story in terms of quality. Taking players to unique locals with well-worth-it rewards, all tied together nicely with well-written characters.
Upgrade system
I Love the upgrade system In Star Wars Outlaws. You’ll first start by completing a side mission for an expert. Meeting them means you have unlocked their upgrades. These upgrades are gained through completing objectives and side challenges rather than level-gated. The hunt for materials or a perfect height to perform a jump off my speeder proved to be satisfying challenges with even better rewards.
Graphics And Audio
The game’s environments are stunning. I’m so happy that there is a photo mode included, while limited, I expect myself to spend a lot more time in the mode. Thanks to the general map size, locations never felt the same and copy pasted from one another, and every corner had a secret to discover. Even in long stretches of desert, there would always be something that gripped my attention, and that something was typically worth my time. Like most things in Star Wars Outlaws, you can’t have the great without the bad. Facial animations are downright horrible at times, and at others, awkward. If you remember Mass Effect Andromeda, you’ll know where I’m coming from.
Audio all has that Star Wars feel, blasters sound like blasters and the music sounds better than you’re expecting it to. It’s a shame that I seemed to have some mixing issues. Even after re-adjusting game values, the music always felt quite quiet.
Bugs and glitches
The game suffers from as many bugs that plague most AAA releases. During my time I had issues with infinite loading, constant crashes, unreadable data pads to progress missions, and sorry trophy hunters, an unobtainable platinum.
Longevity
I did a decent amount of side content in Star Wars Outlaws. After time spent playing all of the simple, yet engaging mini-games, topping the scores in arcade games, and completing a lot of side content, I found myself with around 20 hours in the game. I have yet to achieve the, as previously mentioned, currently unattainable platinum. However according to PlayStation Trophies, that feat will take between 25-35 hours.
Final Thoughts
Star Wars Outlaws represents a significant advancement in open-world design for Ubisoft. Despite a flawed middle section, the game excels in its opening and closing hours, showcasing a promising shift towards deeper immersion. The game’s structural innovation positions it as a bridge between Ubisoft’s traditional formula and a more immersive experience. However, technical issues such as frequent crashes, glitches, and outdated AI detract from the otherwise engaging Star Wars experience. These issues prevent the game from fully realizing its potential in my opinion.
For this reason I give Star Wars Outlaws the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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