Star Wars Outlaws shines in a few moments but fizzles out in too many others.
By Jordan Ramée on August 27, 2024 at 2:10PM PDT
On Akiva, Kay and Nix dig into a fruit that, when the chef cuts into it, bursts open with dozens of flies that had been growing inside it. What’s unnerving to me happens to be a delicacy for Star Wars, as Kay lets Nix happily lap up the fluttering bugs while she leans in to begin nibbling the fruit. It’s a very different scene from the food stand on Toshara, where I watched Kay and Nix gobble down roasted street corn. Both moments, however, are full of love, and looking back on them and the other food vendors in Star Wars Outlaws, I appreciate how they briefly delve into an aspect of Star Wars we’ve really never seen before: the street food scene. This is Outlaws’ strength: the moments that give you a glimpse into what it’s like to live in the Star Wars universe for those who aren’t fighting a galactic civil war or training to become a space wizard. But they are so few and far between–for as much as Outlaws is a decent action game, it regularly delivers unsatisfying narrative payoffs and misses the mark when it comes to rewarding gameplay choices.
In Outlaws, you play as Kay Vess, an up-and-coming mercenary who finds herself becoming an outlaw after a job goes poorly and a high-stakes bounty called a death mark is placed on her. To escape the bounty, Kay finds herself thrust into the position of putting together a crew to break into the near-impenetrable vault of the man who wants her dead–without any money, he won’t be able to pay for the bounty hunters on her tail. Her attempts to put together the perfect team take her across the Outer Rim of the galaxy, always accompanied by the latest in Star Wars’ long procession of Weird Little Guys, the adorably axolotl-like Nix. In her adventures, Kay regularly comes into contact or conflict with four criminal organizations–the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, the Hutt Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan–as well as the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire, the latter of which is hunting down the former following the events of The Empire Strikes Back.
Despite Kay being just one more human protagonist in the vast constellation of Star Wars media, there’s something distinctly unengaging about her. In the game Outlaws, a recurring theme is Kay’s lack of direction and uncertainty about her future, even lacking ideas on what to do with the fortune she’ll amass from her heist. This is often highlighted by other characters, reinforcing to players that they are playing a character bereft of clear ambitions or goals. Such a character is not only difficult to connect with but also to write for, as reflected in her poorly defined character development. The game hints at transformative experiences for Kay, but these come without proper buildup, leaving them feeling abrupt and unsatisfying. By the end, there appears to be little to no personal growth in Kay, making one question the purpose of the narrative endured over the last 30 hours.
Usually, a lackluster protagonist wouldn’t bother me too much, as many Star Wars games feature similar issues but make up for it with compelling secondary characters. Unlike titles like Fallen Order or Battlefront 2, Outlaws lacks this redeeming feature. Even the relationship development between Kay and the initially indifferent droid ND-5, who eventually becomes a friend, seems rushed and unearned. While ND-5’s journey had potential, especially with a plot twist that nearly shifts the game towards a horror genre, it still doesn’t sufficiently salvage the narrative.
Where Outlaws truly shines is in its sound design. The audio elements of Outlaws—from blaster effects and vehicle sounds to its musical score—exemplify Star Wars at its best, surpassing even the acclaimed sounds of Respawn’s Jedi games. The thrill of activating hyperdrive, the adrenaline rush from dodging Imperial forces, and the sheer auditory pleasure of maneuvering a speeder are high points of the game. Despite the game’s other shortcomings, these soundscapes significantly enhance the immersion into the Star Wars universe.
Despite positioning itself ambitiously, Outlaws fails to deliver on many fronts. It sets up as a heist story but lacks substantial heist mechanics. It teases stealth gameplay which is negated by overpowering normal combat capabilities. Space combat and maneuvering are also disappointing, often encouraging avoidance rather than engagement. Furthermore, the game’s attempt to introduce a dynamic relationship tracker influencing outcomes with different criminal entities falls flat, making the strategic decisions throughout feel inconsequential. The game’s failure to meaningfully integrate these elements into its narrative or gameplay leaves much to be desired.
