Star Wars: Outlaws Gameplay Trailer Reaction

At the latest Ubisoft Forward, a full ten minutes of gameplay for ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ was revealed, specifically focusing on the emergent missions that the player can undertake. It showed off some of the locations in the game, though left much of the game hidden, like the faction element to the game and how the wanted system works. It’s something to wet audiences’ appetite and won’t leave them fully satiated. 

The trailer does run through several different gameplay scenarios, and shows that you can go on quests to develop skills in different areas, in the trailer’s case a gunslinger. Audiences are paraded through an outpost abonded after The Clone Wars (nice consistency to the lore) that’s now become a criminal heaven, a place where venders have loyalty to the criminal factions and will charge the player more or less depending on their standing. 

It’s a meaningful way that the reputation mechanic can bleed through into gameplay that isn’t violence-based and hopefully appears in several other, smaller but impactful ways in the game. Going back to the criminal heaven, the Empire have a small presence there, but only a corrupt official who can clear the player’s name, likely for a few credits. 

Another way reputation can be earned is through helping criminal factions is in emergent space battles, and the Trailblazer, while not much of a looker (more like a flying box), packs several weapon types for vaired third-person flying. One thing that wasn’t explained is what would happen if the players attacked the criminal ship they’re supposed to protecting. It’s likely something that will take some experimentation. 

After this, players jet off to Tatooine, a planet controlled by the Hutts. Cutscenes like of hyperspace tunnels obscure loading screens. On jumping, players can only go to a limited number of systems, depending on where they are on the galactic map. This adds a bit of naunce to jumping, because now players must decide if the planet they’re going to is controlled by a hostile faction. For example, if players are in a space fight, they might deicde to flee, but if the only system they can flee to is controlled by an antagonistic faction that might attack the player. 

Though in the trailer, the Hutts are set to antagonistic to the player, and it’s unclear what happens if the player stays in their space too long. Instead, audiences land at Docking Bay 94, and explore the cantina for leads. Once they have some information about the gunslinger, the player is whisked off on their speeder to a camp, while being told anything might happen on these rides, though being whisked through nothingness. 

When arriving at the camp, audieces see Kay Vess excute some stealth and combat, using Nix to district her foes. It’s a fun enough display, competent and cover-based, though hopefully that’s underpinned by reasonably competent AI. This is all taking place in Hutt territory, where players are supposedly wanted, but it’s unclear how that impacted the gameplay. It’s likely not much. 

Towards the end of the trailer, audiences get a flashy look at what else might be included, and one section involves disguising as an Imperial stormtrooper, a classic ‘Star Wars’ trope. Death Troopers will be included too, hopefully they will be a worthy foe and above the basic stormtrooper. Not included in this trailer is how the Empire will interact with the player, though in interviews and other material it’s suggested they will operate like the police in GTA, with lower wanted levels spawning in stormtroopers and higher levels causing Death Troopers and the Empire’s boot to come crashing down. This honestly sounds like immense fun, leading stormtroopers on a chase around Mos Eisley. It’s surprising this wasn’t shown off.  

The UI for the game looks very slick and minimalist, perfect for allowing players to immerse themselves in the world of ‘Star Wars’. Other ways audiences can do this is is playing scoundrel games like Sabacc and on arcade games. Aurebesh letters flash on screen before translating to Basic (English), again adding to that sense of imersion. 

The game looks competent, and it looks like it has a commanding grasp on immersing players in that ‘Star Wars’ fantasy, that of a criminal. And it’s one that’s long gone unfulfilled. Audiences can play the game when it releases on August 30.