Star Wars Outlaws Review – Flying So Low

Earlier this week, I bought myself a lightsaber. It wasn’t anything special- I picked up one of the cheaper ones I could find, but it turned out to be a decent purchase nonetheless. Its speakers produced surprisingly high-quality sound effects, it let me switch the colour of its blade, I could sheath and unsheathe it using its motion sensors- you know, the regular stuff that you expect from the majority of similar lightsaber replicas these days. But why exactly am I bringing all of that up here? Because, frustratingly enough, the time I spent goofing around with that lightsaber (I’m 29, before you ask) was probably a more enjoyable Star Wars experience for me than the time I’ve spent with Star Wars Outlaws.

That’s not to say Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s space-faring action-adventure title isn’t a fun time (occasionally, at the very least). It nails the Star Wars aesthetic, it boasts solid open world design, and playing the role of a classic Han Solo-esque Star Wars scoundrel often does feel exactly as exhilarating as it should. The problem, however, is that Outlaws’ biggest strengths are buried under a pile of significant issues. From technical rough edges and inconsistent writing to some aged design choices and more, this is a game that stumbles often, and in ways that aren’t always easy to forgive, especially when you look at the sum total of its flaws. A bad game? Certainly not- but a rough one nonetheless, and maybe not necessarily the Star Wars game you’re looking for.

"A bad game? Certainly not- but a rough one nonetheless, and maybe not necessarily the Star Wars game you’re looking for."

In Star Wars Outlaws, you play as Kay Vess, a Canto Bight local who dreams of escaping the bustling planet and making it big in the galaxy’s criminal underworld, and with no one other than her adorable buddy Nix to take care of, there’s not much that’s stopping her- other than the fact that in the underworld, she’s not even big enough to be small fry. Set between the events of Episodes 5 and 6, however, Outlaws’ galaxy is in turmoil, which means those looking to circumvent the law and possessing the skill to do so always have plenty of work to find. The job Kay lands, however, lands her in hot water with one of the richest and most powerful syndicates in the galaxy, following which Kay’s goal now is to keep making a name for herself in the underworld while staying safe from the many enemies she has made, and continues to make.

From the day it was revealed, Star Wars Outlaws has been billed by its developers as the ultimate Star Wars scoundrel fantasy, and that in particular is something that the game captures really well. From the Hutts and the Pykes to the Crimson Dawn and the newly introduced Ashiga Clan, Star Wars Outlaws sees Kay dealing with a number of different criminal factions, who, as you might expect, are often working against each other themselves. Watching Kay navigate the underworld and getting to actually be in charge of her attempts to successfully spin her proverbial plates is easily one of the highlights of the game. The writing here can be pretty rough from time to time, which is particularly true in many of the less important quests (usually the optional ones), but by and large, there’s enjoyment to be had in the story that Outlaws tells.

It helps that the gameplay reflects the game’s scoundrel fantasy ambitions really well (if only in flashes). There’s often a very improvisational vibe to the things that you do in the really sticky situations, whether it’s firefights we’re speaking of, or hand-to-hand duels, or even something like speeder chases. Kay is very much the sort of protagonist who thrives under pressure, using her quick thinking and varied skillset as an outlaw to great effect, especially when plans go wrong- which happens fairly often. Just as Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi games have done an excellent job of putting players in the shoes of a Force-wielding Jedi warrior, so, too, does Outlaws succeed in successfully letting you play the role of a quick-thinking, smooth-talking, if fairly unexperienced, space-faring criminal.

"There’s often a very improvisational vibe to the things that you do in the really sticky situations, whether it’s firefights we’re speaking of, or hand-to-hand duels, or even something like speeder chases."

On a more zoomed out level, the Reputation system shines as well. As Kay deals with the different syndicates of the galaxy’s Outer Rim, she makes plenty of difficult decisions, which in turn impact where she stands with those factions. That has both gameplay and narrative consequences, with the end result being a system that contributes significantly to bringing the game’s scoundrel fantasy to life. Credit where credit is due- Star Wars Outlaws’ Reputation system is an excellent marriage of narrative and game design.

