"Star Wars Outlaws" has been out for over ten days now, and I've noticed the reviews from both the media and players. But as a Star Wars fan, there's no way I'd rest until I tried it myself. So, with that, I now have my answer on whether this Ubisoft + Star Wars IP combo is worth recommending.

The timeline of "Star Wars Outlaws" is set during the Galactic Empire's rule, just before "The Empire Strikes Back." It's essentially a spin-off, told from the perspective of the female protagonist Kay Vess. The content volume and script length are fairly solid, making it well worth checking out for Star Wars fans as a spin-off. After being utterly disgusted by "The Waiter," my time spent playing "Star Wars Outlaws" actually felt somewhat healing.

In simple terms, the game is a political drama involving four major crime syndicates + the Empire, wrapped around Ubisoft's signature "grand buffet" gameplay. Regardless of how the latter turns out, Star Wars fans will be able to enjoy the game slowly, as its settings are fully aligned with the original series. Especially when you're riding a speeder bike across the open world of various planets, you can really feel that the team at Massive Studio put a lot of effort into environmental design.

But for non-fans, without these added bonuses, the game's roughness and imbalance in gameplay become particularly glaring. Those interested in picking it up might want to think twice.

Everything's here, but that's about it
Since this is Star Wars, gunfights and space jumps + chase scenes are obviously part of the deal. The game also faithfully recreates planets with different landscapes like Cantonica, Tatooine, Kijimi, and Akiva. For example, on the planet Cantonica, there's an open world filled with many exploration elements, which includes a mid-sized town map of Cantobight. Then, when you leave the planet in a spaceship, you'll enter a small open-world map of outer space, followed by jumps between different star systems.

Kay Vess' character is quite similar to Han Solo—armed with a blaster and a silver tongue, she embarks on her adventure. However, the entire galaxy is divided among eight factions, particularly the four major crime syndicates and the Empire. The missions Kay takes on will affect the favorability between these factions, from small things like whether certain faction-specific gear is available in a particular region, to larger matters like the fate of some NPCs.

It sounds like a non-linear story, but it's not. The decisions you make have little to no real impact on the outcome. The rise and fall of faction favorability are also overly simplistic, if not outright dumb. One second I wiped out a base belonging to the Crimson Dawn, and the next, a choice I made on another planet raised our favorability level. Moreover, the chain of tasks between missions is stretched long by Ubisoft. I started off intending to do mission A, but after all the pre-missions, I'd already forgotten what A was about.

That said, the game's cutscenes are relatively rich, even in side quests, with plenty of dialogue and voiceovers. The atmosphere is also a plus—you can pause and watch NPCs in town, each with their own scripts playing out. And I often stumbled upon the open world's flora and fauna, which also helped add to the experience. However, I played the PS5 version, and the graphics and frame rates were somewhat disappointing. If you want to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere, it's better to choose the PC version.

When it comes to specific gameplay, it's mainly about stealth, gunfights, lock-picking/hacking, mini-games, skill + equipment + spaceship upgrades, space chase scenes, and open-world exploration. Let's go through each one.

First up is stealth, which takes up most of the game time and is what I consider the root cause of the gameplay's roughness and imbalance. Ubisoft is usually good at stealth gameplay, and the rules here encourage players to avoid directly shooting through levels with Kay's blaster. Instead, you're encouraged to use your "pet" companion Nix to perform long-range actions, like distracting enemies, picking up items, or remotely opening and closing alarms and triggering other mechanisms.

However, the AI enemies in the game clearly have issues. Their alert zones and patrol routes seem mismatched in difficulty. For instance, you can sneak up to an enemy from the side without a problem, but if you're crawling through a gap several crates away, they'll spot you. Once they've checked the suspicious area, the AI then starts moving in bizarre ways. It's not the kind of "Is he hiding nearby?" design you'd hope for—it's just weird.

Additionally, though there are multiple stealth paths, there are also many "traps." For example, as soon as you climb a ladder or drop out of a vent, you'll be spotted by enemies, forcing a restart. The frustration from these moments is hard to overlook.

The melee moveset is limited to just two or three animations, and there are times when enemies will glitch toward you before you punch them down. But that's not the main issue. Kay only has one blaster that can be upgraded, with three firing modes—plasma, ion, and energy—that you switch between depending on the enemy type. Even so, in an alert situation, it’s tough to win a firefight by using cover or melee tactics. The game strongly encourages stealth, and if that fails, you’ll need to pick up enemy weapons to fight. However, the ammo is limited, so after taking down one or two enemies, you'll have to throw the weapon away. From start to finish, the gunplay in the game remains this way, which clearly doesn't match the thrill that some players might expect.

The lock-picking mini-game is a rhythm-based game where you match the lock’s sound pattern by pressing buttons in the same rhythm. Hacking involves selecting the correct symbols from a set of images and arranging them in the right order. There are many chances to trial and error, and you can even eliminate wrong answers. Additionally, you can upgrade subroutines to speed up the hacking process. While not groundbreaking, it's stress-free to play and doesn’t get repetitive, so it's a plus.

Sabaac cards and pod-racing are pretty much present in every system. One of my motivations for continuing to play was appreciating the Star Wars details, and the other was to play cards everywhere. I'm not sure what the actual rules of Sabaac are in Star Wars, but I can say the in-game version... is quite fun. Basically, it's about matching pairs, with some special function cards adding a layer of strategy. Early matches are too simple to feel it, but later on, the tension in card battles can rival storming an Imperial base with a blaster. I can’t wait to play against real people someday.

The pod-racing mini-game is quite simple, especially since it’s always located near the Sabaac tables, which leaves me with little time to care about it.

As for the open world, there are plenty of undiscovered question marks on the planets' large maps, which is the same old formula, so I won’t go into it. Some missions require you to fly to the space region outside the planet, where the question marks are fewer but the area is larger, and chase scenes are triggered. There are five star systems in total, and each planet's space environment is different, which looks pretty nice.

During the chase scenes, you can lock on to your target with one button, simplifying the complexity. Plus, you can upgrade your ship's weapon, propulsion, and defense systems, giving the battles a sense of progression as the enemies get tougher. When you're in the midst of a dogfight with a dozen or so ships, you can’t help but feel that, yes, this is a Star Wars game. Too bad there's no lightsaber combat... Unfortunately, all the space battles boil down to lock-on + destroy, with no deeper gameplay elements.

Final Verdict: 7/10
"Star Wars Outlaws" is brimming with Star Wars flavor. The game spares no effort in creating a richly atmospheric Star Wars world, which is irresistible to fans. While there’s plenty of gameplay, most of it ranges from average to mediocre, fitting into Ubisoft's familiar "grand buffet" style. The only thing I might miss is Sabaac.