Unpopular Opinion. I actually really enjoyed Star Wars Outlaws

Is it really that bad?

I began playing Star Wars Outlaws with the absolute lowest of expectations thanks predominantly to all of negativity on social media pre-release. Yet here I am 60 hours later reviewing the game after having an absolute blast with it and I’ll tell you why. First though here’s a bit of context!

Star Wars Outlaws, it is fair to say, did not receive the reception Ubisoft intended. The developers hyped it up as being ‘the first open world Star Wars game’. The weight of expectation on this game must have been immense.

The initial trailer and gameplay footage looked incredibly promising. Vast open worlds, dripping with that Star Wars aesthetic, cruising around on your speeder, engaging in dogfights above Tatooine, it all looked very exciting.

Then came the preview bombers. I don’t know what else to term them, a group of content creators who had early access to the game and began sharing their footage online. There were some that made a concerted effort to discourage gamers from buying the game and making it their mission in life to take Ubisoft down. Of course, Ubisoft didn’t make this game, Massive Entertainment did.

I’ll be honest, after seeing some of this early gameplay footage I have to say I was pretty swayed as it did not look good. Graphical effects were shoddy and the AI looked sub-par for a triple A game.

That being said I’ve never really been one to jump on a bandwagon. I did end up buying the game on release and yet I can’t pinpoint the moment which pushed me over the edge. I always like to see or play something myself and form my own opinion. I think conversely, it was the sheer amount of negative opinions on the game that pushed me to get it myself. I was so sick of the constant negativity being rammed down my throat on TikTok I thought, screw it I’ll find out for myself!

What struck me first was how it immersive it felt. The cities, worlds and environments were all incredibly well detailed and oozed with that famous OG trilogy charm. It was like I was dropped straight into the Star Wars universe.

The main protagonist, Kay Vess, comes across capable yet vulnerable at the same time. There are naturally going to be comparisons between Kay and Han Solo however other than both being known scoundrels of the underworld that’s where the similarities end. Kay is certainly not a clone of Han by any stretch and has her own unique backstory, which is fleshed out over the course of the game.

Kay is supported by her alien buddy Nix, who helps her in both combat and exploration. I was concerned Nix was going to be very similar to the robot companion from the Jedi Survivor series but again, the two are not alike. The bond between Kay and Nix is a lot more firmly established and the array of things Nix can do is more expansive than in Jedi Survivor.

As I moved from one planet to another, I was just astounded with how much detail each environment had and in turn how that made me feel. Whether I was watching the sunset over Toshara as the grass swayed gently in the breeze or walking the snow covered streets of Kijimi, heading to play another round of Sabaac. The game just lit a fire in me that just made it difficult to put down. Even a planet as desolate as Tatooine was an absolute joy to explore. Far from just being a bland desert, it was littered with canyons, settlements, sand crawlers and landmarks such as Jabba’s Palace and of course the fantastically realised Mos Eisley. I have never seen it so well recreated as it it is here and I loved retracing the footsteps of Luke and Obi Wan.

I would spend hours just exploring planets, looking for treasure and doing side quests. The latter I might add never felt repetitive or a chore. Side quests just felt so much more organic. Quite often in games you’ll walk past an NPC and pick up a quest without even engaging with them.

In Star Wars Outlaws you’ll come across them by actively eavesdropping on conversations. It could be two imperial officers talking about a lost weapons cache or a group of smugglers describing where they left their stash. It is this approach which gives each side quest more personality and context. It intrigues you and makes you WANT to go and find what they’re talking about. The environments and maps are so well designed that each one is challenging and pretty fun to find. There’s a particular side quest where you’re given a fraction of a holomap and you need to piece together clues from the section you already have in order to find where it relates to in the world.

When it comes to the main story arc, I was as equally invested. Kay’s merry band of misfits are all distinct in their own right. Each one with their own back story and side quest to obtain them. I really enjoyed the Clone Wars Droid, ND-5. He’s a character I hope isn’t just fixed to this series and explored further in other media. I won’t spoil the story here but there were plenty of twists and turns, which were not what I was expecting.

The unsung hero in this game I feel is the audio department. They have perfectly captured the sounds and themes of the Star Wars Universe. The main theme is far more memorable than anything in Jedi Survivor. I don’t say that lightly because I absolutely love the Survivor series. Kay’s dialogue can fall a little flat on occasion and she does come across a little too blasé however it wasn’t enough to put me off. There were occasions when you come across an alien and assume they'll sound exotic and unique but they actually end up sounding like a cockney gangsta. It's a little off putting at times.

Ultimately I enjoyed the core gameplay which is more about being stealthy and trying to avoid direct confrontation as opposed to going in guns blazing. Kay can hold her own in a firefight but when you’re taking on an Imperial outpost you might want to try a different approach.

This brings me onto the enemy A.I. and alleged bugs/glitches present in the original build (most have been patched out now). For any stealth game to work successfully, the enemy A.I. has to be good. I would say for my playthrough 90% of the stealth sections worked as intended. There were occasions where i’d be struggling to work out how I can take out an enemy guard without being seen or i’d get spotted by someone I didn’t expect and it end up in a full blown brawl.

In terms of glitches, I personally only had one which was noteworthy where an officer was stood on top of a computer console. I beat him down and moved on, it wasn’t game breaking and it didn’t particularly ruin anything for me. What the game gave me in terms of atmosphere and story trumped any negative feelings I had when something didn’t work as it should. I’m not discounting genuine issues others have had with broken side quests or other game breaking bugs but it wasn’t my experience.

I feel that Star Wars Outlaws and the developers have been wronged here as no game is going to be 100% perfect and glitch free. Not when they’re getting bigger and more complex. When I look back at the negative social media being banded around before release I feel either those creators were skewing the content to look a certain way or were just not very good at the game. I would often see videos of people crashing speeders into other speeders, then complaining like it was the games fault. Perhaps slow down the speeder and move then? Or be more aware of your surroundings. It’d be the same with rocks and boulders. I can’t say I ever crashed my speeder and it being the games fault. Every time it was my error because I wasn’t looking or hadn’t slowed down. Regards the speeder itself, it is incredibly fun to roam around on and it's relatively seamless. The only planet where it was a little less enjoyable was Akiva due to the vast majority of the world being a dense forest so you’re restricted to the highway network.

With enemy A.I. there was only one time I can recall where I walked right up to an enemy and they should really have spotted me but didn’t. Most of the time I honestly felt the occasions when I was spotted was understandable given where I was at the time. Having said that I was playing it in Hard so whether there is an argument playing on Easy means the A.I. is a bit more lax?

I can only speak from my own experiences however I really enjoyed playing Star Wars Outlaws, probably more so than Jedi Survivor for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Before you jump to conclusions thinking I’m a die hard Ubisoft fan or being paid off. I’m neither. I actually don’t particularly like Ubisoft games. The only one i’ve enjoyed recently is Assassins Creed Odyssey and even then I got a bit bored after a while.

There is a large amount of Star Wars fans who may never experience this game because they listened to social media content creators, and I feel that’s a real shame. Sure it’s a bit of a diamond in the rough but the one thing i’d say is play it for yourself, make your own opinion and hopefully you won’t miss out on some of the awesome experiences Star Wars Outlaws has to offer.