Star Wars Outlaws Wild Card DLC
I played it so you don't have to!
Following my last video on my YouTube Channel, it's clear that Outlaws is on a bit of a redemption ark and those of us that stuck it out from the beginning are now being rewarded with reworked mechanics and gameplay. I mean, you can now carry picked up weapons, even when you climb ladders. Madness!
The Wild Card DLC does require you to get some distance into the main story before you can activate it. You'll need to unlock the Gunsmith quest and the Power module before you have access to the DLC. Once you’re done with that, load up the hollow table in the Trailblazer to start the quest.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from Wild Card, though the synopsis had me intrigued enough to purchase it. The story begins with Kay finding herself hired by Governor Thorndon, an Imperial General looking to find a hidden Moon rich in minerals worth a significant amount of Credits. The data of the moons location is up for grabs in a high stake Sabaac game, where you'll be up against the best players in the Outer Rim including Lando Calrissian.
That really is only the start of this journey, which takes you on various twists, turns and double crosses. I feel in this DLC he developers have really leaned into how it feels being a scoundrel, probably more so than the main story. There will be spoilers in this review so stop reading now if you don't want to know certain story beats.
Kay can't just wander into this high stakes Sabaac game without an invitation. The tournament takes place on a continuously moving spaceship that you must first track down the location of. In order to stay out of reach of the Empire, the ship is quite elusive and generally always in Hyperspace.
The first portion of the DLC sees you trying to blackmail one of the current players into giving you their invite. Once you're in, you begin playing a more professional game of Sabaac. The rules are the same however you have no shift tokens to play. Also, you're made aware of some of the other players 'tells'. If you spot any, you can rat them out over the course of the game. You also get the opportunity to plant cards on people and accuse them of cheating, Kay really goes hard getting her scoundrel on.
The game is cut abruptly short by a group of Bandits who show up to steal the moon data. There's a cool action sequence that sees Kay chasing the Bandits through the ship. They eventually escape her reach forcing her to follow them to the planet Toshara.
You eventually discover the Bandits are working with Governor Thorndon and so your next job is to locate them. In order to do this you need to decrypt data at a couple of Imperial outposts to find their final location, this isn't as easy as it sounds as you're under some time pressure to do it. Following a battle with the Bandits and the Empire, Kay finds herself a step behind again as the Imperials double cross the Bandits and steal the data.
The last section of the DLC sees Kay infiltrating Governor Thorndon’s base, with the help of Lando, in a last ditch effort to take what's hers. This is probably the most challenging aspect of the DLC as you have to scale multiple levels of the space station, using stealth to avoid any serious conflict and setting off the alarms. You can see there are significant improvements to the stealth mechanics which is good to see.
I won't spoil the end though I have to say I did really enjoy this DLC. It was well paced, had a good story and as I've said previously, really leans heavily into the scoundrel life.
“It's a great microcosm of the main game itself. There's a high roller Sabaac tournament, action and combat sequences, dogfights and a main stealth section in an Imperial base.”
I was hoping to go to the moon or a different planet but unfortunately the new areas are concentrated on bases or starships. It took roughly 2-3 hours to complete which I think is fair when it costs around £12. I would definitely recommend it to anyone currently enjoying the game as much as I am and i'm looking forward to more next year.