Plenty of what’s been showcased for Star Wars Outlaws has looked more than a little promising, whether you’re talking about its promise of an authentic, open world Star Wars experience, or the potential of its Reputation system and the dynamic gameplay opportunities that can create, to name just a couple of things. At the same time, however, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s upcoming space-faring adventure has also attracted some skepticism in a decent chunk of the game’s potential player base. Here, we’re going to take a look at a few such areas where some have expressed concerns about Star Wars Outlaws potentially stumbling in noticeable ways.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
We’ll start off with the concern that we’ve seen brought up most often in discussions about Star Wars Outlaws. By and large, what Ubisoft has shown of the game has looked suitably impressive from a visual perspective, but in the weeks leading up to release, more than a few people have noticed a visual downgrade- or at least a perceived visual downgrade. Either way, there’s no denying that noticeable bugs and technical rough edges have been spotted in gameplay footage leading up to Star Wars Outlaws’ launch, raising concerns for many about what condition the game is going to be in when it does come out. Thankfully, with Star Wars Outlaws having gone gold in early July, by the time it releases, developer Massive Entertainment will have had roughly two months to prepare patches that could alleviate at least some of those issues right out the gate.
PLAYING IT SAFE?
Another concern that some have raised with Star Wars Outlaws (ourselves included) is that the gameplay footage that we’ve seen of it so far suggests that it might be playing it a bit too safe from a design and mechanics perspective. Cover-based shooting, familiar stealth mechanics, Uncharted style climbing- in more than a few areas, Star Wars Outlaws is looking like a slightly different version of a AAA game we’ve played many times over the years. To be fair, there’s every chance that the game succeeds in pulling all of those elements together in a genuinely compelling way, and that’s certainly what we’re hoping for.
COMBAT
That Star Wars Outlaws will primarily be a cover-based third person shooter where combat is concerned isn’t a huge surprise, given the fact that it’s coming from the studio that makes The Division, but whether or not the sci-fi title is going to be able to replicate the mechanical depth and satisfying nature of that series’ combat is the question that many have right now. Kay is going to be equipped with a single blaster- one that, admittedly, will have multiple modules with different uses for different situations, but that in and of itself could potentially mean much more simple and straightforward combat. Capturing the swashbuckling nature of classic Star Wars scoundrel adventures is obviously going to rely on a lot more than just combat, but combat is going to be an important part of that experience, so hopefully Massive can keep it from feeling barebones.
STEALTH
Stealth is clearly going to be another important part of the Star Wars Outlaws gameplay loop, and once again, it’s an area that raises concerns about potentially being too simplistic. In stealth, Kay’s companion Nix will serve a crucial role, from distracting foes and helping Kay create distractions to stealing and retrieving objects and more, but ultimately, the things that you’re going to be doing while in stealth could maybe feel pretty familiar if you’ve played, oh, I don’t know, any Ubisoft open world game with stealth elements in recent years, of which there’s been no shortage. Is it possible that Outlaws succeeds in implementing those familiar elements in an engaging way? Or that its Star Wars veneer helps elevate some of its more rote elements? Why, entirely. Both of those things are possible. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen.
PROGRESSION
Star Wars Outlaws is going to be much less focused on progression mechanics and build diversity on what Massive fans may be used to with the Division games, but though we’re obviously expecting much more limited and streamlined systems on that front, we’re not sure yet if the game isn’t going a bit too far with streamlining that side of the gameplay experience. From Kay’s blaster to her ship to plenty of cosmetic options, Star Wars Outlaws is obviously going to have players engaging with some progression and customization systems- we’re just hoping they feel like they’re making an actual impact on the gameplay, which isn’t something that we’re too confident about, based on what’s been shown of the game so far.
SIDE CONTENT
This, to be fair, is a much more general concern that can be applied to the overwhelming of open world games that get released- how good is the side content going to be? No one doubts Massive Entertainment’s ability to craft excellent open world maps, but how compelling will the optional content populating that map going to be? Are we going to be in for rote, copy-paste side activities, or is Outlaws going to offer a much more compelling and dynamic experience? We obviously always hope for the latter, but very rarely do we get open world games that actually live up to those expectations.
SPACE CONTENT
Flying through space is going to be an important part of Star Wars Outlaws, but though Ubisoft has made that much abundantly clear, details on what that particular chunk of the experience is going to entail are much more sparse. Ubisoft has, to be fair, said that players who explore space will find plenty of dynamic events, side quests, space stations to explore, and what have you, but as with the quality of optional content in any open world game, seeing is going to be believing here.
LOCKED JABBA MISSION
This was something that Ubisoft caught a fair bit of flak for earlier in the year. When Star Wars Outlaws’ purchasable editions were revealed, it also emerged that in a typically Ubisoft move, Ubisoft had locked a bonus Jabba the Hutt-focused side quest behind purchasing the $130 Ultimate Edition. Of course, Jabba is going to be in the game for all players regardless of which version you purchase, but the fact that Ubisoft decided to lock even one mission behind a paywall hasn’t been well received by many. Jabba the Hutt is, after all, a massively popular character, so the backlash isn’t entirely surprising.
OPEN WORLD FATIGUE
How often have you heard people talking about how sick of open worlds they are? Given the fact that open world games continue to sell bonkers figures, it’s safe to say that their popularity hasn’t really waned, but there’s also no doubt that there is a sizeable portion of the gaming audience that has grown more than a little tired of the many, many open world tropes that dominate this medium. Being a Ubisoft open world game, Star Wars Outlaws has raised skepticism about whether it’s going to be able to avoid those issues, but our hope is that it’s going to be a different kind of open world experience than what this publisher has become associated with over the years- which isn’t bad by any means, but maybe isn’t what people want this Star Wars game to be modelled on.
STAR WARS FATIGUE
Star Wars fatigue has been a very real thing in media in general in recent years, thanks to the plethora of movies and Disney+ shows we’ve seen, a good number of which have been quite disappointing. Has that fatigue made its way into games as well? For many, it has, but the fact that we are still getting genuinely excellent Star Wars game – like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor as recently as just a little over a year ago – does give some reason for optimism. Hopefully, Outlaws will be able to prove the skeptics wrong and place itself on that list as well.
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