For instance, I consistently aligned with Crimson Dawn throughout the game, ignoring the moral implications, which maintained Kay’s excellent standing with them, while diminishing her relationship with the Pykes and Hutts to poor status. Interestingly, the Ashiga’s opinion of Kay remained good, despite her lack of effort to assist them except in one compulsory mission. Despite this affiliation, when I arrived at the planet Kijimi, where a conflict brews between Crimson Dawn and the Ashiga, the leaders of Crimson Dawn seemed to not recognize me. Frustrated, I made a desperate decision at the end of this chapter. As it escalated, the bombmaker, whom Kay had been persuading to join her crew, conditioned her allegiance on Kay making an ethical choice in favor of the Ashiga. Despite warnings about the potential destruction of the Ashiga Clan if Kay sided elsewhere, I still chose Crimson Dawn, resulting in the death of a significant character. I was seething with anticipation that my negative choices would finally yield repercussions. But contradictingly, the bombmaker joined my crew regardless. Kay briefly lamented her role in the demise but quickly moved on, never revisiting the issue. Subsequently, Crimson Dawn vanished from the narrative, rendering Kay’s blind loyalty inconsequential.
In summary, carrying out optional tasks to favor Kay with the various syndicates merely adds volume to the gameplay without substantive impact. If you seek quantity, you might appreciate aspects of Outlaws, like the relationship tracker, more than I did. However, it’s disappointing how negligible these elements affect the overall story and gameplay. Despite being visually and audibly appealing, Outlaws falls short in delineating the distinct criminal syndicates that dominate Kay’s journey. Their forces behave similarly, their bases feature identical vendors, and their leaders initially dismiss Kay with indifference, later warming up to her casually. Regardless of your alliances or betrayals, the gameplay experience remains mostly unchanged, which makes the choices feel empty and unsatisfying within the narrative.
Combat does introduce more thrill, placing Kay as a proficient gunslinger equipped with a versatile blaster capable of switching between four unique shot types. Nix, her companion, can gather weapons during skirmishes, giving Kay access to an array of more potent arms. Successfully stringing actions such as kills and stealth takedowns fills her adrenaline, allowing her to activate a special mode where she can slow time and target multiple enemies swiftly. While Kay’s mobility suffices, comparable to notable protagonists like Lara Croft or Aloy, she manages threats effectively by utilizing cover. Without increasing the difficulty, the combat challenges are manageable, often allowing Kay to exploit poor enemy AI by waiting them out from behind cover. While the combat is straightforward and lacks innovation, it is by no means poor.
The essence of Outlaws is deeply entrenched in stealth mechanics. Kay, the protagonist, frequently finds herself needing to quietly infiltrate locations to gather information, retrieve items, or evade capture by enemy forces. The gameplay mechanics support this stealth approach, allowing Kay to utilize her companion Nix to distract adversaries, employ stealth takedowns, or use her stun blaster for non-lethal incapacitation. There are elements like tall grass for concealing presence and whistling to lure guards, reminiscent of tactics seen in Assassin’s Creed, alongside classic vent crawls for sneaking past enemies.
While functional, these mechanics often come across as unchallenging due to the predictable and simplistic enemy AI, who quickly resume their routine patrols after slight disturbances and repetitively fall for the same diversions. Enemies either remain stationary, making them easy targets, or follow predictable routes that lack complexity. Consequently, the gameplay feels more like following a predetermined set of steps rather than engaging in strategic or critical thought. The pattern becomes routine: distract or disable as needed, and continue undetected.
Toward the game’s conclusion, however, Outlaws introduces variations that momentarily disrupt this pattern. One particular mission strips Kay of her ability to use Nix for distractions, which briefly injects novelty into the gameplay, though this phase is fleeting. A more significant change arises when detection by enemies translates directly to mission failure and introduces tougher, un-stunnable enemies. These adjustments force a shift in approach, requiring more thoughtful and dynamic strategies to navigate challenges.
This insertion of more formidable adversaries in later levels underscores what Outlaws might have achieved, presenting Kay not merely as a stealth operative but as an underdog facing overwhelming odds. While the enemies remain somewhat unsophisticated and the path remains linear, the added risk injects a degree of tension previously absent. Initially, this change revitalizes the stealth experience, compelling a more creative approach to overcoming obstacles. However, this novelty diminishes once an optional upgrade makes even formidable foes manageable, simplifying the gameplay to its earlier, less engaging form.
I don’t regret the effort I put into unlocking the ability, however. Outlaws does not have a traditional skill tree where Kay unlocks new abilities by earning points. Instead, Kay can hear rumors about Experts hidden in the world and then, using those clues, track these people down to wherever they’re hiding on one of the various planets. After befriending these Experts, they’ll clue Kay in to challenges she can complete for them–killing enemies in a certain way, for instance, or finding a particular item–and upon doing so, Kay unlocks additional abilities and upgrades that add more options to her toolbelt. Proving that she’s adaptable enough to take down threats after distracting them lets Kay unlock the Merchant’s ability to fast-talk enemies who spot her so they hesitate before shooting her or sounding the alarm, for example, and completing a challenge for the Mechanic can give Kay access to smoke bombs to break line of sight.
