Star Wars Outlaws Gameplay Dev Breakdown Details Reputation System, Space Combat, and More

Star Wars Outlaws’ announcement at the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this week took many by surprise, while shortly after its reveal, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment also showed off a lengthy gameplay walkthrough for the upcoming open world action-adventure title. Now, the publisher has released another video, which adds developer commentary to the recent walkthrough, providing additional context and information. Check it out below.

For starters, new details have been revealed on some of the key characters who’ll be accompanying protagonist Kay Vess on her journey. There is, of course, her loyal, furry companion, Nix, who, according to the developers, is a Merqaal. A new kind of creature created for the game, Nix is a “rare and exotic” creature, whose home planet is “a mystery”.

As we saw in the gameplay demo, Nix will also aid Kay during gameplay in several ways, like distracting guards, attacking on command, helping out with puzzles, fetching weapons (like Chorizo in Far Cry 6), helping discover secrets, and more.

Another one of Kay’s companions featured prominently in the recent showing was a droid, who’s named ND-5. He’s a BX commando droid who was built by the Separatists back in the day, and thanks to his experience fighting in the Clone Wars, he’s very much a battle hardened personality. He now works as an underworld enforcer, and begins working with Kay for a big high-risk job that they see as the opportunity of a lifetime.

Players will, of course, also be visiting plenty of planets and locations in Star Wars Outlaws. The dusty rock that the recent demo was set on is Toshara, a moon described as a “hive of underworld activity”, which Massive Entertainment conceived and created in close collaboration with Lucasfilm, including everything from its vegetation and wildlife to its unique culture and gameplay activities.

On every planet, players will also find a variety of cities and settlements that will serve as hubs of activity, like Jaunta’s Hope on Toshara, or the moon’s capital city city, Mirogana, which is brimming with criminals and corruption. Massive says every planet in the game will have a “distinct profile”, which means each of them will not only look unique, but will also have its own bespoke story, unique wildlife and ecosystem, and more.

A similar level of variety will supposedly be found in space as well, with Massive saying that every single orbital region will also have a distinct identity. When you’re out in space, in addition to engaging in small-scale dogfights (as shown in the recent gameplay), players will also be able to get caught up in larger-scale battles with bigger ships, while exploration will also be encouraged, with plenty of surprises supposedly tucked away in space. It’s also been confirmed that planet-to-space traversal (and vice versa) will be completely seamless. Read more on that through here.

Choice and consequence mechanics will also have a big role to play, and will tie in directly with a Reputation system, which will see your reputation with different syndicates and factions changing based on who you’re choosing to align yourself with in your work, as well as other crucial choices you’re making. The “most lucrative opportunities” in the game will become available to Kay if her reputation with certain factions is good enough, while on the flipside, those you don’t have a great relationship with will lock you out of some missions.

On top of that, as hinted at in the gameplay demonstration, Star Wars Outlaws will also have a Wanted system. Read more on that through here.

Where progression mechanics are concerned, though specific details are few and far between, the developers say both Kay and her blaster (along with other abilities and tools) will evolve and improve over the course of the game. The blaster in particular can be equipped with new modules and upgrades you might discover, which will provide what the developers says will be “radically” different options in how to deal with situations. Meanwhile, though obviously best used for combat, it’s described as a “central and versatile tool” that will have other uses than just directly attacking enemies as well.

You can watch the video below for more details.

Star Wars Outlaws is out sometime next year for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.