Fresh off a hands-off preview of Star Wars Outlaws that had me itching to play, Ubisoft was kind enough to invite me over to Sydney to do just that. In total, I spent close to four hours playing through two main sections of Outlaws, though don’t worry: story spoilers weren’t what I was after.
I began my play session partway through Outlaws‘ overall storyline, somehow wrecked on a planet (or at least, a region) named Toshara. While half of our protagonist team, Kay, started on something resembling the Millennium Falcon, shares the same profession as Han Solo, and even found a jacket that makes her look quite remarkably like that loveable rogue, she’s certainly her own character. A large part of that is her pet and the other half of the duo, Nix, who is absolutely nothing like Chewbacca. From my playthrough — an equal mix of both combat and stealth — I’d even go as far as to say that Nix is far more valuable than a Wookie could ever be.
My actual gameplay started with a bout on a speeder, which was thankfully fluid and fun and alleviated any concerns I’d formed during my initial hands-off preview. Lots of question mark icons popped up in my navigational display as I zoomed along, which I’m looking forward to checking out when I have all the time in the world. There’s a huge sense of exploration and discovery that presented itself as I sped to my primary objective; things, thankfully, aren’t presented in the usual, bloated Ubisoft manner that equates to an overwhelming amount of icons on your map.
Space travel and combat works very much in much the same way as the speeder, with space combat itself feeling almost ripped directly from Everspace 2. From me, that’s a huge compliment. There’s a real sense of speed in dogfighting, and it’s devilishly fun.
Back on land, Toshara’s main district of Mirogana was full of distractions. There, you can set your main objectives aside in favour of gambling, playing sabacc, stealing comm links and grenades from unwitting Imperial officers, and a bunch of arcade games. My favourite of the latter was a racing-style affair that tasked you to hit boosts over three lanes, avoiding obstacles that greatly reduced your speed.
There were so many things to see and do in a relatively small space, and this works for and against the game at times. In particular, one arcade cabinet — an Asteroids-like game — was quite fun, but the alien language in the HUD and in the leaderboard screen made me feel like I was only getting half of the picture.
Sabbac was a highlight of Mirogana, a card game that’s easy to pick up and immediately addictive. Your aim is to have the lowest card count possible from the two cards in your hand — one being red, and the other yellow. Beyond that, you’re really targeting the same number across the colours; theoretically, a red 1 and yellow 1 is the best hand you could play. This is all bolstered by shift cards that impact the wager you place at rounds, and by cheats that you can employ to get an advantage over your opponents (the one I used employed Nix to see what cards my primary opponent was holding). Both shift cards and cheats are collectibles in the larger open world.
I cleaned up in Sabacc, so I had plenty of credits (after getting Nix to steal enough to play, that is). That meant that I could simply pay for access to a Gorak, a Pyke syndicate underboss, when I decided to eventually head back to the main game itself. At least, that’s what I thought — as it turns out, some grifter took me for 50 credits and offered zero actual help in return. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I realised I’d been had.
Immediately afterward, I was introduced to lock picking with the data spike, which is essentially a rhythm game that makes you lock in the spike at specific times. It took about 15 seconds to understand, but once you get it, you really get it. I opened a locked vent, broke into a turbolift to see Gorak, and felt very foolish for being 50 credits lighter.
On the subject of security hacks, data splicing seems to take heavy inspiration the likes of Wordle. Rather than words, you’ve got a series of symbols (or numbers, if you’re opting to use an in-mini-game accessibility feature) and need to come up with their correct combination. Green means the right tile in the right, place, yellow means a correct tile in a wrong spot, and… well, you can probably guess what red means.
I also used some of my credits — 500, in fact — to help a gambler seemingly down on his luck. I was told to come back later and didn’t see how that story eventuated, though I’m very curious to find out at release day. This little world-building detail was just one of so very many that I noticed during my playtime.
Those details, ultimately, are stuck in my head for hours after playing. Kaye puts her head down, her hands in her pockets, and physically shrinks as she tries to avoid detection when spotting a group of Stormtroopers in a spaceport. Nix looks from side to side in awe, taking in the view as he sits on the back of your zippy speeder. Even the way that the automated sabacc dealer picks up all the cards after a round is lovingly crafted and attests to an attention to detail that greatly helps to immerse you in the underbelly of an already grimey Star Wars universe.
On the topic of Nix: everyone loves him, as well they should. While he’s great for stealth attacks and stealing objects from unwitting foes, I found him most useful to attack guards behind shields. While he’s up in their face, they pop out of cover, effectively rendering their shields useless so I can move in for a melee finisher. Massive also forces you to think outside the box and work with Nix to remain undetected whilst in enemy territory.
A syndicate reputation system drives all of this, making your decisions count. In the case of one of the main missions that I played, you ultimately have to side with one of two factions first. In doing so, I found I obtained an important device that I needed to progress.
As I continued on, I realised that was just one way to secure the device, and subsequent decisions smoothed over the poor reception I could have experienced with the other faction. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what players choose, and more importantly, how much your decisions actually impact the overall story. From what I experienced, short-term decisions will make it easier to traverse in certain areas of each planet you visit.
In the end, four hours with Outlaws had me itching to play more, and best yet, that desire is focused on all the stuff that surrounds its main storyline. While I’m certainly more of a Star Trek fan than a Star Wars one, this title is now on the top of my must play list. From what I’ve played, what’s on offer is ridiculously compelling.
Star Wars Outlaws heads to Windows PC via Ubisoft Connect, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5 on 30 August. You can learn more about its special editions and pre-order bonuses here.
The author was flown to Sydney, Australia by Ubisoft Australia for the purposes of this preview. Transfers and meals were paid for by Stevivor.
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Star Wars Outlaws30 August 2024, 4 September 2025 (Switch 2)PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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