These challenges add a degree of optional complexity to Outlaws’ gameplay, introducing small goals that you can keep in the back of your mind while in the midst of a firefight or slinking through a restricted area. Save for the handful the story forces you to unlock, none of these additional abilities are mandatory for beating the game, but completing the challenges to unlock them introduces entertaining tests of skill. They can also lead you to gorgeous vistas and secret wonders that hide the components an Expert sometimes tells you that you need to nab. These tasks aren’t narratively rewarding, but their inclusion does improve the gameplay by encouraging you to mix things up a little throughout the 30-hour runtime.
Going off the beaten path to complete these challenges also helps you see more of Outlaws’ handful of worlds. Save for Kijimi (which is mostly just one hub), each of the planets is a collection of hub spaces connected by an open-world. Kay is free to explore these spaces at her leisure, though the story is written in a way that really only affords that agency on Toshara, the second planet and where Kay’s adventure truly begins. Once you leave Toshara, the story keeps ramping up and it’s repeatedly implied that Kay is running out of time to clear her name. This is all arbitrary, of course, and you have as much time as you want to, but I found myself engaging with the side content and exploring the open worlds less and less as the game progressed and the narrative tension continued to ramp up. Thankfully, it’s still all there once the credits roll, so if a particular side quest interests you but the game pressured you (like me) into feeling like you didn’t have time for it, it will still be waiting for you once Kay’s adventure wraps up.
Still, it’s a weird clash. As Kay walks around hubs, random characters will call out to her and ask for her help, brokers that Kay has befriended will send her messages about possible jobs, Kay will overhear chatter about a hidden cache of treasure or a secret gambling parlor where bigshots bet huge amounts of money, and Kay can really only make strides in the syndicate relationship tracker by completing side quests for people. And yet, the game’s main story heavily implies that Kay does not have time to deal with these people. It feels like the game is offering a lot to do but also telling you that you don’t have time to do it.
It’s unfortunate because some optional quests provide a stronger gameplay experience than the main story missions. While Kay’s journey in the main narrative tends to follow a straight path, many side quests offer more flexibility. For instance, sneaking into Imperial bases to gather intel often presents several entry points and multiple routes, enhancing the stealth mechanics through genuine puzzles that demand strategic thinking. Especially engaging is the rhythm-based lockpicking minigame, which becomes particularly tense when carrying it out under pressure, such as while Nix distracts a camera and unnoticed Storm Troopers are closing in. The suspense of managing multiple threats with time constraints adds a thrill largely absent from the main campaign.
Kay navigates these expansive worlds using two primary modes of transport: a speeder and her ship, the Trailblazer. The speeder, despite its initial challenging control, can be upgraded to improve agility and maneuverability, making high-speed travel between locations both fast and exhilarating. It successfully fulfills its purpose of making journeys quicker and more thrilling.
In contrast, the Trailblazer leaves much to be desired. Although it’s visually impressive and launches and lands on planets with an exciting orchestral backdrop, its performance in space is lackluster. Combat with agile starfighters is frustrating, and battles with slow cargo ships are tedious. Moreover, the space settings in Outlaws fail to match the visual appeal of other environments like the lush jungles of Akiva or the snow-covered landscapes of Kijimi, offering little variety or incentive to explore.
Fortunately, most of the space segments can be skipped. Apart from a few compulsory battles and missions in space required by the main storyline, there’s rarely a need to linger among the stars. The Trailblazer’s speed ensures swift escapes to planetary surfaces, and once back in space, you can engage the hyperdrive to bypass obstacles and quickly advance to the next destination. However, incorporating a space battle as the penultimate event and final major confrontation was a poor choice, as it diminishes the narrative’s momentum at a crucial moment, highlighting the game’s weakest aspect right at its climax.
There are many captivating moments in Outlaws that I truly enjoy. Yet, the lackluster space combat and the ineffective syndicate-relationship tracker do not enhance the gaming experience significantly. Similarly, Kay, the protagonist, seems to lack a substantial narrative arc. The game shines in its gunslinging and stealth sections, supported by an excellent soundtrack and outstanding sound design. Unfortunately, Outlaws spends too much time on its weaker aspects and not enough on where it excels.
