Preview I played Star Wars Outlaws and I loved it, it’s the greatest love letter to the saga in video games!

Preview I played Star Wars Outlaws and I loved it, it’s the greatest love letter to the saga in video games!

Star Wars Outlaws is one of Ubisoft’s two big releases for 2024. With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the title from Massive Entertainment, known for Tom Clancy’s The Division, is eagerly awaited by fans of the universe of George Lucas, and for good reason. If Respawn offered us the chance to step into the shoes of a Jedi in the Star Wars Jedi series, Outlaws puts the lightsabers away to introduce us to the world of crime between Episodes V and VI of the original trilogya period ultimately little exploited.

In Star Wars Outlaws, we play Kay Vess, an outlaw who travels through space to recruit associates to lead one of the biggest heists in the galaxy. The game takes the form of a third-person open-world adventure in which you go from planet to planet, alternating between action, infiltration and exploration, whether terrestrial or spatial. While the title is scheduled for August 30 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, I was able to play it for an hour through three levels to discover different aspects of the title. And after this session of the game, I have the impression that Outlaws promises to be one of the most beautiful tributes to Star Wars in video games.

One of the most beautiful Star Wars video games?

Before tackling the different sequences that I was able to try, it seems obvious to me to approach the visual part of Star Wars Outlaws. As with the studio’s previous productions, the game is based on the Snowdrop Engine which works wonders here. With its large black bands, the title from Massive Entertainment manages to transcribe the atmosphere of the first original trilogy using a multitude of details which prove the passion of the developers for Star Wars. While playing, we find technology that is old, worn, dirty, as well as alien races that we discovered for the first time between Episodes IV and VI, all in modern graphics. It’s a feeling identical to the one we felt in 2016 watching Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which presented a universe that we all knew, but never with the clear image quality of today.

Where Star Wars Outlaws is even more impressive is in his keen eye for detail which shows that the developers wanted to put fanservice at the heart of the experience. To cite a few examples, the iconic blue font of the franchise is there and when you die, you are entitled to a transition into a typical part of the saga. But it was during an interview with Julian Gerighty, the game’s Creative Director, that I understood to what extent the developers at Massive Entertainment wanted to recreate the atmosphere of the films of the time. During our interview, he told me that the teams had developed technology so that the textures of the aliens’ skin imitated the masks and prosthetics that were used in the 70s and 80s to bring them to life on the big screen. A sense of detail pushed to the extreme, but which will hit the mark with fans who are sensitive to this kind of little attention.

Gameplay that combines classic with efficiency

After having discussed the technical aspect, let’s get to the heart of the subject by discussing the gameplay. Controller in hand, Star Wars Outlaws is a classic experience, so much so that I didn’t even need to learn the keys as everything is intuitive. So in the first level that I tried, it was about an infiltration sequence where we find all the gimmicks of the genre, such as ducking, calling on your pet to distract an enemy or even eliminating them with a single blow by attacking him from behind. A very classic, but effective approach which is part of the variety of gameplay offered by the experience. If infiltration fails, it is time to take action.

Our heroine Kay Vess fights using a blaster which overheats the more you use it, but which can be cooled down suddenly with a Gears of War-style recharging system. In addition to a basic shot, you can switch from one mode to another to weaken enemy shields or stun an opponent for a moment. If it allows for a little variation, I was pleasantly surprised to see that you could collect enemies’ weapons to use them immediately, even if we end up throwing them away once the tank is empty. To energize the gameplay, a very practical slide is included to take cover if necessary. And if the enemy gets too close, Kay can use his fists to defend himself. Well, you understood it, the gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws is of great classicism which will surprise no one, but everything is executed efficiently which means that you don’t get bored, especially thanks to the variety of game sequences offered to punctuate the game. ‘adventure.

Variety to punctuate the adventure

When it was made official last year, one of the aspects of Star Wars Outlaws had worried many Internet users: the ship phases. I was able to try out one of them during this session and while they bring a little extra variety to the experience, the question is whether they won’t be too present in the final game. Controller in hand, it plays without too many surprises based on speed to manage, dodges on the sides and missiles which allow you to get rid of your opponents. To make the task easier, we are entitled to some assistance such as knowing the trajectory of the enemies to better eliminate them. In reality, these ship phases have above all the merit of bringing variety to the whole and above all of contributing to immersion on a very specific point.. When entering the orbit of a planet, we select a place to land and the game will take us there automatically. However, all this is done in real time, without interruption and in the game engine, which still has its little effect when you discover the planet.

In addition to the action, infiltration and its ship phases, Star Wars Outlaws also offers platform phases largely inspired by Uncharted. With her great agility, Kay can jump and easily grab onto any wall and can even use a grappling hook to explore certain areas. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but it’s all executed efficiently which makes its sequences more enjoyable than redundant. So, if these three levels allowed me to discover certain aspects of the game, other keys are still the subject of unanswered questions. How does the open world work? What about the Wanted system when Kay is wanted? How is Kay’s speeder bike controlled? So many questions that will have to wait until August 30 before being answered.