And yet, in spite of the fact that Outlaws does successfully nail the, well, outlaw vibe that it’s trying to go for, as a gameplay experience, it’s so often a frustrating one. One of the biggest reasons for that is that the moment-to-moment game feel just isn’t great. Movement feels clunky, parkour and traversal feel stiff and slow, and animations are often glitched. Just the simple act of moving around when Kay is on foot feels surprisingly clunky, which is an issue that’s further compounded by the game’s lack of technical polish (more on that in a bit). When even the simplest of actions so often just don’t feel right when you’ve got your hands on the controller, it’s hard to be having fun with the game.

Certain, specific aspects of the gameplay also feel a bit underbaked. Take, for instance, the aforementioned traversal mechanics, which take the form of Uncharted-style climbing, but somehow end up feeling even more restrictive, to the point of almost feeling like little more than series of QTEs. Then there are the game’s stealth sections, which combine all the AAA stealth tropes we’re familiar with with annoyingly inconsistent enemy AI. The progression mechanics, thankfully, do feel more fleshed out and rewarding. As an action-adventure title, Star Wars Outlaws takes a pretty lean and focused approach in this area, but from Kay’s equipment to her blaster, from her speeder to her ship, the Trailblazer, there are enough meaningful upgrades for players to chase.

"Movement feels clunky, parkour and traversal feel stiff and slow, and animations are often glitched. Just the simple act of moving around when Kay is on foot feels surprisingly clunky, which is an issue that’s further compounded by the game’s lack of technical polish."

Frankly, though, if those were the biggest gameplay issues Star Wars Outlaws had, it would still be a better game than it is now, because one of its biggest failings comes in the form of some shockingly dated design decisions. Nothing exemplifies that better than the amount of insta-fail sections in the game. Star Wars Outlaws isn’t a particularly good stealth game, as I’ve mentioned, so to force players to engage with those mechanics in sections that punish you with instant failure if you don’t seems like a particularly poor decision- the kind that you don’t expect to see a major AAA developer making in today’s day and age (especially not one of Massive Entertainment’s caliber).

Those unnecessary gameplay restrictions feel even more frustrating when juxtaposed against the level of freedom the game encourages elsewhere. On a micro level, for instance, you do often get more than one way of dealing with situations, from using Nix’s help to distract or incapacitate foes to utilizing the different modules of your blaster, to combining shooting and fisticuffs in equal measure. On a more zoomed out level, meanwhile, the open world’s design impresses in more ways than one, chief among them being how unformulaic it feels, especially for a Ubisoft game.

Rather than taking a modular, cut-and-paste approach, Star Wars Outlaws’ open world instead feels a lot more organic than you’d expect, with the game have plenty of tricks up its sleeves to allow you to be led from distraction to distraction as you explore its interstellar map. The more natural flow of exploration, rather than simply following markers or going down lists of quests, does elevate the open world side of the experience, if nothing else. There’s also a healthy variety of side activities on offer, including plenty of space flight and combat gameplay, which can also be quite fun. Movement in space, in fact, feels as tight and responsive as Kay’s on-foot movement feels clunky (which, incidentally, just makes the latter’s issues seem to stand out that much more).

"Rather than taking a modular, cut-and-paste approach, Star Wars Outlaws’ open world instead feels a lot more organic than you’d expect, with the game have plenty of tricks up its sleeves to allow you to be led from distraction to distraction as you explore its interstellar map."

And yes, it’s not just the gameplay side of Star Wars Outlaws that’s more than a little rough around the edges- which, sadly, is a problem that modern AAA releases are no strangers to. Lip syncing issues, audio bugs, shoddy hit detection, muddy draw distances, animation glitches, noticeable frame rate drops- I’ve experienced all of these technical issues and more in my time with Star Wars Outlaws. Thankfully, nothing that I’ve encountered has been game-breaking, but the problems that I have had have been more than annoying enough to stand out, especially when put together.

Star Wars Outlaws does have its strengths – its surprisingly organic open world and how it encourages exploration, its fun, swashbuckling story, how effectively it captures the scoundrel fantasy – but ultimately, the game feels just a little bit too rough. From its technical issues to its inconsistent writing, from some of its dated design decisions to the clunky game feel that pervades the entire experience, this just feels like a game that needed another year in the oven. I’m going to be playing plenty more of Outlaws in the days and weeks ahead, being the hopeless Star Wars sicko that I am, but in the state that the game exists in right now, I’m not sure I’m going to have more fun with it than I will with that toy lightsaber that I bought.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.