Image: Ubisoft
Star Wars Outlaws campaign lacks emotional weight, but its open world is dazzling.
In just five minutes,Ubisoftsnew open-world Star Wars game gets you to understand its protagonist’s plight.
Few people are absorbed into the seedy underbelly of this galaxy by choice.
For a brief minute, Star Wars Outlaws had something meaningful to say about the franchise at large.
This robs her of personality, the story of emotional weight and even the campaign of truly compelling setpieces.
With so much focus on allowing players to chart their own path forward, the story has to adapt.
If the order in which players explore these planets doesnt matter, then why make them choose at all?
A more linear progression through this galaxy wouldve allowed for more organic development for these characters.
None of these problems sting nearly as much as the wasted potential of Kay Vess.
However, Kay rarely acts as hardened or savvy as her circumstances would have forced her to be.
She stumbles into betrayals and dire situations and still chooses to do the right thing no matter the cost.
Tatooine again?
Sure, Toshara resembles wild savannah plains and Akiva looks like a massive Amazonian jungle.
Its buildings might appear manmade, but their inhabitants beg to differ.
At least these quests feature interesting missions, unique cutscenes and juicy rewards.
Other activities like treasure hunts (which reward collectibles) dont seem nearly as worthwhile.
During these missions, she has to manoeuvre through Far Cry-like enemy encampments without setting off alarms.
Metal Gear Solid, this is not.
Kays stealth tools are also very limited, making for samey encounters across the game.
You either whistle to get an enemys attention or use Nix to distract them from afar.
The tricky thing is that one can never keep favour with a specific clan for too long.
Kay is always losing favour with one faction when she gets into bed with another.
It’s nice to see options like these slowly become the norm among bigger game publishers.
Theres a solid foundation for a great game here, and Star Wars Outlaws almost made it work.
Star Wars Outlaws launches on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC on August 30, 2024.
We received a copy of the game for this review.
