Star Wars Outlaws Review: A Galaxy of Missed Opportunities

As a Star Wars fan, the prospect of exploring a galaxy as a daring smuggler in Star Wars Outlaws had me eager to dive in. I've traversed vibrant planets, faced off against countless foes, and chased after the promise of the ultimate big score. But as the novelty wore off, a harsh truth emerged: beneath its polished surface, Star Wars Outlaws is a missed opportunity, bogged down by repetitive gameplay and a narrative that struggles to find its footing. It’s a game that tantalizes with potential but ultimately leaves much to be desired.

Gameplay Mechanics: A Repetitive Cycle

Massive Entertainment’s take on the Star Wars franchise struggles to maintain an engaging gameplay loop across multiple planets, each with large open-world segments packed with content. At first glance, every feature feels basic and half-baked. While immersing yourself in the Star Wars fantasy can be enjoyable, there’s little else to make the experience appealing once you strip away the Star Wars elements. What’s left is the typical skeleton you’d expect under the hood of a machine supported by Ubisoft, but nothing stands out.

The gunplay and stealth mechanics gave me this impression early on, as everything felt basic and unchanging. Gunplay was enjoyable during the initial hours, but became repetitive after the 10-hour mark. I found myself repeatedly clearing the same rooms with my blaster. Even with new abilities from characters I met, the gunplay felt largely the same, as if it hadn't evolved. It’s a rinse-and-repeat cycle: crouch, take aim, watch enemies leave cover and try to overwhelm you, switch to the blaster’s secondary fire mode to remove enemy shields, throw the occasional grenade, and repeat.

The mission design does little to alleviate this monotony, which I was counting on as repetition can be either an open world game’s worst enemy or its most cherished characteristic. Most of the main quests involve infiltrating a location, and there’s no unique mission structure to break the cycle. You’re usually up against waves of goons with blasters, the occasional shielded enemy, and some droids. The game emphasizes stealth, so getting caught feels like a failure, since I’m forced into combat, which I’m not keen to engage in.

A Story Lacking in Charm and Depth

The story of Kay and Nix’s journey to the big score starts slow and is the weakest part of the campaign, although it does improve with the introduction of more interesting characters. Kay, as a protagonist, lacks the charm essential for a smuggler’s tale. Her personality is passable, but there’s nothing particularly special about her. Even Nix, her trusty animal companion, feels more capable—pressing hard-to-reach switches, distracting enemies, and retrieving key items from afar. 

Without Nix, Kay is just a lucky regular thug. The cutscenes don’t portray her as having a silver tongue or a personality that could rival iconic characters like Han Solo. She doesn’t seem tough enough to navigate the criminal underworld, and there’s no noticeable character growth as you hop from one planet to another. Everyone acts like she’s a well-respected gun-for-hire, but I was never convinced. The story eventually evolves into an Ocean’s Eleven-style scenario, but Kay remains the weakest link.

Faction Dynamics: A Bright Spot in the Galaxy

Despite its shortcomings, a few things stand out. I really liked the faction reputation system, where major decisions in missions affect Kay’s reputation with various criminal factions. These decisions carry weight, as higher standing with a faction offers benefits like vendor discounts, unique rewards, and access to faction locations. Conversely, being hated by a faction brings the opposite effects. It’s a fun dynamic, allowing me to plan and cultivate a good reputation with one faction for easier access to their goods. For instance, my good standing with Crimson Dawn made it easy to complete a job for the Hutts that required planting a tracker in one of Crimson Dawn’s shipments.

The progression system is also well-executed. Instead of traditional experience points, abilities are unlocked by completing challenges set by mentor characters who teach Kay new tricks for combat, stealth, space battles, or even open-world traversal.

Open World Exploration: A Mixed Bag

The open-world activities gradually open up as you explore the bustling and immersive streets of each major city on the game’s many planets. Eavesdropping, reading data pads, buying information, and talking to people will populate your map with points of interest, revealing caches and locations that offer unique rewards to upgrade Kay’s gear or unlock abilities. There’s no need to activate towers to see all the activities, as Massive Entertainment’s approach to populating the open world feels more organic and player-driven. It’s a nice touch, although some players might feel overwhelmed if they explore too much in one go.

There’s a lot of content here, with completionists potentially spending over five hours on the first planet alone, especially since some sections require specific tools to progress, incentivizing backtracking.

Visuals and Performance: A Tale of Two Worlds

Star Wars Outlaws might satisfy a specific type of player—one who wants to immerse themselves in the Star Wars universe without lightsabers, Sith, Jedi, or the Force taking the spotlight. In that regard, the game succeeds, as each world captures that experience. It’s fun to go from one area to another via speeder as there is some screenshot-worthy scenery that can be ruined by the occasional confrontation of faction thugs you have a bad reputation with. 

However, there are inconsistencies; while the game is visually stunning in some areas, others can look blurry, especially certain human character models. The seamless transition from planet to spaceship gameplay is impressive, masking the game’s loading times, and the ship combat is fun, but again, not too complex, even in the later stages.

There’s many more examples of half-baked features. For instance, I can’t normally shoot at enemy speeders. I have to use Kay’s unique slowdown skill, where she targets up to three enemies and quickly takes each one out in rapid succession—a rather odd design choice.

A Flavor That Fails to Satisfy

I came into this optimistic, especially as I enjoyed Massive Entertainment’s last open-world licensed title, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which was a solid implementation of Ubisoft’s formula. Unfortunately, Star Wars Outlaws feels like the opposite, as the world-building is spot on, but everything else that involves gameplay feels raw.

Ubisoft’s open-world formula has been criticized for years, but I still find enjoyment in their games. I treat Ubisoft’s open-world titles like different flavors of chips—some taste great, others don’t. Star Wars Outlaws is a new flavor I wouldn’t recommend. It runs just as you would expect, but with a franchise like Star Wars, you’d expect more than the bare minimum.

Verdict: 2/ 5 (Poor)

PROS

• An immersive open world that will satisfy Star Wars fans looking to get lost in its unique setting

• An open world brimming with content that opens up as you interact with the many notes and characters in key towns.

• The reputation system with factions and skill progression is done rather well

CONS

• Inconsistent visual quality in both characters and environments

• Basic gunplay and stealth that lose its appeal sooner rather than later

• Enemy AI is easy to manipulate and doesn’t push the player into exciting scenarios

• Features a forgettable story with the protagonist not shining enough compared to the rest of the cast

What I’ve Played 

• I finished the main story with over 25 hours spent

• Unlocked all mentors for Kay to check out the abilities you can unlock

• Did a variety of side quests on each planet available

• Played the PS5 version

*This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher
*This review article was originally published as a review-in-progress and is now updated with a final verdict with a PROS and CONS to complete the review since the reviewer has now completed the story and has done most of what is available to display a verdict. Slight adjustments were made but the impressions on Star Wars: Outlaws remain the same

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