Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws is arriving in less than a month. Despite the controversies surrounding Ubisoft’s decision to lock the Jabba the Hutt mission behind a season pass, this open-world Star Wars game still has me excited for Kay Vess and Nix’s adventures.
Just over a month ago, mere days before Ubisoft Forward, the publisher gave me a chance for an early look at additional gameplay, and I was thoroughly impressed. Recently, Ubisoft had me play over three hours of content, and I have to say, Star Wars Outlaws offers a unique and entertaining experience.
A Ubisoft demoist guided me through the session, explaining that I had about three to four hours of content to explore—whether I lingered on the plains of Toshara or jumped into the later parts of the game showcasing the snowy town of Kijimi, the planet where Babu Frik first appeared in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
I began my limited adventures with Kay and Nix after crashing into Toshara. Kay, knocked out cold, eventually woke up, thanks to our furry friend. Realizing the ship was damaged, Kay and Nix headed out, unaware of the surprise attack from a Rodian who mistook Kay for someone else. Mercenaries emerged, and Kay took cover. The game promptly informed me I could use the inspired “dead-eye” skill for a gunslinger-style execution. It was exhilarating, and I was eager to do it more, but instead, I was told to ride a speeder. Kay’s ship needed parts, and the only way to get the credits was to work with the Pyke crime underboss in Mirogana City.
While the scenery was stunning, riding through Toshara’s plains wasn’t exactly peaceful. Bandits awaited me after launching off a ramp. Combat on the speeder was challenging, especially with mouse and keyboard controls. The controls weren’t entirely intuitive; I had to adjust the in-game mouse sensitivity for more precision. It was clunky at best, so an Xbox or PS5 controller would be the ideal way to experience Outlaws.
Despite the clunky M/KB controls, I pulled off a “dead-eye” move while riding the speeder. Sniping off chasers in slow-motion with those sick one-shot kills was right up my alley. It was incredibly cool.
Arriving in Mirogana City, the atmosphere felt familiar; it paid homage to Star Wars, and Massive Entertainment nailed it. Stormtroopers roamed, upholding law and order. For the most part, causing chaos wasn’t an option, but there were sections in the game that allowed it, specifically inside crime faction areas. The attention to detail was impressive, perfectly capturing the atmosphere.
The gameplay expanded as I was introduced to the underworld and how Kay’s reputation and relationship with these crime groups could affect the entire experience. Danka, a Mon Calamari, served as the bridge between all the crime factions, a broker. Danka gave off Cid vibes from Star Wars: The Bad Batch, giving our heroes (and anti-heroes) jobs to earn a living.
The reputation system had five levels per faction: Terrible, Bad, Poor, Good, and Excellent. Doing missions for the Pykes improved Kay’s relationship with them but negatively affected her reputation with the Crimson Dawn. Each faction offered unique charms and gear when Kay reached Excellent status, even steep discounts in their in-house shops.
Outlaws’ combat system wasn’t groundbreaking, but there was a certain fluidity to it. Kay’s movement and shooting animation felt similar to controlling Iden Versio in EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II. It wasn’t a bad thing; it was comfortably familiar. Space combat, though simple, was fun. Chasing TIE Fighters, performing maneuvers, weaving through derelict fighters—it was enjoyable.
Kay wielded a new blaster not featured in any Star Wars media, the VM-19 Blaster Pistol. It could switch between firing plasma, stun, or ion modes. I noticed Kay could only temporarily use enemy blasters with limited shots. In the Imperial fuel station, I picked up my favorite E-11 Blaster Rifle, but it overheated after a few shots. While I understood balancing reasons might be behind this, it didn’t fully explain why all picked-up weapons became unusable after a couple of shots.
Nix, our furry friend, wasn’t just adorable. He could attack, distract, and help Kay activate terminals. I felt Nix could be even more useful in the full game, and I hoped for more surprises from him. It would be disappointing if there weren’t any in the final game.
Stealth was frequent in Outlaws. While some missions felt restrictive due to their stealth requirement, it made sense. A smuggler like Kay couldn’t just go in guns blazing. It was nice that not all stealth missions failed when caught, like in the Imperial fuel station. The mission only failed if someone raised the alarm, meaning even engaging enemies in combat wouldn’t fail it—unless reinforcements were called. While I didn’t see any inherent problems with stealth missions, I’d like to see more variety.
Star Wars Outlaws is the first true open-world, single-player Star Wars experience. There was still much to discover on Toshara and Kijimi, even more so on the planets I hadn’t yet played. I’m excited to see where Massive will lead Kay and Nix in this intriguing adventure.
