Star Wars Outlaws – Building an Empire & Hands On – PC Gameplay Trailer
The force game is with you but you are not an Outlaw yet! With just a few more weeks until the highly anticipated release of Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, Impulse Gamer and other select media plus influencers were invited to the Microsoft Experience Centre in Sydney for a presentation by two key developers of the title, Chloe Hammond (Associate World Designer) and Samuel De Vos (Lead Concept Artist) from Massive Entertainment. Apart from the presentation that went into the creation of Star Wars Outlaws and its custodianship of the latest story from this galaxy far far away, the media were also given a hands on into this exciting new chapter of this sci-fi legacy.
For those newly freed from Carbonite (hopefully without the poisoning) or having Wi-Fi issues from their swamp shack on Dagaboh, Star Wars Outlaws is not only one of Ubisoft’s biggest games of 2024 but it also sees the license move from EA Games (most notably Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order) in deliver something new.
At its core, Star Wars Outlaws is an “open-world” adventure game set in this amazing universe created by George Lucas that has an almost endless amount of lore to draw upon from films, books, comics and TV series. For the acolytes, Star Wars Outlaws revolves around thief and explorer Kay Vess (played by actress Humberly Gonzalez) from the planet of Canto Bight who has set her sights on the heist of the century in order for her to find financial freedom and escape her own scoundrel past.
In order to succeed in this vision, Kay needs her own group of special scoundrels to achieve her victory such as her alien co-pilot and mechanic Waka and the mysterious droid known as ND5. Further, you’ll need to make some uncomfortable alliances with a handful of crime syndicates with the motto – if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours but if you betray the scratcher, you might find yourself deep in Banta dung.
It’s definitely a dangerous world for a scoundrel trying to make a not-so-honest living and with the Empire in full power (this game takes place after The Battle of Hoth) and with so many crime syndicates vowing for power, it’s not going to be an easy task for Kay and her acquaintances. And as Obi-Wan Kenobi once said “… you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” but in an awesome anti-hero type way.
Star Wars Outlaws Story Trailer
Unlike the familiar battles of the Jedi and the Sith, including the space battles, Star Wars Outlaws focuses on the underbelly of this universe with the misfits and scoundrels – as a result, it brings something unique and fresh to the latest game. Further the game is strictly a single-player adventure as Massive Entertainment wanted to tell a story with as much freedom to explore as possible, including space flights and battles with Kay’s ship, the Trailblazer.
Although Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world game that includes space flight, there are a handover of planets that can visit that include Kijima, Canto Bight, Akiva, Tatooine to Massive Entertainments new creation Toshara. Chloe Hammond (as was Samuel De Vos), she was very passionate in her role in building this new open-world Star Wars game, ensuring that the themes and stories of George Lucas were perfectly captured, including the environments created by legendary conceptual designer Ralph Mcquarrie who played an important role in designing the familiar yet different worlds of Star Wars.
As Chloe informed the media, paying homage to Star War was a mixture of 80% familiar (e.g. real world similarities such as the deserts of Earth) and 20% new (the twin moons of Tatooine) which was the formula that Massive Entertainment were trying to capture. For example, the Melitto are an alien species with heightened sensory abilities due to their blindness, however they channel elements of the Samurai. This includes some of the homages from George Lucas such as the Kurasawa films and the Spaghetti Westerns.
Samuel notes this era of Star Wars is when the Empire was at its notorious as they were hunting for the Rebellion. As a result, if Kay crosses the Empire, she won’t just deal with the standard Storm Troopers but also viper probe droids and Death Troopers that makes things quite deadly for her.
Although Star Wars Outlaws is not Grand Theft Auto, Kay shares a similar wanted meter depending on what chaos she has caused or double crosses gone South. The developers state that your choices will influence the story and there will be consequences that the player must deal with. Speaking of the aforementioned Rockstar game, Star Wars Outlaws does share an affinity with Red Dead Redemption at times. I laughed the first time Kay whistled for her bike!
Additionally your interactions with the cartels that include the Ashiga Clan, Crimson Dawn, Hutt Cartel and The Pykes will affect your reputation. Thankfully you have “backup and besides your crew and Nix, Kay has access to “experts” who are elusive characters but they can provide you with valuable new skills.
In building this new game, Samuel and Chloe discussed their in-house rule at Massive Entertainment, the “three second rule”. Although the characters of Star Wars have detailed clothing and shapes, they need to be easily noticed by the player, hence the 3-second rule. This also includes other elements of the Star Wars universe that greatly helps in player immersion.
Character creation was another important aspect that Massive Entertainment brought into their game. Although there are familiar characters in this world from Storm Troopers to Protocol Droids, Samuel De Vos wanted to create a relatable character with that of Kay with links to her past. For example Kay is the “scoundrel hero” of the title but she is not perfect and in certain lighting, you will notice that her nose is not straight with Samuel adding that it could have been from an accident or she got into a fight at one stage of her life. Skin textures and other small flaws all add to the character’s well… character. Kay can also change her clothes (e.g. snow, desert) to suit the environment and need such as the first ever Star Wars sneakers to help sneak around, including customising it. Even Nix can spruce up his appearance such as a Swedish Midsummer inspired flower crown to a red scarf which mirrors his loyal master Kay. It’s like a Hasbro Star Wars figure!
