While Ubisoft’s last few releases have been more miss than hit, the future is slightly better, thanks to titles like Star Wars Outlaws. Developed by Ubisoft Massive of The Division fame, it’s an open-world third-person shooter starring Kay Vess, who pursues the scoundrel lifestyle across numerous planets.
The overall vibe may remind some of Star Wars 1313, the cancelled action-adventure title which would have focused on bounty hunters. Speaking narrative director Navid Khavari, creative director Julian Gerighty and Lucasfilm senior creative executive Matt Martin, IGN asked if Outlaws took any inspiration from LucasArts’ title.
Khavari said, “No, this was really from the ground up.” Gerighty added, “No, 100 percent. We don’t have access to any other space. And to be honest, the pleasure as creators is also to try and find our way and our niche and think of things with the experience and the scale that Massive and the Palm Studios can bring to it.”
What about Star Wars: Dark Forces, with protagonist Kyle Katarn starting as a scoundrel of sorts before becoming a Jedi? Unfortunately, Gerighty nixed any possibility of Kay getting a lightsaber.
“She really doesn’t need it. I don’t know if she would even want it.” Khavari added, “Probably could get some good credits for that,” before Gerighty expanded on the overall outlook for the game. Long story short, it isn’t about Jedi.
“What we were pitching internally was that this isn’t a story about the Empire or the Rebels. This isn’t a story about the Jedi. This is the story of a scoundrel. And I think it was super important for us to embrace that in terms of the gameplay, in terms of the character, in terms of character motivations. So hey, I’m fairly definite that that’s a ‘no’ on that one.”
Star Wars Outlaws launches in 2024 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Despite having handcrafted planets that are as large as 2-3 zones in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the developer has assured players that it won’t be a “200 or 300-hour epic unfinishable RPG.”
