Outlaws is a fun open-world Star Wars game filled with stealth mechanics but lacking in one major way

I grew up playing classic Star Wars single-player adventures like the Kyle Katarn-centered Dark Forces and Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) series. Those games were amazing in their time, and I'm always hopeful that a new Star Wars RPG will recapture a similar excitement. As such, it's no surprise that I've been curious about Star Wars Outlawsever since Ubisoft revealed it, 

My interest in Outlaws especially peaked when I realized that this is technically the first open-world Star Wars game. Unlike the recent Cal Kestis' Star Wars Jedi games (which are hub-based), Outlaws has me playing as a scoundrel rather than as a Jedi, and, honestly, this is a focus that I've been dying to see in modern Star Wars games. 

I was traveling while playing Star Wars Outlaws, so I ended up running the game on both a gaming laptop (check out my Legion 9i (Gen 8) review) and my ROG Ally X. It took me roughly 30 hours to beat the main story and see credits roll. Here's what I think about this single-player adventure. 

• Star Wars Outlaws Standard Edition (Xbox): $69.99 at CDKeys
• Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition (Xbox) was $109.99 now $105.59 at CDKeys
• Star Wars Outlaws Ultimate Edition (Xbox) $129.99 at Xbox
  Star Wars Outlaws Standard Edition (PC) $69.99 at Ubisoft
• Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition (PC) was $109.99 now $54.09 at CDKeys
• Star Wars Outlaws Ultimate Edition (PC) $129.99 at Ubisoft

Star Wars Outlaws: What is it?

Star Wars Outlaws: Official Launch Trailer - YouTube

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STORY: At the start of Star Wars Outlaws, players are introduced to Kay Vess, a poor thief living in the casino city of Canto Bight on the planet Cantonica (seen in The Last Ledi). Her best friend and partner in crime, Nix, is a small mammalian creature that can use its axolotl-like antennae to sense items and people nearby. The two have worked together since Kay was a child and have learned to survive by pulling off small jobs and pickpocketing. 

However, they soon get in trouble and are forced to steal a ship and get off world. The Zerek Besh syndicate leader, Sliro, who is one of the most powerful people in the galaxy, puts a hit on her, and soon, she has all kinds of people looking for her. Eventually, a man named Jaylen Vrax ropes Kay into a heist that he's been planning and promises that Kay and Nix won't have to run anymore if they pull it off. To make sure she stays on target, Jaylen assigns a threatening ND-5 Clone Wars droid to work with Kay. Now, it's up to Kay to travel to various planets and assemble a crew to pull off the big score. 

TIMELINE: This adventure takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi — meaning Luke, Leia, Han, and friends haven't defeated the Empire yet. The war raging between the Galactic Empire and the Rebellion provides plenty of opportunities for Kay, most of which center around smuggling, theft, and other crimes. Warring crime syndicates dominate in places where the Empire isn't involved, so Kay must regularly take on jobs from each of these gangs. However, many of the decisions she makes will increase her Reputation at one syndicate while lowering it at another. It's a dangerous game to play, but one that can pay off if done correctly. 

DIFFICULTY & ACCESSIBILITY: There are four difficulty levels: Explorer (Story), Adventurer (Easy), Outlaw (Normal), and Scoundrel (Hard). It's possible another is unlocked once the game is beaten. A decent range of accessibility options are also available, including customizable colorblind presets, menu narration, and customizable hearing presets. 

Star Wars Outlaws: Story and progression

The overall idea for a heist in the Star Wars galaxy is intriguing. However, Outlaw's plot wouldn't be able to stand on its own feet if it wasn't propped up in Star Wars nostalgia. 

After breaking into the powerful Sliro's vault and barely getting away, Kay is strong-armed by Jaylen Vrax into not only joining his heist crew but gathering the various needed members for the operation. To keep her on target, Jaylen assigns his antique Clone Wars-era droid, ND-5, to assist Kay, but gives the droid directives to shoot her if she attempts to go against Jaylen's wishes. ND-5 has no say in the matter since he's programmed to obey Jaylen regardless of his own feelings. 

Parts of the story, especially relationships between characters, feel contrived and rushed. Like a child, Kay quickly gives her loyalty to characters who she's just met but withholds her affections at times from others with no rhyme or reason. This makes her seem immature and clueless while also making parts of the plot inconsistent and unbelievable. I hoped that Kay would evolve as the story progressed or that she would at least grow on me, but this wasn't the case. 

I won't go into end-game spoilers, but even her actions at the end of the main plot felt amateurish and unreasonable. That said, based on what I saw at the end of my game, I wouldn't be surprised if there are multiple endings depending on the quests you finish or your syndicate Reputation levels. I personally rushed through the game to be able to get this review out on time, but there are several other side quests that I could complete. So, who knows? Kay might come off a little different in a better ending if there is one. 

