Star Wars Outlaws

The sights and sounds of the Star Wars universe, delivered with enthusiasm and authenticity throughout, at least make it easy enough to be swept along. [Issue#403, p.104]

Star Wars Outlaws is enjoyable, comfortable, safe, and familiar game to spend a few hours in that will neither offend nor astound.

You just have to make peace with some of the game's quirks. And beyond that, Star Wars Outlaws is a good enough game in an established setting that will probably hold your attention up until the end credits.

Fans of the Star Wars universe will find plenty to enjoy in Star Wars Outlaws, though it comes with a few caveats, most notably the tolerance threshold for derivative stealth gameplay. While the story is engaging and the game is quite beautiful visually and acoustically, it could benefit from a few more months of development time.

Somehow, despite the negatives, the game is still worth trying out. Star Wars Outlaws offers a decently fast jaunt and ends before the downsides can become completely unbearable. It’s an ambitious game, and Massive either bit off too much or perhaps played it too safe. The result is a slightly-above-middle-of-the-road affair that shows promise and will hopefully result in a more well-rounded sequel that addresses many of Outlaws' shortcomings.

Star Wars Outlaws masterfully utilizes its license and space western atmosphere, yet the variety of activities quickly falls into the familiar pattern of Ubisoft's open-world games. This repetition overshadows the inventive teamwork between Kay and Nix, as well as the brilliant Sabacc card game.

Star Wars Outlaws throws itself at you with a bland stealth system and a significant lack of animations, but if you can see past all that, you'll find a rich universe filled with things to do. It captures the essence of Star Wars, I just wish it had translated a little better to the format.

Outlaws will feel familiar because it is familiar. The gunplay is good, the mission structure is good, the stealth mechanics are good, the traversal is good. Individually, the components that make up Star Wars Outlaws are varying degrees of alright, but it come together to be more than the sum of its parts. This rendition of the often-explored sci-fi-fantasy universe is authentic and immersive, our protagonist is likeable and energetic, the narrative is colourful, and the syndicate shenanigans are entertaining. There are plenty of flaws to point out, and I have, but when it comes down to it, I keep on coming back to one word to describe Outlaws: fun.

While I finished the main storyline and got a fair amount of exploration in, I'm already fairly excited to load up Star Wars Outlaws some more today to get back into the aspect of the game where it's at its best – exploration – though I'm not particularly enthralled to have to sit through more of its gameplay.

Star Wars Outlaws is a frustrating experience to critique because its high points are numerous, from spending an entire hour infiltrating a deceptively vast imperial outpost to upgrading Kay’s skills by engaging with the open world in ways that feel natural and rewarding. There are times when I didn’t want to put this game down, which only made its glaring omissions all the more noticeable. A lacklustre story, a bizarre lack of polish for a production of this scale, and a main character that isn’t the step forward she should have been all hold the game back from excellence.

Star Wars Outlaws is a fun intergalactic heist adventure with great exploration, but it’s hindered by simple stealth, repetitive combat, and a few too many bugs at launch.

Outlaws is an experience that, based on stealth and the most western adventure of Star Wars, offers a version of this franchise that we have not yet tasted in video games. It's not perfect and has several issues that are already common in this type of Ubisoft game, but it has heart and knows what to offer fans of the saga.

Playing as a scoundrel equipped only with cleverness and a laser gun is fun, and opens up a more charming role gallery than what we often encounter among the slightly more pompous Jedi Knights. However, this is not a game that reinvents the wheel. It builds on many familiar formulas, and seems to take a lot of inspiration from the Uncharted games in the way it plays.

Love Star Wars? If your answer is an unequivocal "yes", there is definitely a place for a game like Star Wars Outlaws on your list of games - even if the execution is lacking.

Star Wars Outlaws boasts strong open world design and the swashbuckling and improvisational vibe of a classic Star Wars scoundrel story, but from technical rough edges to some dated design decisions to clunky movement, it's got more than a few significant issues that weigh it down.

Star Wars: Outlaws is a game only for hardcore Star Wars fans. For the rest of us, there's not much point in enduring it to the end.

Star Wars buffs will find much to relish here as Outlaws shines a bright light on fresh parts of the galaxies untouched by the relentless flow of TV spin-offs. But this attention to detail may be lost on players seeking a power fantasy akin to 2023’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor, or a more inventive take on Ubisoft’s overworked open-world blueprint.

Star Wars Outlaws gets by with a refreshed approach to the Ubisoft open world blueprints, fun traversal, and the themes and setting of a galaxy nobody could hope to replicate — but only just. So many of its core pillars, from the lacklustre reputation system to the basic combat and stealth mechanics, feel incredibly surface-level. There's little depth to invest in, leaving the game a fun enough investment in the moment that'll prove forgettable further down the line. It's a perfectly fine video game, which feels like an anticlimax given the IP it's attached to.

What the open-world video game Star Wars Outlaws has going for it, of course, is a comforting patina. Buggy controls and unsatisfying mechanics are compensated for by rich nostalgic fantasy. But after having to trespass onto yet another Imperial base, or fight off another wave of nameless pirates, the magic does begin to fade.

A mix of acclaimed AAA action-adventure third-person shooters that could compensate for its lack of originality with a good story and exciting scenes, but fails to do so. A Star Wars action-adventure should leave you fascinated and entertained, not indifferent.

Star Wars Outlaws is a perfectly playable experience that will only be enhanced by a player's potential love of the series and its world.

Star Wars Outlaws marks an impressive step forward for depictions of the galaxy in video games but fails to provide players with a compelling reason to explore it.

Star Wars Outlaws is a pulpy, Uncharted-style adventure that doesn't quite fulfill its potential. Kay and Nix lead a great cast through a well-paced, punchy story, but the game's Reputation system, and syndacite storyline in general feels undercooked.

Good Star Wars vibes quickly begin to feel wasted between stiff platforming, clunky insta-fail stealth, and a crew we just don’t learn to love. [Issue#45, p.76]