REVIEW: Star Wars Outlaws (PlayStation 5)

Star Wars Outlaws captures the thrill of being a scoundrel in the renowned sci-fi universe and delivers this experience brilliantly with a genuine Star Wars atmosphere, look, and feel. Ubisoft’s latest action-adventure game, developed by their Massive Entertainment studio, offers a comprehensive and engaging experience.

Whether you’re undermining crime syndicates, stealthing through strongholds with Nix to steal treasures, searching for experts to learn skills, or enjoying the stunning worlds, there’s rogue-like enjoyment everywhere.

Familiar Ubisoft elements appear in Outlaws too, with new spins on The Division’s pulse mechanic, Assassin’s Creed eavesdropping, and Watch Dogs hacking. Though these features feel familiar, they combine effectively to deliver a thrilling payoff.

However, it’s not without flaws, as some typical Ubisoft open-world tropes—like repetitive quests and tedious traversal sections—can cause the experience to falter. Here’s our full review of Star Wars Outlaws.

Story

Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess, a small-time crook scraping by with odd jobs alongside her trusty companion, Nix. When one job goes wrong, she’s marked for death by a notorious syndicate and forced to flee.

Eventually, she’s offered a chance to clear her name by pulling off a grand heist. With the help of a new droid companion, ND-5, Kay must assemble a crew, dealing with both the criminal syndicates and the Empire.

The game unfolds like a classic heist tale filled with betrayals and double-crosses, sometimes with Kay as the betrayer and other times as the betrayed.

While the story can be predictable if you’re familiar with caper films, it remains an enjoyable ride. It’s refreshing to have a story focused on the galactic underworld rather than the Force. As great as lightsabers are, their absence here is a welcome change.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Outlaws closely resembles Uncharted, especially in combat and stealth mechanics. You’ll spend a lot of time sneaking through tall grass, climbing walls, and engaging in shootouts—staples throughout the game. If you found Uncharted repetitive, you might feel the same here.

However, I found it enjoyable; nothing beats sneaking out of an enemy base undetected or opting for chaos and shooting everything in sight.

A few aspects dampen the experience, like weak enemy AI that makes sneaking too easy with basic tactics. Enemies often ignore the bodies of their fallen allies, reducing the challenge. Those looking for a tougher experience might find the enemies disappointingly easy. Another annoyance is how Kay drops secondary weapons after performing simple actions like climbing or punching an enemy.

Outside of combat, Outlaws offers planets filled with secrets and Easter eggs. I initially feared Ubisoft would overstuff the map with filler content, but thankfully, they avoided this, making exploration more appealing. You’ll visit new planets like Toshara and Akiva and iconic ones like Tatooine and Mos Eisley.

You can also explore space in your ship, the Trailblazer, navigating meteors and engaging in dogfights. However, the space battles lack excitement and intensity, much like Star Wars Squadrons, and I didn’t spend much time there. Hyperspace jumps are cool, but the planet landing and takeoff aren’t as seamless as advertised.

The game excels in immersing you in the galactic underworld by making you balance your reputation with various syndicates. You must decide when to align with or betray these factions, affecting missions, access to areas, and prices for goods.

While the reputation system has its rewards and consequences, the stakes could have been higher; for example, I could still interact with the Pyke cartel boss despite having a bad reputation with them.

Instead of traditional RPG leveling, Outlaws lets you unlock abilities by finding contacts and fulfilling specific achievements. This approach encouraged me to explore more rather than rush through the main storyline.

Visuals

Massive Entertainment has nailed the Star Wars galaxy’s look and feel in Outlaws. The game is vast, featuring cities filled with recognizable alien species, and the graphics are impressive for a game of this scale.

It’s visually more captivating compared to the emptier worlds of Starfield and the great work the team at Massive carried out for last year’s visually stunning Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can be seen here.The raytracing effects, including the impressive lighting and shadow work, make each of the intricate cities and landscapes that bit more immersive.

Conclusion

Star Wars Outlaws isn’t a ground-breaking game, nor does it aim to be. It’s fun, despite some hiccups. As with any Ubisoft game, glitches are present but not game-breaking, and future updates should resolve most issues.

The story is engaging enough to keep players invested until the end, and Star Wars fans will appreciate the Easter eggs and appearances from beloved characters. Overall, Star Wars Outlaws is entertaining and enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to seeing what additional content Ubisoft releases for it.

Star Wars Outlaws Pricing & Availability

Star Wars Outlaws is available now for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, starting at €69.99 on PC. It’s also available as part of a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription for €17.99/month.