Star Wars Outlaws | PS5 Review

I occasionally check the pulse of the Star Wars fanbase to gauge the current mood. As expected, the fandom remains highly toxic, praising everything they like as the best, while condemning anything they don’t as a betrayal of their childhoods. It’s been a big year for Star Wars, with The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew debuting on Disney+, and classic games like the Battlefront Classic Collection, Dark Forces Remaster, and Bounty Hunter being re-released. These events alone highlight how divided fans are. The Acolyte was review-bombed, and the Battlefront Classic Collection launch had a messy, polarizing reception, similar to the reaction to EA’s rebooted series. As this year’s big AAA title from Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, Star Wars Outlaws found itself under the heaviest scrutiny from fans.

You’ve Taken Your First Step to a Larger World

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world, third-person action-adventure shooter. Players take on the role of Kay Vess, a street-smart petty thief raised in the shadowy underbelly of Canto Bight, the casino city first seen in The Last Jedi. Kay’s life changes when a risky heist goes wrong, putting her on the run from the Empire and dangerous criminal gangs with a death mark hanging over her head. With her trusty animal sidekick Nix, she decides to go for one last big score that could set her free. To survive, Kay has to outsmart her enemies, make deals with shady factions, and fight her way through the galaxy’s underworld—all while deciding who to trust along the way.

One of the great things about the Star Wars universe is its ability to tell genre-bending stories. Star Wars Outlaws continues this trend, leaving behind epic space operas of the main films, to deliver a more grounded and raw take on the underworld. I also enjoyed playing as Kay Vess and thought she was a fantastic character. She’s got a cocky, self-assured attitude like Han Solo, where she’s learned how to charm or bluff her way out of trouble. While at the same time, there’s a certain naivety about her, like Farmboy Luke Skywalker, as she’s never left her homeworld. The mix of confidence and inexperience made her feel like a real, layered character, and someone I wanted to root for.

Never Tell Me the Odds

The gameplay in Star Wars Outlaws invites players to explore four major planets, each featuring expansive open areas teeming with life and variety. From bustling cities and small settlements to untamed wilderness, every environment feels immersive and distinct. On foot, she can scale cliffs and walls, swing across gaps, and reach higher terrain using her grappling hook, ensuring no area is out of reach. For faster travel, her speeder bike can be summoned at any point, providing a seamless way to traverse open-world landscapes and engage in high-speed chases.

As the franchise’s first fully open-world game, Star Wars Outlaws encourages players to delve into vibrant planets, space stations, and asteroid belts, all packed with missions, side activities, and collectibles. While everything will feel familiar to veteran players of Ubisoft’s open-world formula, such as expansive maps, objectives, and upgrade systems, they’re given a new lease when played through the Star Wars lens. Whether sneaking through enemy outposts, engaging in blaster shootouts, or battling in chaotic space dogfights, the gameplay strikes a balance between the familiarity of Ubisoft’s design and the unpredictability of Kay Vess’s criminal adventures.

Street Cred

The reputation system in Star Wars Outlaws ties directly to the galaxy’s powerful criminal syndicates, which control vast territories across the planets. Depending on your standing, entering their regions could lead to wildly different outcomes. A poor reputation with factions like the Pyke Syndicate, Ashiga Clan, Crimson Dawn, or the Hutt Cartel means their forces will shoot you on sight for trespassing. On the flip side, earning their favor provides safe passage and free crafting materials.

Merchants loyal to these syndicates also adjust their prices based on your reputation, offering discounts if you’re on good terms or hiking prices if your reputation sours. Even progressing through the main story missions can shift your overall standing, making it critical to balance your narrative choices with side missions and syndicate contracts to maintain a positive reputation. Managing these relationships adds another layer of strategy. 

Somewhere during my playthrough, I realized how perfectly the game’s criminal underworld setting could’ve been used to reintroduce the Black Sun Syndicate. Shadows of the Empire remains one of my all-time favorite Star Wars games, and considering that both Shadows and Outlaws take place in the same timeframe, having Black Sun appear as a faction would’ve been a fantastic way to bring some elements back into the new Disney canon. That said, this omission is by no means a knock on the game—I’m simply pondering what could’ve been.

A Good Blaster at Your Side

Developed by the same studio behind Tom Clancy’s The Division series, Star Wars Outlaws carries over Ubisoft’s signature third-person shooting mechanics. Veteran players will appreciate the smooth and responsive gunplay. Kay’s blaster is the centerpiece of combat, used in about 90% of encounters and featuring three firing modes that can be upgraded for faster cooldowns or more damage. It’s not just a weapon, though—it doubles as a tool, such as Ion mode disabling droids or powering up doors and terminals. This versatility ensures the blaster remains essential from start to finish.