Really, the best part of Outlaws' storyline is that it sheds light on how the war between the Empire and the Rebellion affects average citizens. Kay hates how controlling the Empire is, but she's also quick to point out that the Rebels always think whatever they do is justified, even if it causes harm to others. It's no wonder Kay decides to play the system by dabbling in syndicate politics, pitting groups against each other, and making a life for herself as a free entity. But this doesn't stop her from learning from those she meets.

As far as progression goes, the way skill trees and side quests are implemented in Outlaws feels far more natural than in most other open-world games. Rather than simply having a skill tree readily at my disposal, I have to locate Experts on the planets I travel to and then complete a quest for these Experts to unlock them. Once done, these people have about five skills they can teach Kay. Much like the lauded Skyrim progression system, Kay only unlocks skills if she puts them to use.

For instance, Bram the Bartender is the first Expert Kay unlocks. His Fast-Talk skill distracts a single enemy with chatter, giving me a chance to take them out before they alert anyone else. If I manage to use this trick successfully six times, I can also unlock Keep Talking, which allows me to distract multiple enemies with Fast-Talk. All in all, this system makes learning skills feel more earned.

Outside of personal growth, Kay can also upgrade her speeder bike, blaster, clothing, and ship. Doing so might increase her firepower, defense, health, carrying capacity, and more. Specific component quests lead to necessary upgrade items. When acquired, these need to be taken back to an appropriate mechanic or workbench in order to implement the upgrade. In a similar vein, Kay can also find new street foods for Nix that give him additional perks, such as the ability to push grenades away from Kay.

Aside from the initial tutorial quests, many upgrade side quests are optional. This, in turn, makes me want to pursue upgrades rather than feeling obligated to do so. 

Star Wars Outlaws: Gameplay and combat

It shouldn't be too surprising given that this is a Ubisoft game, but in some ways, Outlaws plays like a satisfying Assassin's Creed Star Wars game. I mean that completing missions requires a lot of stealth takedowns and sneaking around in vents. Additionally, climbing up rocky cliff faces, swinging across gaps using ropes, slicing (hacking into computers), and scaling massive shipwrecks are also regular activities. So, if you like Assassin's Creed games, there's a good chance you'll like this one. 

During the course of a mission, you might be tasked with infiltrating a syndicate-controlled area, sneaking around an Imperial Compound, or exploring a cave or shipwreck in search of important items. The various mechanics available to me all work well and provide a fun way to explore the Star Wars galaxy.

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Kay's companion, Nix, is honestly one of the best parts about Star Wars Outlaws. He's extremely cute in a Toothless-Stitch sort of way with his extra wide mouth, cute expressions, and rounded head. He does adorable things during cutscenes that frequently make me smile.

His antennae allow him to sense when people or valuable items are nearby, which glow blue after he's used his powers. As such, I found myself using this creature's abilities often. Kay can also command Nix to pickpocket non-playable characters (NPCs), fetch distant items, press buttons to unlock doors, distract sentries, attack enemies, and more. The more creative you get with Nix, the easier a job can be. More often than not, I found myself sending Nix to distract someone so I could sneak up behind them and quietly take them out. 

Regarding lock picking and slicing, Kay has to participate in small mini-games for these actions to be successful. Lock picking involves listening to a pattern (accompanied by a visual light cue) and pressing buttons in rhythm to the beat. Meanwhile, slicing is basically Wordle with alien digits. You select from a list of characters and enter them in. The character will get X'd out if it doesn't belong in the code.  A character will appear yellow if it belongs in the code but is in the wrong spot. Lastly, a character turns green if it belongs where it was placed. After some simple trial and error, deducing the accurate code is easy and satisfying.

Some of the controls for slicing, lock picking, opening vents, and other activities don't feel very intuitive. It took me a while to realize that activating slicing involves pressing the RT button on my ROG Ally X rather than A. Then after the Wordle part is done, I have to press A to toggle whatever command I'd just unlocked rather than it just being done. I'm accustomed to the controls now, but it could be confusing for beginners until they figure these controls out.

Weapon-wise, Kay only has regular access to her blaster, her fists, and some grenades when on foot. However, if a felled enemy drops a weapon, she can pick it up and use it until it runs out of ammo. There is a good range of guns, including snipers, rifles, and grenade launchers, to keep things interesting. Enemies can also drop grenades and healing Bacta Vials, which are necessary for survival. 

I really started to enjoy myself after I found my way into an Imperial facility and accidentally got discovered by an officer. Within minutes, the whole place was on alert and looking for me. I attempted to hide out on the roof only to see a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle land beside me and release more Storm Troopers into the grounds (sadly, I could not sneak into the ship). I managed to take down one of these enemies and steal their weapon (which was more powerful than Kay's blaster). Then I squirreled away into a protected corner and took out several Storm Troopers until the place was cleared out.

