Back in 1996, LucasArts unleashed Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. It wasn’t the best-looking title in the franchise – its biggest hallmark was the Battle of Hoth (on Nintendo 64 hardware, no less). I enjoyed the alternate take on famous Star Wars events, whether you were going one-on-one against Boba Fett, racing a bunch of enemies on swoop bikes to save Luke Skywalker or the triple-threat space battle between a Star Destroyer, Skyhook and Rebel forces.
That same feeling applied to titles like Star Wars: Republic Commando, Knights of the Old Republic, Rogue Squadron, X-Wing, OG Battlefront – heck, even The Force Unleashed. Each title had problems, some more than others, but each had soul in their spectacle. Fighting alongside your fellow squad members against all odds, the reveal of Revan, pulling down that Star Destroyer, as bugged as the sequence was, fighting alongside multiple other players as heroes, villains, vehicles, and more in multiplayer – all of this immortalized in Star Wars video game history to this day.
We’re about a month away from the launch of Star Wars Outlaws, which went gold on July 3rd. You can go from space to a surface without any loading screens (take that, Starfield!), the Trailblazer ship breaking through cloud cover before landing in a nearby city. You can take a Speeder on Toshara, the new windy moon, and go four or five minutes straight, traversing its vast horizons. Jabba the Hutt looks better than ever. All the classic Star Wars touches are there, from the sound effects to the TIE-Fighters and blasters. Yet, gameplay for the open-world title has elicited a collective “meh” from many.
Much of this could be due to Ubisoft being the publisher. The project’s announcement in 2021, coupled with Massive Entertainment as the developer and The Division creative director at the helm, brought some excitement. Finally, a new Star Wars title that’s not developed by Electronic Arts.
Ubisoft’s reputation wasn’t the best – the success of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in 2020 couldn’t completely cover up the failures of Ghost Recon Breakpoint or Watch Dogs Legion. When Outlaws finally received its gameplay reveal, there was skepticism but a “wait and see approach.” After all, it was early footage, and this was Massive. Perhaps there was more to it than meets the eye.
Cut to today, where extensive footage and details are available, and concerns about the title grow with each reveal. The latest gameplay, courtesy of IGN, sees protagonist Kay Vess venturing into a dead Sarlacc to retrieve a tooth for some Jawas and has been met with a fair amount of criticism. Whether it’s the odd frame drop or two, the constant sliding through caverns, the iffy AI of enemies while “sneaking” through an enemy camp, or the explosion quality at around six minutes in, almost everything is being picked apart.
Perhaps the most notable thing is how the entire mission is essentially a fetch quest with some extra steps. Sure, it’s probably optional, Kay gets a laser turret for her ship and some may appreciate the scoundrel vibe and banter. However, for a triple-A title, it’s coming off as unimpressive for many players.
It’s not like this is the first time, either. Following the gameplay reveal at Forward, several publications that went hands-on with a preview build expressed concern. Eurogamer noted the “near total lack of character, flair, invention, detail, or style”, including issues with the AI detection (which appear to still be an issue). PC Gamer was a little more positive, noting that the systems don’t really sing until you experience them all together.
These impressions are based on a limited demo and didn’t offer the full freedom to explore the various locations. The emergent events that the development team touted as occurring every two or three minutes seemingly weren’t available (though to be fair, they didn’t exactly pop up during the recent gameplay either).
On top of this, you really won’t get a feel for the maps that gradually open up as you glean info from cantinas and explore without watching more extensive footage or going hands-on. The same goes for the depths of the Syndicate system, how different decisions affect your playthrough and just how emergent the open-world sandbox can be.
However, Massive having this vision of a Star Wars scoundrel fantasy with massive locations to explore, space combat, iconic characters, and more, yet making it so bland is rubbing some the wrong way. As ambitious as it may sound and as authentic as Massive’s dedication to the universe may seem, that feeling of generic gameplay, of “been there, done that,” is hard to shake.
In my opinion, it’s one of the reasons why Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Massive’s last triple-A release, failed to set the market on fire. Despite the organic exploration, and intriguing mechanics, it retained elements of titles like Far Cry. The strengths of the former weren’t enough to ignore the generic nature of the latter.
Star Wars Outlaws may have more crossover appeal but the franchise hasn’t exactly been booming in the past few years. Following the disastrous Rise of Skywalker, it saw some breakout success with The Mandalorian TV series. Of course, Disney did what it usually does and oversaturated the market again. The Book of Boba Fett flopped but Obi-Wan Kenobi did pretty well.
However, Andor didn’t garner the same enthusiasm as the latter and efforts like The Acolyte and Ahsoka failed to generate much buzz. That there hasn’t been a new film since 2019 when they were being churned out regularly says more than enough. If Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora couldn’t bank on the success of The Way of Water, Outlaws has its work cut out.
If all of this wasn’t enough, there’s also the looming release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Yes, it’s out on November 15th, months after the launch of Outlaws, but it’s Assassin’s Creed set in Feudal Japan, something fans have demanded for years and years. It’s also the first mainline title since Valhalla, with proper stealth gameplay (and the success of Mirage proves there’s a demand for the same).
That they have different audiences could work in favor of Outlaws, but I still don’t see the point in launching a large open-world title for $70, then another way more anticipated for the same price point in less than three months. Let’s not forget all the other titles that people would prefer to save money for instead of dropping a not-insignificant amount on a title they may not even finish due to lack of time or interest.
Maybe I’m overthinking all of this, and everything is fine. Maybe CEO Yves Guillemot is right when he says it’s “among the most awaited games of the industry this year and reflecting a really strong positive community sentiment.” Granted, he did call Skull and Bones a quadruple-A game, and we know how that went.
Star Wars Outlaws is out on August 30th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, there’s certainly time to build hype. Massive could have a game-changing Darth Maul-style reveal that will turn the tides. Regardless, Outlaws needs something to ignite interest and show that it’s more than just your average Ubisoft open-world game discounted a month after launch.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.