Since its August launch, several patches have been released for Star Wars Outlaws. I didn’t get my hands on the game until late September (special shout out to my friend Travis for gifting it to me). By then a few updates had already gone live, but the improvements didn’t stop there. Midway during my playthrough, a significant patch (over eight gigabytes in size) rolled out, addressing several quality-of-life issues, and the differences were night and day.

For example, every once in a while you can pick up temporary weapons from fallen enemies or armories. These scavenged weapons come with limited ammo and are discarded when empty. Before the latest patch, Kay would drop any carried weapon when performing any other action; like climbing walls, using ladders, grappling, mounting her speeder, or even opening doors. Now, she can holster these weapons and retain them until their ammo is fully depleted. The patch also improved AI behavior during combat, and added balancing tweaks to enhance overall gameplay flow.

Sneaking Around

As this is another Ubisoft joint, stealth plays a significant role. Initially, the game featured forced stealth segments that would restart the level upon detection, becoming a huge obstacle at the start of the game when you don’t yet have the abilities or tools to successfully evade detection. But after the previously mentioned patch went live, players can now choose to fight their way through if discovered. Enemy AI and detection improvements now notify players when they’re being spotted, giving them the option to escalate or change tactics to stay in stealth. For those of you who played the game at launch and were frustrated with its issues, I’m happy to report they’ve been addressed, and the game is all the better for it.

Kay can tactically use the environment to sneak past enemies, and allow for different approaches to the situation. And then there’s Nix, Kay’s adorable pet companion and sidekick, who brings a polished edge to stealth gameplay. Unlike the sometimes clunky animal companions from the Far Cry games, Nix operates seamlessly, aiding Kay by distracting or attacking enemies and retrieving out-of-reach items. He’s also essential for exploration, able to navigate tight spaces Kay can’t access, like activating a switch to unlock a door from the other side. This makes Nix an invaluable (and much less cumbersome) partner during both stealth sequences and puzzle-solving moments.

Dank Farrik!!

Star Wars Outlaws looks great, delivering exactly what you’d expect from a AAA game in 2024. I was most excited to visit Tatooine, arguably the most iconic setting in the entire franchise. Its desert landscapes are perfectly recreated, straight out of the films. Toshara offers something new, with its lush grassy savannas providing a refreshing change of pace. Kijimi’s snowy city streets deliver a cold, atmospheric vibe, just like in The Rise of Skywalker. Finally, Akiva’s dense jungles bring a wild, untamed feel, adding plenty of variety to the mix.

Each planet features a large town or hub area filled with NPCs, cantinas, side quests, and lots of hidden details to discover. Mos Eisley for instance has appeared in more Star Wars games over the years than I can count, but this is the first time it feels like a real and lived-in place. Civilians are going about their day, merchants and traders are manning their shops, and there’s plenty of hidden details to find and explore. The graphics and sound do a great job of making these places feel alive, whether it’s the sand dunes across Tatooine or the snow crunching underfoot on Kijimi. I didn’t notice any major glitches, though that could be because I started playing after some patches had already dropped. Either way, the game looks polished and delivers a solid experience.

Never Tell Me the Odds

Star Wars Outlaws really stands out for leaning into the grittier, criminal side of the galaxy, giving us a fresh take on the franchise. One of the coolest choices? No lightsabers. Not a single one. This is a story about smugglers, scoundrels, and surviving in a galaxy ruled by the Empire, and honestly, it works. For fans who are over every Star Wars story eventually sneaking in a lightsaber, this is a welcome break. I’m reminded of when The Mandalorian was keeping things lightsaber-free, but then the Darksaber showed up and divided fans. Here, you get to explore the galaxy without any Jedi or Sith taking over the story.

Sure, the game follows Ubisoft’s usual open-world formula, and it can feel a bit familiar if you’ve played other games like Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry. But with great characters, large explorable locations, and some tough choices to make, it’s still a fun ride. It doesn’t rewrite the rules for Star Wars games, but it doesn’t need to. If you’re here for a story that’s all about the scrappy underdogs and doesn’t lean on the Jedi crutch, Outlaws is well worth your time.

To hear more talk more about Star Wars Outlaws, be sure to listen to the September 5, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:22:19 time stamp.

This review is based on a purchased PlayStation 5 copy of Star Wars Outlaws. It is also available on Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.