Star Wars Outlaws Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Still Pretty Damn Fun

When you think of Star Wars, what comes to mind? Is it Jedi, lightsabers, and the Force? These are the building blocks of a Star Wars experience—even if the movies would have you think that if a Skywalker doesn’t appear, then it isn’t canon. But there’s so much more to the galaxy in the era of the Empire! And Star Wars: Outlaws is here to prove it.

Ubisoft’s first crack at the legendary IP is about the seedier side of the galaxy—worlds inhabited by smugglers, bounty hunters, and the Syndicates. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, Outlaws has been a treat. It’s an adventure full of classic iconography that has yet to beat me over the head with fan service the way the worst of Star Wars tends to do. Outlaws doesn’t invent anything I’ve never seen in a video game before, but it’s picking and choosing a lot of the right elements of great titles and giving them a loving paint job. It’s a game built with speeder-like efficiency, even if some of the parts are faulty.

In my time with Outlaws, I have climbed, shot, and speeder-chased my way out of dozens of scrapes across five planets. The in-game clock says I’ve fit all that in just under fourteen hours, but that doesn’t count the deaths, failed stealth attempts, or time I’ve spent staring at my quest log and figuring out where to go next. This is a modern Ubisoft game, which means you are never going to run out of stuff to do.

Outlaws is set in the waning years of the Empire, between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Our half-defined, half-blank slate protagonist (more on that soon) is Kay Vess. The coolest thing about Kay Vess? She grew up on Canto Bite, the casino planet from The Last Jedi. That was a cool part of the movie we can all agree was begging for someone to flesh out its backstory, right? I’m not being facetious when I say starting the game out on Canto Bite was a pleasant surprise and a fascinating look at a location decades before we see it in the films.

Ubisoft Star Wars Outlaws – Limited Edition (Amazon Exclusive), Xbox Series X

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to Kay once you leave Canto. She’s a down-on-her-luck smuggler who has a cute pet (Jedi have cute droids and smugglers have pets—it’s the Star Wars rule!) and that’s about it. Thankfully Nix, her furry friend, is a joy. It’s not just the cuteness factor—Nix elevates the gameplay. He’s a core part of Outlaws, not an afterthought.

On a moment-to-moment level, Outlaws plays closer to Watch Dogs than any other Ubisoft game. It’s a largely stealth-driven third-person shooter, with plenty of Uncharted-esque climbing and the occasional hacking mini-game or traversal puzzle. In combat, Nix can distract, attack, steal from enemies, and trigger environmental elements. One of my favorite ways to break stealth is to have Nix blow up an explosive barrel amidst a group of pirates or Imperial guards. Over a dozen hours of similar-feeling combat encounters later, these small touches still bring a smile to my face.

On the planet Toshara, Kay gets her first opportunity to roam freely. As the game opens up, you will be able to visit cantinas and play sabaac (a simple, but addictive mini-game) and cozy up to the Pykes, Hutts, and Crimson Dawn Syndicates by taking contracts and completing Syndicate missions. This faction system is the backbone of Outlaws. I can feel the DNA of Fallout: New Vegas and Cyberpunk 2077 in the moments where Outlaws is most invested in this system.

In practice, this means missions will often climax in a choice that will gain you reputation with one group while tanking your cred with another. It makes Outlaws a constant balancing act. In order to max out reputation in all factions, you have to play all sides throughout the course of the thirty-plus hour adventure.

At the point I’m at in the story, I still can’t say I have a great feeling for Outlaws’ main characters. Compared to something like EA’s Jedi: Survivor, narrative is de-emphasized in favor of exploration. That said, the best figures in the game are the various Experts you meet across the galaxy. From the deserts of Tatooine to the icy wastes of Kijimi, finding these legendary outlaws and completing their quests is the only way to unlock new skills. There are no convoluted skill trees or points. Outlaws isn’t trying to be an RPG and it shines in embracing that. Outlaws an action game, first and foremost—and this approach has me popping off every time I unlock a new skill.

UbisoftDon’t worry, you can shoot the Tie Fighters.

Often, these skills require you to cash in some of the various materials you’ve collected. Apparently, this is how Outlaws shoe-horned in the gaming world’s omnipresent crafting mechanic. Try as I might to hate it for that, it’s actually quite refined and the in-game economy feels balanced (as long as you aren’t doing every single quest).

Roaming the galaxy, each planet is visually distinct and populated with the variety of species you’d expect from the Star Wars underworld. Each world feels different… but they’re ultimately the same. Meaning: Each one has the same mini-games, factions, and types of vendors. It’s all there for you, the gamer, to progress in whichever order you see fit.

As for the space combat and exploration? Well, this is no Starfield or No Man’s Sky—which you can forgive, because Outlaws isn’t that type of game. Instead, the galactic dogfighting is more of an extension of the already existing areas. Each planet has nearby asteroid fields occupied by space stations, while pirate caches are hidden for you to discover.

Ubisoft Star Wars Outlaws – Limited Edition (Amazon Exclusive), PlayStation 5

It all equals up to… a lot. I found myself wishing the menus were just a bit less clunky to navigate, the map just a bit more legible, and the gameplay just a bit less repetitive.

Still, Star Wars: Outlaws proves you don’t need Skywalker cameos—or even lightsabers—to make something feel authentically set in the Star Wars universe. This has been the biggest surprise of my time with the title so far. If you’re a gamer who has exhausted all other Star Wars media, there’s plenty here to do and it all feels very Star Wars. Outlaws is not immune to the problems of open-world game design, but hell, even Elden Ring has padding. If you’re a Star Wars fan who buys the occasional video game, it’s hard to recommend you play anything else that released this year.