Between Syndicate tasks, mini-games and exploration, Massive’s Star Wars Outlaws has a lot going on. Each of its moons and planets is large, with about four to five minutes of speeder travel required to cross Toshara alone. It won’t all be empty spaces, as creative director Julian Gerighty promised plenty of distractions to IGN.
These include emergent events occurring both planet-side and in orbit. “Every two, three minutes there’ll be something that’s happening, whether it’s an ambush or the empire arresting some civilians or getting into combat with some criminal syndicates. And it’s up to you whether you want to engage or not.” One was showcased during the gameplay reveal at Ubisoft Forward, with Kay Vess saving a Pyke ship from space pirates.
Of course, there are concerns about bloat, even if Massive said it didn’t want Outlaws to become too big for players to finish. Gerighty notes that the team accounted for this from the beginning. “So we don’t want things to be just big for big sake. We need it to be contained, always fun, always proposing different activities.”
Game director Mathias Karlson adds, “It’s about calibrating size to substance. When you see something that breaks the pattern, that stands out for whatever reason, and you go there and look, there’s something there to do, and that repeats frequently enough. [We also make sure] the quests, the bespoke content of the game, makes use of it so that it doesn’t feel like a separate experience, but it’s all one.”
Between venturing through the regions and sneaking through restricted areas, protagonist Kay Vess will also have time to hang out in Cantinas to glean more information. Sabacc, a card game popular in the Star Wars universe, is also available to engage with. Of course, those who want to focus on the main story can do so – Massive previously confirmed 25 to 30 hours for completion.
Launching on August 30th, Star Wars Outlaws will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Learn more about how it encourages exploration here.
