Star Wars Outlaws – A Pleasant Surprise
After prolonged silence from Star Wars Outlaws, a new trailer, released on Tuesday, gave fans much-needed story-related details. Who doesn’t love some context in a galaxy as big as that seen in Star Wars? Somewhat unsurprisingly, the trailer was largely composed of cinematics. Worry not, I have a feeling new gameplay might be shown off at Ubisoft Forward on June 10th.
In the story trailer below, we get a loose idea of the main character’s circumstances. The trailer connected fans with familiar faces, but also introduced fresh ones as well. Alongside this, a couple of great news articles expanded on new game details. After taking a couple of minutes to watch the video for yourself, catch my brief thoughts on all of the news below.
Worldbuilding Galore
With Tuesday’s release of the Star Wars Outlaws story trailer, the vision of its story became crystal clear. Playing as Kay Vess, players will be tasked with pulling off a massive heist. How or why this heist comes to fruition, is a little less obvious. I suppose the conditions for debauchery, given this takes place during the Galactic Civil War, are ripe. If the Empire and Rebel Alliance are both in a slugfest, they will turn a blind eye to the criminal underworld.
As Star Wars develops with time, projects like this one are great at filling in story/lore gaps. In my last Star Wars Outlaws article, I mentioned this game takes place between Episode V and VI. A lot of action happens in both of these movies, and that should serve Outlaws well, even if it’s in the background. In my opinion, meeting an icon like Jabba the Hutt, a confirmed encounter from the trailer, will make checking this game out worth it on its own.
Exciting Gameplay Details
In the trailer, we see the criminal Hutts, Pykes, and Crimson Dawn introduced. These will not simply be one-dimensional foes for Kay to dispatch, but rather, employers. All while this is happening, Sliro-led Zerek Besh has a bounty on Kay’s head. According to Game Informer, players will constantly be at odds with these syndicates. The game will force you to make choices on who to build reputation with, and who to betray.
This dynamically-crafted chaos could be awesome to try and navigate. Star WarsOutlaws needs to emulate the double-crossing and conniving nature of Star Wars’ ugly underbelly. If this system sticks the landing here, they might’ve managed to capture it. Who doesn’t love a bit of backstabbing action?
A Compelling Rival
The trailer alluded to Sliro being the target of Kay’s aforementioned massive heist plans. Kay also mentions she wants to “live free”. Is she trying to pay back a large amount of debt with a big score? Is she Sliro’s former underling? Many questions need to be answered here, but Kay’s goals seem honorable. She looks like she’s caught up in this world out of necessity, not by choice.
The way this story pushes you to be a decent, non-villainous person might displease some fans. Players won’t be able to become a soulless, cold-blooded wretch when tied to Kay’s character. An underworld sandbox would be cool, but the same things were said about Cal Kestis’ story before releasing. Cal grew into a beloved part of the universe, and besides, Star Wars is nothing without its storytelling.
Wishes Granted?
In my previous article, I mentioned Sabacc as an example of a mini-game that Star Wars Outlaws should employ. Game Informer’s aforementioned preview indicates it could be included as a feature for Cantina-related downtime. In an interview with Starwars.com, Outlaws creative director, Julian Gerighty, spoke at length about cantina design. With Gerighty mentioning the many unique atmospheres of cantinas specifically, I have high hopes about my strong soundtrack wish ringing true.
Unique cantinas should be at the forefront of creative development, and I’m glad they’re being recognized as such. If they’re to be places where Kay constantly travels between to receive jobs, they need to stand out. Bring on the alien riff-raff, suspicious beverages, and the neon lights!
Cause for Concern?
Despite looking pretty and advertising like a well-crafted product of Star Wars lore, I do have concerns. Namely, the $130 USD Ultimate Edition of the game, now available for preorder. By paying this toll, players will receive two future story DLC packs for this game, as well as cosmetic items. The price is egregious, and leaning on planned DLC before release is always bad for optics.
Sure, in the age of expensive video games, this preorder package isn’t out of place. Ubisoft did the exact same thing with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This doesn’t make their pricing model justified, but it also shouldn’t come as a shock. The fact of the matter here is that nobody is forcing you to pay the $130. As hyped as I am, I’ll be sticking with the base edition. I already feel stupid enough waiting on Starfield’s mysterious Shattered Space DLC from preorder. I can’t bear to pay and wait for another.
Star Wars Outlaws – A Potential Slam-Dunk
Finally, with all of the news that dropped in the past week, we now have a release date. Star Wars Outlaws will drop on August 30th, 2024. This is sooner than I, and probably many others were expecting. I think Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft dropping a hard release date is indicative of their confidence in the title.
When creating in the world of Star Wars, it’s easy to overthink the formula for media development. However, with a concept so easy to understand, I think Outlaws can be a smash hit. Massive Entertainment just needs to execute on the foundational details of good gunplay, interesting atmospheres, and a compelling story. If these are solid out of the gate, I’m sure players will flock to it.
Star Wars Outlaws is currently slated to release on August 30th, 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Author: Jacob MacDonald
The post Roundup – A Star Wars Outlaws News Recap appeared first on Lords of Gaming.