However, this put me on the Empire's wanted list, which meant that even after leaving the facility, patrolling groups of Scout Troopers were on the lookout and would chase after me if I came anywhere close. To clear my wanted status, I was told to head to a Death Trooper outpost. Once there, I had to sneak into a facility while avoiding detection by the black-armored Death Troopers, steal a key card from the commanding officer, and hack into the nearby terminal. Once done, I was blissfully anonymous to the Empire once more. The whole experience was very exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Syndicates and side quests

So, how do side quests work in Outlaws? You can find many the old-fashioned way by exploring and talking to NPCs. Additionally, syndicate brokers await in city areas, and taking on jobs from these individuals can increase Kay's Reputation with specific criminal groups (The Hutt Cartel, Pyke Syndicate, or Crimson Dawn). Typically, the harder the job, the better the rewards and the more Reputation points she'll get for successfully completing them. Additionally, some quests are trickier than others and cannot be repeated if Kay is caught.

Near the end of a mission, I'm often given a choice between throwing one of two gangs under the bus or at least lying to one of them. This might involve betraying the group I initially signed on with or completing the job to the end. Kay is a scoundrel, after all, so I get to choose whatever outcome seems best to me. The trick is, figuring out which group to backstab at which time to hopefully keep a decent rep among all of them. 

The Reputation tab in the game menu shows my current standing with various criminal groups. If my reputation is "Good" or "Excellent," the syndicate will send me gifts and I'm free to walk around on their turf. But if I have "Poor", "Bad," or "Terrible" standing, gang members will either attack me on sight or will immediately remove me from their areas if I'm found sneaking around. Even when I've got an "Excellent" Reputation, there are always restricted areas within a syndicate-controlled area, so stealth will be necessary if you want to, say, rob the criminal group of its treasure vault. 

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Between infiltration missions, I spend my time traveling to different planets, taking on side jobs in cantinas, gathering intel, playing simple arcade games in shops, racing around insanely fast on my speeder, or exploring the world for hidden treasure caches and other secrets. Exploration is usually rewarded with plenty of valuables to sell at shops, upgrade parts, or good old credits. If I find useful intel, I can even sell it to one of the syndicates and increase my Reputation that way.

The speeder bike can go much faster than a horse usually goes in Assassin's Creed games. I was even able to upgrade mine with a booster, so sometimes I can haul like mad over cliffs and off ramps. This is helpful when I'm being chased by angry syndicate members or patrolling Scout Troopers.

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As someone who loves animals, I've appreciated that Kay is able to pet just about all of the docile creatures I've come across. The animations I've experienced are different from one species to the next, which helps make the act of petting newly discovered animals more rewarding. 

Don't worry. You can also pet Nix at any time by tapping his control button and then selecting him. Thank you for that, Massive Entertainment. 

Space travel and dogfights

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As for space travel, Outlaws doesn't allow players to control landings or take offs. However, I can engage in dogfights in space and explore asteroid fields or nearby shipwrecks. Kay's ship, the Trailblazer, handles easily and can turn around quickly enough without feeling sluggish. 

If I've unlocked a planet to travel to, jumping to light speed doesn't take very long and I can zip around the galaxy pretty quickly. The actual areas of space I can explore feel somewhat small and limited, though. But this prevents the game from feeling too wide open and empty like Starfield does. 

Star Wars Outlaws: Art and performance

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Art style and effects are things that this game absolutely nails. To help players appreciate the scope of the planets and locations explored, the game defaults to cinematic 21:9 wide-screen. You can go into settings and change it to full screen, but this completely changes the feel of your viewing area. In the case of stealth, I found being able to see more at once is also more helpful.

I love that Outlaws fully embraces the original trilogy's late 1970s and early 1980s aesthetic. Everything from Kay's hairstyle to her clothes, gear, ship, and speeder bike looks like it was taken from that time period. Because of this, she fits into her classic Star Wars settings perfectly. Additional clothes, paint jobs, and gear can be unlocked as the game progresses, and many of these things provide additional perks while still looking like they fit into this galaxy.

Meanwhile, each planet that Kay visits is lovingly detailed with the familiar plant life, buildings, locations, creatures, characters, and objects seen in the movies. I won't list all the planets so as not to spoil anything. Instead, I'll stick to describing Tatooine since it's been shown off in trailers and promo pictures. I get excited when I traverse through in-ground moisture farms, walk through the Mos Eisley Cantina, or come across a Jawa Sandcrawler on Tatooine. Everything looks amazing, with lots of textured detail, effects, and great shading. I frequently find myself opening photo mode to capture the gorgeous scenes I discover.

The NPCs and the two main characters also look great, although Kay's facial expressions sometimes look a little wooden during lower-priority quests. On the flip side, there are times when high-resolution cutscenes are triggered during the main plot's key moments. These are absolutely beautiful to watch, filled with even more stunning detail than regular gameplay.

