Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws is within touching distance now. The long-awaited open world game recently confirmed an August launch date, and with a new story trailer, developer interviews, and more, several new details have emerged that are painting quite an enticing picture for how this game is going to turn out. In the weeks and months ahead, there will surely be much more to talk about, but there’s already plenty of new information out there that we haven’t yet covered- so here, we’re going to go over a few key new details that have recently come to light about Star Wars Outlaws.
SLIRO
Some of the most significant details that we’ve learned about Star Wars Outlaws with its most recent info drop are about its core cast of characters. In that group, it seems the role of the central villain is being played by Sliro, a massive wealthy man who’s used his wealth to create an entire criminal syndicate around him. Known as the Zerek Besh, though Sliro’s syndicate is a relatively new player in the galaxy’s criminal underworld, it’s quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with. According to creative director Julian Gerighty, the syndicate is going to be much more militaristic than the other criminal factions in everything from how it operates to the armour it wears, thanks in large part to the amount of money Sliro throws at his operation.
JAYLEN
Another character who’ll have a major role to play in protagonist Kay Vess’ story is Jaylen, a fellow (but much more experienced) outlaw. A career crimnal who’s described as being “down on his luck” Jaylen ends up headhunting Kay when he witnesses her talents, believing they can be put to good use, and ends up serving as her mentor. Creative director Julian Gerighty describes him as follows: “Jaylen comes in a little bit later on and he sort of head hunts Kay. He sees something in her and he’s almost like a mentor. He’s trying to give her a context, a framework with which to put her talents to work. And you can see that Jaylen’s seen better days. He’s a little bit down on his luck, but he sees an opportunity not only to teach, but to profit from his relationship with Kay.”
STORY DETAILS
After having revealed some core narrative and premise details when Star Wars Outlaws was unveiled last years, Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft have now put a little more meat on those bones. We’ve known for a while that the central thrust of the story will be Kay’s attempt to pull off the biggest heist in the history of the Outer Rim, but how exactly does that come about? Well, it turns out that after a job gone wrong, Kay ends up in Sliro’s crosshairs, who puts a massive bounty on her head. Her only way out of her predicament is to rob Sliro himself. To do that, she’ll need to infiltrate his heavily guarded and fortified mansion, which is no easy task. And so, she sets out to recruit a team of elite rogues and thieves scattered throughout the Outer Rim.
VAIL
Star Wars Outlaws is being positioned by Ubisoft as the ultimate Star Wars scoundrel fantasy, and of course, you can’t have one of those without a bounty hunter also thrown into the mix. In Outlaws, that role will be played by Vail, a new bounty hunter who’s hired by Sliro to eliminate Kay. And what exactly can we expect from Vail and the role she will play in the story? Here’s how Gerighty describes her: “We wanted somebody who of course had ambiguous morals, but was extremely self-sufficient, extremely professional, extremely single-minded in their approach, but had a little bit of a wider view of things, too. So there are questions that she’s going to ask herself about the situation, of Sliro’s motivations, of all of those things that really bring the character a dimension that we don’t usually see with the sort of normal bounty hunter character trope.”
FACTIONS
When Star Wars Outlaws was revealed last year, two of the criminal syndicates that were confirmed for the game were the Hutts (including their famous leader, Jabba) and the Pykes, both familiar to fans of the IP. Several more have now also been confirmed. Crimson Dawn is another one that will be familiar to the Star Wars faithful, in particular those who watched Solo. Interestingly, it’s also been confirmed in a Game Informer preview that Emilia Clarke’s Solo character Qi’ra will be featured in the game- though Clarke herself apparently won’t be reprising her role.
There’s also the Ashiga clan, a new criminal syndicate made for the game from scratch, as well as the previously mentioned Zerek Besh, another one of Outlaws’ new creations. And of course, the Empire – at the peak of its powers during the time the game is set – will also be a threat that Kay will constantly have to contend with.
LOCATIONS
Billed as a massive open world with an entire galaxy to discover, Star Wars Outlaws is going to allow players to explore a number of different locations and planets, a number of which have been detailed to varying degrees. One of the first locations we saw as far back as last year was the moon of Toshara, which is another new introduction. On Toshara, in addition to wide, open plains, players will also be able to explore the densely populated capital city of Mirogana. Speaking to Game Informer about the city, Gerigthy said, “If you open up the map, the location that we’ve built for Mirogana is quite compact. What we wanted to do is to have something that is very dense in activities rather than super expansive where you get lost, and there’s not much to do. It’s very, very focused on providing a dense, busy city experience.”
There will, of course, also be plenty of locations that Star Wars fans will recognize, like the remote planet Akiva, the icy planet Kijimi, and the sandy Tatooine- because we have to have Tatooine in nearly every Star Wars story, apparently.
REPUTATION SYSTEM
Star Wars Outlaws’ Reputation system looked like one of its most intriguing mechanics when the game was unveiled last year’s and Game Informer’s aforementioned previews has shed a bit more light on how it will work. Apparently, the Reputation system will govern what your standing is with each of the game’s individual factions, which in turn will impact everything from what items and prices you’ll find at their vendors, whether or not you can freely walk around in their bases or controlled territories, and more. Your actions as Kay in both gameplay and story will determine your Reputation with each factions, and if, say, you have a great relationship with one syndicate and a not-so-great one with another, the former might actually jump in to help out if you ever find yourself in a sticky situation with the latter.
LAUNCH
Star Wars Outlaws is launching sooner than many may have thought. Previously confirmed to be a 2024 game, where many thought it might actually slip out of the year, Ubisoft has now confirmed that the game is launching in a handful of months, on August 30. In addition to a $70 standard edition, it will also have Gold and Ultimate editions available, both of which are, to say the least, exorbitantly priced, at $110 and $130 respectively. Both editions will also allow you to access the game a few days ahead of its global release, on August 27.
SEASON PASS
Star Wars Outlaws will also have a season pass, Ubisoft has confirmed, which will be included with its aforementioned Gold and Ultimate Editions. It will encompass two post-launch expansions, finer details on which are currently scant, though Ubisoft says both of them will add “all-new stories, quests, and areas to discover”. The season pass will also include an exclusive bonus mission that will be available at launch, as well as a pack of cosmetics for Kay and her adorable companion, Nix.
PHYSICAL VERSION INSTALLATION
A physical version of Star Wars Outlaws will, of course, be available upon the game’s release, though as often tends to be the case with physical releases, it’ll come with an annoying caveat. Specifically, though it doesn’t look like Outlaws will require a persistent internet connection to be played (which it obviously shouldn’t as a single player game), its physical version will still require you to connect online in order to install it. That’s not exactly uncommon in today’s day and age, but it’s fair to say it continues to be an unnecessary annoyance.