Star Wars Outlaws Is a Fun Dive Into The Universe’s Criminal Underworld (Hands-On Preview)

Announced three and a half years ago alongside a couple of trailers, and met with criticisms over special editions, my hype for Star Wars Outlaws was simmering until just over a month ago – but time seems to have worked in its favor ahead of its latest preview. 

With it being the first open-world game with Star Wars as its unique selling point, it’s also the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher’s first ambitious undertaking into the criminal elements of the Galaxy Far Far Away. As far as first impressions go, some of the typical Ubisoft tropes are at the forefront, for better or worse, but what’s unique about it stands strong enough that it should get fans excited for what’s to come. 

Hands-On Preview of Star Wars Outlaws on PC

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws follows scoundrel Kay Vess and creature companion Nix as they traverse an Imperial galaxy of civil unrest to recruit fellow criminals to pull off the ultimate space-heist. 

As part of a four-hour preview, we got to spend the first three on the Toshara Moon – including some early story content followed by exploration – and then the last hour on the icy planet Kijimi, for a heist mission later in the campaign. Altogether, we got a taster of everything you’d expect to see in the full game, including gameplay elements, a sense of the open world, and the overall tone of the early story. 

Firstly, for those wondering if Outlaws is a typical open-world Ubisoft game in a Star Wars coat of paint, the game does give that impression so far, yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

Traveling through these early missions, which have you do things like infiltrating the base of a crime lord or stealing a relic, you’re frequently given the chance to utilize the various tools at Kay’s disposal – many of which will be familiar. 

For example, you have a customizable blaster with multiple modes, binoculars for scoping enemies and tagging them, a grappling hook for traversal, skills to unlock, a data spike for lockpicking, and a kit for slicing (hacking) terminals. You’ll even get a speeder bike to quickly travel across the large map.

While some of these aren’t exactly game-changing, Outlaws adds some Star Wars twists to make for a unique mechanic among those tried and true tropes. For instance, the aforementioned data spike for lockpicking works as a rhythm game-style mechanic – needing you to press your controller’s trigger in sync with every beat in its unique loop. 

Slicing terminals involves a small hacking mini-game where you guess the correct pattern based on trial and error. The third-person shooter combat – whilst feeling standard – has a mark-and-shot charged move mechanic called ‘Adrenaline Rush Shots’ akin to a sci-fi version of Deadeye in Red Dead Redemption 2. The grappling hook is, well, a grappling hook. 

Nevertheless, it all adds up to feeling like wearing an old pair of jeans in a different color and fit. In this game’s case, the latter is the well-made grimy yet hustling and bustling seedy underbelly of Star Wars’ space mafia world. The same can be said for the scope of its open world so far. Although there wasn’t ample time to explore the Toshara area completely, there are ample things to do in the realms of criminal syndicate activities. 

Arcade mini-games including a first-person Asteroid clone, speeder races, and reputation combat encounters with Stormtroopers aren’t breaking the mould either, but it’s extra amusement that’s completely optional depending on what kind of playthrough you want to try.

What is important, however, is how engaging the core content is – that being the campaign and the space trotting adventure it entails and the cast involved. To the game’s credit, this is where Star Wars Outlaws truly seems to set itself apart –  Kay’s scoundrel tendencies exploit the Syndicate relationship system surrounding it. 

Throughout my Outlaws preview, I got to see various criminal Star Wars factions, of which your choices and actions affect your relationships with them: the Pykes, Crimson Dawn, the Hut Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan. As you side with or take actions favoring one clan and increase your reputation, you open up doors for new opportunities and rewards, such as discounts at vendors or being able to freely enter their territory and potentially take on extra missions. 

If you side against one of the syndicates though, you’ll create a bad reputation with them – not only closing opportunities that you would have otherwise, but creating a rough enough relationship with them may even cause one of the crime lords to send bounty hunters after you as you explore the galaxy. Annoy the right people, and you’ll even be hunted with a GTA/Assassin’s Creed-style “wanted” level mechanic where you’ll need to reduce it or hide until you can roam about freely again.

Altogether, this makes for a lot of interesting experimentation with trying out differing alliances and seeing what choices can take you where in that immersive way an action-adventure RPG should pioneer.

As you explore and take on various side missions though, you might even end up working for and clashing with alternating syndicates as well. The first of these missions, which we were directed to after the prologue missions, was taking on tasks for the Huts against the Pykes.

This wasn’t only a taster of what it can feel like to play as a traitorous scoundrel who has to calculate which sides to double-cross for the bigger benefit, but also one into the game’s emphasis on stealth as well. 

Using adorable creature companion Nix to grab items and attack enemies for a distraction so you can sneak up and perform a takedown, appears to be the ideal way to deal with missions involving many foes. Failure to do so and alerting syndicate gang members can immediately lead to being outgunned and overwhelmed if you’re ill-prepared. 

That preference for stealth might be off-putting to some, especially since some of the enemy AI I encountered wasn’t the most responsive in certain instances, but at least those in the campaign involving proper shootout combat are far more manageable – allowing you to revel more in the adventure of carrying out heists and recruiting more titular outlaws to your cause. 

During the Kijimi mission towards the end of the preview, for instance, Kay needs to first infiltrate a palace to steal a relic and sneak or shoot her way out as you wish – all to strike a deal with the Ashiga clan to free a new comrade. 

We didn’t get to see tons of the key story elements, since we went from three hours on Toshara to being skipped ahead to Kijimi in the last, but the premise and its stakes make for a fun adventure we haven’t really seen much of in Star Wars before. 

Yes, the Solo movie trod this water, dealing with crime syndicates as part of Han Solo’s origin story, along with plots in shows like The Book of Boba Fett, but we’ve never had a full 15 hour+ gaming campaign deep dive into the intricacies of the Star Wars criminal underworld and how all of their factions intertwine. All the while, the major cutscenes bridging the story together have a high-quality cinematic feel. 

Unfortunately, the in-world scenes don’t carry that same pristine feel – some character models coming off as a bit mannequin-like, but the well-made in-game environments – like Toshara’s mountainous environments and Kijimi’s dusty snow and glistening waters – are still dazzling enough to take the edge off.

Overall, Star Wars Outlaws appears to be mixing a lot of familiar ingredients into something new, but that’s what should get people excited about it. While many gameplay elements are made up of those longtime gamers will recognize from the get-go, this all works as a familiar yet comfortable jumping off-point into its unique premise of the immersive deep dive into the franchise’s criminal underworld and building Syndicate reputations which will impact your experience.

Much of the extra side content involved does seem like the typical Ubisoft padding, but first impressions deem it as padding nonetheless. For the story itself though, while we haven’t got to see tons of the back and forth between characters like Kay and the former Separatist ND-5, they so far make for enjoying conduits to carry that narrative. 

It’s still unclear as to how player decisions affecting Syndicate reputation will impact the overarching story, but the concept of being able to tailor the galaxy’s criminal element to your will and see how everything plays out, seems like a fun ride we can’t wait to experience more of ahead of the game’s release on August 30, 2024.