Stuttering, choppiness, and bugs oh my!

As I previously mentioned, my time playing Star Wars Outlaws has been split between my ROG Ally X gaming handheld and my gaming PC (a Legion 9i gaming laptop with an Intel Core i9-13980HX and an RTX 4090 L). The game plays relatively smoothly on both devices when playing at the system's default settings. However, I did encounter several instances of screen tearing, choppy gameplay, and stuttering cutscenes on both PC and gaming handheld. It wasn't consistent, but when it happened, it was notable. 

This is very unfortunate, given how powerful my laptop is. As such, choppiness and stuttering might be more pronounced on a lower-tier gaming laptop, gaming PC, or gaming handheld. 

Don't plan on playing Star Wars Outlaws on Steam Deck, though. For one thing, the game isn't available on Steam, so it can't be accessed that way. Even if you get the game installed using a workaround (like I did), it will simply crash when you attempt to start the game. With any luck, a fix will come down the line to make it playable on Steam Deck, but it's best not to count on it. 

• RELATED: Star Wars Outlaws PC system requirements

But what about other platforms? My colleague, Zachary Boddy, has also been playing Outlaws on Xbox Series X and says the game looks good and plays well on the console. As a reminder, Star Wars Outlaws is not on Xbox Game Pass. If you want to play Ubisoft's adventure, you'll need to purchase it outside of the Xbox subscription service. 

Overall, the game runs well on PC, but in my 30 hours with Outlaws, I've seen Kay get stuck in the walls of a building, had a Storm Trooper respawn as I was defeating them, seen assets pop in and out of a still frame, had Kay turn into a wall of hair, viewed excessive stuttering through a cutscene, watched as textures turned to low resolution despite my higher settings, and more. Each of these problems was fixed by either fast traveling to another location or restarting the game. While sometimes frustrating, none of the bugs I encountered prevented me from progressing, and none of them were bad enough to diminish my overall playing experience.

Ubisoft let me know that it is aware of several issues on both PC and consoles and is working on fixing them. For instance, apparently playing the game for long stretches on PC can sometimes make the textures turn low, so that's probably one of the things I encountered. With any luck, the problems I mentioned will be resolved by launch or shortly thereafter.

Star Wars Outlaws: Can you play on gaming handhelds?

During the course of my testing, I played Star Wars Outlaws for several hours on my ROG Ally X. As such, I found that the game is very well suited to playing on Windows 11 gaming handhelds with an AMD Z1 Extreme processor. 

• RELATED: How to increase ROG Ally VRAM

Star Wars Outlaws: Should you play it?

It's not perfect, but overall, I've enjoyed my time with Kay, Nix, and ND-5. I'd even go so far as to say that this open-world adventure scratches an itch that the Star Wars Jedi games didn't satisfy. Massive Entertainment managed to beautifully recreate familiar locations while providing engaging activities to keep players entertained. From playing simple arcade games to breaking into mansions and racing around on a speeder bike, Outlaws delivers exciting action. 

If you like stealth mechanics, open-world RPGs, and Star Wars, then you really ought to check out Star Wars Outlaws. There are definitely some mechanics that could use a bit more polish, but overall, it's a very satisfying game. Focusing on the criminal underworld and giving players choices provides a strategic element that allows you to take in a very different side of a galaxy far far away, one that we haven't seen as much of in other Star Wars games. 

Star Wars Outlaws is single-player, open-world action game set to release on August 30, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, PC (via Ubisoft Connect), and PlayStation 5. It is not available on Xbox Game Pass.

Star Wars Outlaws - Standard Edition ($69.99 MSRP)

After a job goes wrong, scoundrel Kay Vess finds herself fleeing from one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. Taking part in a heist will give her the credits she needs to start a new life and leave her pursuers behind. But to do that, she'll first need to take on odd jobs with various criminal syndicates.

Buy for Xbox at: Walmart | Amazon | Best Buy | CDKeys
Buy for PC at: Ubisoft store | CDKeys

Star Wars Outlaws - Gold Edition ($109.99 MSRP)

Getting the Gold Edition of Star Wars Outlaws gives you three days early access to the base game and the Season Pass, allowing you to play extra DLC narrative expansions. 

Buy for Xbox at: Walmart | Amazon | Best Buy | CDKeys
Buy for PC at: CDKeys | Ubisoft store

Star Wars Outlaws - Ultimate Edition ($129.99 MSRP)

This edition gives you three-day early access to the base game, DLC found in the Season Pass, a cosmetic pack, an exclusive launch mission involving Jabba the Hutt, and a digital art book. 

Buy for Xbox at: CDKeys | Xbox
Buy for PC at: Ubisoft store | CDKeys

• RELATED: Is Star Wars Outlaws on Xbox?