Based on all that we’ve seen of Star Wars Outlaws so far, it’s clear that its Reputation system is going to be central to the experience. As protagonist Kay Vess navigates the Outer Rim’s criminal underworld and works with (and against) a variety of factions during the course of her journey, the decisions you make as the player will affect her standing with each of those factions– which, in turn, will have a variety of gameplay consequences, as you may have guessed.
Speaking during a recent interview with Game Informer, creative director Julian Gerighty spoke about that in some detail, explaining that players’ primary task will be to ensure that they’re effectively spinning their plates in a manner where they’re not in terrible standing with any one of the factions- because if you are, that’s when they’ll start sending their assassins after you.
“One of the key things of being a scoundrel, an outlaw, is that you live and die by your reputation with the syndicates,” Gerighty said. “You’ll be able to pick up jobs for the syndicates, and some of those jobs will propose to rip off another syndicate, or help with a smuggling route, that type of thing. And you can choose to do those for the syndicate, or maybe keep a little for yourself, and every single decision in those missions will affect your reputation with all of the syndicates. So it really is about spinning plates and making sure that you’re not in too bad stead with any one of them, because if you do get in a bad reputation with them, they’ll send assassins after you, and that you really don’t want.
If, however, your Reputation with a faction is high enough, you’ll unlock several kinds of benefits and bonuses, including having access to their territories, among other things.
“If you get in a great relationship with them, then you get access to special contracts, special missions, better prices at faction vendors, and even access to faction territories, which are these forts within cities or in the open world where there are special opportunities for you,” Gerighty explains.
Interestingly, within each faction territory, players will also find vaults full of riches- though the only way to get your hands on those riches will be to break in and stealth its contents.
“We have faction territories for all of the different syndicates that contain not just distractions, contracts, vendors, but also a vault in the center,” Gerighty said. “The vault is something that contains precious materials or precious objects, but you’ll only be able to steal from them, so you’ll only be able to break into it. No matter how good your Reputation is, you’ll never be able to get into the vault without breaking in.”
If, however, players can manage to do so without getting caught, their Reputation with the faction won’t be affected. As Gerighty puts it, if there’s no evidence, there’s no crime. “It’s only a crime if you get caught, your Reputation is only affected if you get caught,” he said.
Star Wars Outlaws launches on August 30 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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