Nix is also a true extension of Kay who share a close bond together. Nix is a new creature to the Star Wars universe and his species is known as a Merqaal. Again it’s the 80/20 rule with Nix that is a combination of many real-world animals such as the head of an axolotl, the scales on his back are inspired from the Pangolin (also blaster resistant) with his tail taken from a Komodo Dragon. Nix has a softer side with his furry belly that adds another layer of relatability due this cuteness factor. Samuel goes on to describe a few of the inspirations behind ND5 who wears a World War II inspired trench coat and is slightly hunched over in order to hide his dark story. He also jokingly laughs at the Internet reaction to ND5.
Kay’s trusty blaster can be upgraded thanks to modules which are required for different missions, including a splicing kit for hacking and grappling hook to reach places us non-Jedi can’t reach and lastly, a data spike for opening doors. There are several ways to engage your enemy from stealth, melee and tweaking your blaster energy such as plasma to inflict more damage, ion for disabling shields or overcharging droids and the faithful stun setting.
Whether you’re exploring one of the five planets, collecting space cargo, engaging in dog fights or riding your speeder at extreme speeds, the developers definitely inspire exploration on a large level. The sense of speed on your bike is great and is needed from travelling between destinations. There are also challenges littered through the game such as races or making a challenging jump with your bike which adds to the diversity of the title.
Graphically, Star Wars Outlaws perfectly channels the soul of this universe and it looks and feels how I imagine this fictional galaxy should be. The developers from Massive Entertainment also state that they were trying to recreate the cinematic experience from the original movies, including grain, anamorphic lenses and even barrel distortion that gives the title a layer of old school charm.
Gallery
Chloe also disclosed to the guests that during COVID lock downs, she read the book Star Wars Aftermath and was given the honour of bringing the planet of Akiva to life, including its lush forests and hidden temples that she was very keen to see come to life in the game. Voice acting is great and more on par to the original films, opposed to the more serious The Acolyte or Rise of Skywalker which suits the premise well plus Humberly Gonzalez does a great job of bringing our protagonist to life. Additionally Star Wars sound effects and Star Wars inspired music all adds to this new Star Wars game chapter.
From an engaging story fleshed out by excellent cutscenes and NPC’s, I found my hands on of Star Wars Outlaws an enjoyable experience. Sure, it was not the final code but it was a great insight into what the final game will be like – lots of exploring, missions for Cartels, going head to head against the Empire with plenty of space action and planetary wonders that can only be found in this universe. Additionally the controls felt sturdy and whether I was breaking into a Pyke stronghold, driving my speeder bike at insane speeds or ordering Nix to help me solve a puzzle, Star Wars Outlaws could potentially be the Star Wars game you are looking for.
Star Wars Outlaws Gameplay Trailer
Final Thoughts?
Just like politics, fans will be fans and “haters are gonna hate” – however after my hands-on of Outlaws, it feels like a Star Wars game and is also set between two my favourite movies as well, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
One of the main themes from this presentation besides the insightful sneak peek into building this new chapter of Star Wars was the passion that both of these developers brought. They are storytellers who are drawing down from the lore of Star Wars but also carefully crafting another layer to this franchise.
Further, I think Massive Entertainment were wise in telling a story that doesn’t revolve around the Jedi or Sith… although their influence is still present in Star Wars Outlaws which makes me wonder if we will get any cameos from the original characters? It focuses on the underbelly of Star Wars and the main character, Kay Vess is quite a down to Earth and relatable character with a cool side kick that is another theme of Star Wars. Luke has R2D2, C3PO has R2D2, Han Solo has Chewbacca and Kay Vess has Nix.
Also, for those with a keen eye, you may have noticed that Kay has a tattoo and as Samuel discusses, this tattoo is a map of some of the star systems of this universe. While players won’t get to see this in its entirety, players can see these designs in the place where she grew up with scribbles. They also flesh out this character quite well that growing up, she was a girl who dreamed of the stars and had band posters on her wall. But given she grew up on Canto Blight, her destiny was (almost) set in stone but although she has embraced her “scoundrel” persona, Kay also knows that this is also the path for freedom.
Star Wars Outlaws launches on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC via Ubisoft Connect on August 30, and can be played up to three days early* starting August 27 with a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription or by preordering the Gold Edition or Ultimate Edition. For more information about Star Wars Outlaws, please visit: starwarsoutlaws.com.
To preorder the game on the Ubisoft Store, please visit store.ubisoft.com. For the latest news on Star Wars Outlaws and all of Ubisoft’s games, please visit: news.ubisoft.com.
*Play the game up to 3 days before the official launch date. Internet connection and Ubisoft account required to redeem the digital content. Please check system requirements and product details/restrictions before purchase and upon game release.
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