Star Wars Outlaws: hands-on report
Ubisoft Massive is almost ready to let PS5 players become a notorious space scoundrel in the first open-world Star Wars game, coming to PS5 on August 30. Crash landing onto the lush yet dangerous moon of Toshara, I spent time as rookie rogue Kay Vess, meeting her little buddy Nix, discovering visual options inspired by the original trilogy, and taking jobs for crime syndicates.
Nix the lovable critter companion
Kay’s furry and all-too-cute partner Nix (“not a pet,” stresses his voice actor, Dee Bradley Baker) has already gained a dedicated and adoring following. Yes, the doe-eyed Merqaal is genuinely helpful, from distracting guards with cuteness (or causing explosions), and picking up weapons, to showing players interactive elements in the environment… but it’s Nix’s little touches that’ll win over fans across the galaxy.
Gain boosters for your speeder and Nix is forced to hang on for dear life, his little tail and hind legs flailing in the air. If you aim Kay’s blaster at him, he’ll impishly mimic being shot and roll over to play dead, causing Kay to chuckle and encourage his performance.
Star Wars at its most vibrant
Outlaws executes open-world Star Wars with flair, delivering a rich and responsive environment that’s lively and joyful to explore. Floating fishing nets ripple in the wind. Broken starship detritus is scattered across lakes, mountains, and moisture farms. And yes, you can pet the… well, animals far more exotic than dogs, and even feed some of the fauna native to Toshara.
Ubisoft Massive has also created discoverable vista points where you can stop and watch beautiful-yet-deadly world go by. The scenic views are striking enough to encourage players to seek them all out.
Capturing the original trilogy vibe
The Star Wars Outlaws team knows it’s a big deal to set its game between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and has gone the extra parsecs to make it feel authentic to its source material.
To that end, you can select a special 21.9 cinematic mode that creates a widescreen effect and replicates the lenses Lucasfilm used when shooting Episodes 4 to 6. The result is a gritty, nostalgic visual grain with a modern-day high-definition punch.
Variety is the spice of scoundrel life
Whether it’s overhearing the juiciest scoundrel scuttlebutt or hitting up gangland bosses for work, there are plenty of objectives to tackle across Outlaws.
One mission, New Tricks, involves hunting down an ion module for your blaster to disrupt some pesky electrical systems. The quest begins with a hunt for the right merchant, then spirals into an adventure through the bustling city of Mirogana and into the craggy wilds.
Meanwhile, a Hutt task demands you steal a client list, but at any time you can deviate from your current mission to sneak into an outpost, “slice” through encrypted info databases, race speeder bikes, infiltrate mysterious shelters, or help townsfolk repel gunslinging bandits (…or not. You’re an outlaw, after all).
Whether you’re eager to put your blaster to good use or prefer to venture across the Outer Rim, there are plenty of wretched hives of scum and villainy to explore when Star Wars Outlaws lands on PS5 August 30.
