Putting yourself in the shoes of a scoundrel in the Star Wars universe sounds like a dream to fans. See if the odds are in Ubisoft’s favor in our Star Wars Outlaws review!

While the open world genre may have gotten stale to some a console generation ago, it’s something I still find a lot of fun with. Going about your tasks with boundless freedom and a plethora of upgrades is peak immersion, and it’s something that the Star Wars universe, with its dozens of video games, has never done. That changes in Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s first foray into the storied franchise.

Welcome to Kay Vess’ wretched hive of scum and villainy in Star Wars Outlaws.

Massive Entertainment, the team behind The Division and The Division 2, are teeming with talent. This meant there was a certain level of hype ahead of release as it looked like a winning formula for fans of the sequel trilogy. Taking the reigns of the sly Kay Vess, this is in essence what Han Solo did in his day-to-day, which should translate to a fantastic video game experience. Can this game capture the deceit, trickery, and sneakiness that a rebel scoundrel can muster or the does the open world formula strike back at fans? Find out in our Star Wars Outlaws Review!

Star Wars Outlaws Review – Performance/Graphics

Let’s get this out of the way, Star Wars Outlaws is a buggy, troublesome mess of a video game. This was made evident in its 3-day early access period when a hitch saw ALL players at that time (who paid EXTRA) need to restart their saves from the beginning. When I encountered a bug myself that almost halted my playthrough 3 hours in, I almost folded, too. The stability of an open-world game is never a simple task, but this was simply not ready for its launch window.

Aren’t you a little buggy for a full-price AAA game?

Star Wars Outlaws is also no slouch when it comes to running on a computer. With minimum specs for 60FPS requiring a 3060Ti/6700XT, don’t expect to get great performance out of a modest build. Thankfully, the game supports DLSS and makes great use of RTX hardware to level the playing field, and with good reason. It’s a beautiful, expressive game world that can quickly get filled with enemies on screen that want your head.

Star Wars Outlaws will push your GPU/CPU to its limits, but with satisfying results.

Expect some stutters in a game with minimal loading screens like Star Wars Outlaws as it goes to a standstill whilst transitioning to large, dense areas. The end result is marvellous scenery, and a true sense of immersion that makes this title the most “Star Wars” Star Wars game ever made, from its sketchy cantinas to its strange aliens you pass on your speeder.

Star Wars Outlaws Review – Story

There is so much Star Wars DNA in Outlaws that it feels more canon than some recent Star Wars shows. Set in-between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the Empire is on-edge after losing its first Death Star and the state of the galaxy is quite dire as the power-struggle between three different mercenary Syndicates is at the forefront of Kay’s plot. Your actions will undoubtedly leave one clan upset, and thus, care must be taken in managing your alliances in each mission.

Every hub in Star Wars Outlaws feels like a sequel movie although little conversations you hear around them boost the immersion greatly.

The three Syndicates at play are The Hutts, The Crimson Dawn, and The Pykes. If you’re on at least decent terms with one, you can freely walk their strongholds, get more reasonable prices at their merchants, and get exclusive contracts. Disapproval leads to distrust, and thus you’ll have to sneak around their bases undetected, get awful prices at their merchants, and they might even shoot on sight. Since each choice could potentially tank your loyalty, keeping an eye on your reputation is a must.

The Reputation system in Star Wars Outlaws is so important that it will absolutely influence your every decision.

Star Wars fans rejoice, as there are plenty of cameos in this game – more than just Lando Calrissian and Jabba The Hutt, as evidenced in the marketing for the title. All the new faces fit right in, too with your first real bounty hunter pal being a Mon Calamari and your best bud being a Rodian just scratch the surface of how faithful the game gets with its source material. Without a doubt, Star Wars Outlaws is, through and through, a definitive Star Wars world.

Star Wars Outlaws Review – Gameplay

If you wanted a Han Solo simulator, good news, that’s the extent of what Star Wars Outlaws embodies. You’ll have to be cunning, sneaky, and strong with a blaster to survive in this game. There’s a serious emphasis on stealth over guns-blazing, as alarms and overwhelming forces can withstand even the best trigger fingers that like to blast through their problems.

