Star Wars fans, get out your blasters and wanted posters! Lucasfilm Games and Ubisoft invite you to discover its foray into the universe of the saga far, far away, with Star Wars Outlaws, available since August 30, 2024. Immerse yourself in a never-before-seen adventure, discovering the adventures of thief and bounty hunter Kay Vess.
"Discover the first-ever open-world Star Wars™ game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Explore memorable locations, both iconic and never-before-seen, across the galaxy. Risk everything as Kay Vess, an outlaw determined to win her freedom and start a new life, accompanied by her accomplice Nix. Tangle with the galaxy's worst gangsters and navigate criminal syndicates with your mastery of the blaster, your thieving skills and your gift for manipulation".
After Indiana Jones, Lucasfilm Games struck a new blow by announcing, along withUbisoft, the release of its new video game based on the saga. The game is being developed by Ubisoft Massive, known for The Division franchise and the Avatar saga.
Star Wars Outlaws takes place between the events of the iconic films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Players will embody a character named Kay Vess, an emerging anti-hero in search of freedom and the means to start a new life. Accompanied by his companion Nix, Kay will have to fight, steal and trick his way through the galaxy's crime syndicates, joining the ranks of the most wanted outlaws.
In terms of gameplay, Star Wars Outlaws literally sells the dream... Basically, the aim is to survive in an unforgiving galaxy as a renegade. Infiltration, intelligence, theft of objects of all kinds on behalf of syndicates... You won't be bored for a second, not to mention the heroine's reputation to uphold while avoiding bounties, as well as ship travel that should provide you with some great battles. As for the game engine, we learned some time ago that this Star Wars opus would run on Snowdrop Engine, owned byUbisoft Massive.
Ubisoft is delighted with this project:"The Star Wars galaxy is an incredible source of motivation for our teams to innovate and push the boundaries of our medium," says Yves Guillemot,Ubisoft's CEO. He continued:"Building new worlds, characters and stories that will become a lasting part of the Star Wars mythology is an incredible opportunity for us, and we're thrilled that our Ubisoft Massive studio is working closely with Lucasfilm Games to create an original Star Wars adventure unlike anything that's come before.
Our review of Star Wars Outlaws :
Playing time: 80h
What if this was THE ultimate Star Wars game that fans had been waiting for? Star Wars: Outlaws, published by Ubisoft, looked like it before its launch. But what is it really? Let's set the record straight right away: it's a good game, no doubt about it, with accomplished gameplay and graphics. But the game is lacking in certain areas.
Let's start with the graphics. They're very nice, though uneven at times (facial features come to mind, for example). The details aren't exactly smooth, but that's part of the game's charm. The maps, on the other hand, are grandiose, and the photography is truly beautiful. We love Toshara and its abundant flora and fauna! Special mention must be made of Tatooine, whose warm, light tones are reminiscent of a Western. Quite simply, it's like being in an episode of The Mandalorian...
Another excellent point is the life of the NPCs in the game. The game is alive and kicking in every respect: none of the characters/NPCs is set in stone, and it's a pleasure to watch them go about their little lives in the various zones you can explore. Gameplay, too, is ultra-complete, offering both combat and infiltration phases. Gameplay may seem similar to that ofAssassin's Creed in its infiltration aspect, but not so much. And with good reason: the possibilities for getting out of trouble when you're spotted (apart from when you're ejected from an area) are quite varied. It's quite refreshing, even if it could have been a little more advanced (sabotaging alarms, shooting at enemies or explosive containers and that's it), but you do have the possibility of taking cover, and this part is rather well exploited.
So, yes, not everything is perfect, and these infiltration phases lack diversity in their approach, but the multiplicity of actions during missions and elsewhere (sports betting, sabacc, mission variety...) more than compensate for this point of detail. Speaking of sabacc... We LOVE it! If that's all it takes, that's enough for us. The poker-mode card game that won Han Solo the Millennium Falcon is fascinating, and the various tables on offer are a real challenge. At first, you'll probably struggle a little with the rules, but once you've got the hang of it, the games become really interesting.
Equally excellent is the system of crime syndicates which, depending on the missions entrusted, can tip the balance in your relationship with them. Be careful with the choices you make: by choosing to complete a mission in a certain way, you can also anger an enemy syndicate and make yourself look bad in their eyes, and vice versa with the one you're working for. A syndicate with whom you have a very bad relationship can set off a search and give you no respite, both on land in the areas they control and in space.
And that's what the game's all about: being persona non grata for a syndicate in the galaxy, to the point of having your head put on the block... when it's not theEmpire itself putting a contract on your head. So it's up to you to improve your relations with the syndicates, or risk running back to your ship or hiding out on a planet controlled by a syndicate that's got you on the ropes.
Levelling is also well thought-out and innovative, since here, to improve your skills, you'll have to meet different people (a hacker, a mechanic, a mercenary, etc.) to learn certain abilities. As for the ship, speeder and blaster, it's classic: you'll need to find materials and make improvements, either on a workbench on board the ship for the blaster, or in a garage on the planets you visit for the ship and speeder.
Another good point is the use of the data spike. Allowing you to open certain doors like a droid (you've all seen R2D2 pull out his data spike to open certain doors in the movies...), the gameplay/mini-game proposed is ultra-innovative, playing on sounds. It's not easy to get the hang of, but it works really well, and that's what we wanted to say.
What more can we say? That the loading phases are very well integrated into the game, when you take off with your ship to go into space or when you go into hyperspace to go to another system. The only real downside is that the game continues to bug, even after the various patches proposed by Ubisoft.
So, is this THE ultimate Star Wars game? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't... whatever the case, the game could have been much better, even if it's already very good. And when you see the developers, who are obviously Star Wars fans, put so much heart into creating this game, offering a Star Wars experience so faithful to the universe, you think that maybe that's what really counts: a game made by fans for fans... And that's all we could ask for.
A new opportunity, come what may, to experience new adventures in a galaxy far, far away.
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