Make use of the environment and distract enemies to get to your goal in Star Wars Outlaws.

Good thing you have Nix by your side in your adventures in Star Wars Outlaws. This truly adorable little guy is exceptionally useful in distracting/attacking enemies, reaching impossible places, triggering explosives, and anything else that can give Kay an edge. His AI is programmed quite well, and will respond to your every command instantaneously. Star Wars as a franchise loves to try introducing marketable cute aliens like Porgs and Gungans, but Nix is a true winner.

If you don’t get the jump on the Imps, they’ll eventually land a shot on you – and Kay can only take a few.

It’s too bad, then, that the moment-to-moment combat in Star Wars Outlaws quickly gets dull fast. With only a blaster and grenades, it’s a slog surviving huge firefights trying to track down an alarm to shut off. Stealth is the optimal option, but is also troublesome in the sense that baddies can spot you a mile away and the level design doesn’t offer enough cover to navigate. This results in Kay needing perfect timing around enemy routes and missions taking dozens of minutes whether you perfectly sneak or spend an exorbitant amount of time cutting down enemies.

Flying is a breeze, and a welcome break from the traversal and ground combat.

When you’re not stuck fighting enemies, Star Wars Outlaws is an otherwise-pleasant experience. The rhythm-based hacking, the space dogfighting feeling finetuned, and exploring on a speeder accounted for the time of my playthrough where I was having fun. It’s a shame that this only makes up for a small percentage of that time, as the rest was spent with dodgy stealth, infinite enemies, or making painstaking decisions to appease a Syndicate I didn’t particularly care about.

Star Wars Outlaws Review – Audio

Star Wars Outlaws’ composer is the composer from Helldivers 2. Anyone that’s played that title knows how big of a win that is, but for the uninitiated, you can expect sprawling orchestral masterpieces like the one below:

Aside from a stellar soundtrack, the voice acting is believable and matches each of the many races portrayed in the Star Wars universe. The thrust of your speeder’s turbo, the whizz of picking up a Stormtrooper’s blaster to let a barrage loose, and retaining other miniscule sounds, like the GONK droid, all also make for an authentic Star Wars experience.

Star Wars Outlaws Review – What Else?

Even when I was reviewing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, I knew that it was a “video game in the Star Wars universe”. Star Wars Outlaws truly feels like a “Star Wars video game” which is something that is less derivative, and more transformative. You’d be hard-pressed to find another Star Wars video game that embodies the source material better than Outlaws, flaws and all.

That Star Wars sense of adventure is the best thing Outlaws has going for it.

Star Wars Outlaws Review – Conclusion

It pains me to not easily recommend Star Wars Outlaws, as it’s got so much Star Wars DNA and a competent formula for the most part. If the stealth felt more like being sneaky and less like moving like a snake to avoid sightlines, and the combat rewarded skill in your ability to overcome enemies instead of just spawning more and more, this would be a home run. What’s really here is unpolished, tiresome fighting that makes up most of your gameplay amidst the rest of the pieces of the pie that are strong.

The next great Star Wars game is in a galaxy far, far away…

Anyone that knows the Ubisoft business model knows that this title will hit the bargain bin in a year or two. Hopefully at that time, Star Wars Outlaws will get a little more breathing room for your PC hardware and even some gameplay tweaks to bring in a bigger audience, as it’s already reported that the game is underperforming expectations. For now, unless you’re a masochist, avoid Star Wars Outlaws like Bantha poodoo.

So, why should you play Star Wars Outlaws?

• There’s never been a more immersive Star Wars experience in gaming.
• Lots to do in the typical Ubisoft open world structure.
• Gorgeous sci-fi landscapes that maximize strong graphics cards.

But why shouldn’t you play Star Wars Outlaws?

• Aggravating stealth/combat for those that don’t have the patience of Yoda.
• More buggy than I can put into words, including potential progression-breakers.
• Even with great hardware, graphical hitches are still present.

A review code was kindly provided by Ubisoft for the purpose of our Star Wars Outlaws review.  You can check out our other reviews here and if you haven’t already, be sure to join the Qualbert Discord to find out about the latest game and review updates!