If you were worried that Star Wars Outlaws was going to end up being an infinite Ubisoft timesink ala Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the developers at Massive Entertainment want to put you at ease, noting that the experience will be «very manageable».
24.07.2023 - 10:55 / rockpapershotgun.com / Julian Gerighty / Kay Vess / George Lucas
Star Wars Outlaws is the next upcoming game in a galaxy farfaraway, and since it’s a Ubisoft Original (TM), our adventures with the main scoundrel Kay Vess take place in an open world. Outlaw’s newest behind-the-scenes featurette delves deeper into the game’s free roaming planets, both old (Tatooine, of course, because we play as a Han Solo-type) and new (Toshara, which actually looks pretty cool). Find it below.
The two planets shown above are certainly lookers, but creative director Julian Gerighty explains that the game aims to be “virtual tourism” for the iconic galaxy. Gerighty says that when people watch the original trilogy, “you do want to investigate the locations that George Lucas didn’t show on camera,” in an interview with StarWars.com.
“And the virtual tourism in a place like Tatooine is great because I’ve always wondered how far the moisture farms were from Mos Eisley,” continues Gerighty, “I’ve always wondered how the cantina was constructed.” Gerighty says that the game’s version of the recurring desert is a sort of “greatest hits” featuring all the dunes and canyons audiences would expect.
That virtual tourism is “very Ubisoft in a way,” according to Gerighty, nodding to how Assassin’s Creed mines historical locations and whatnot. It’s somewhat amusing that Star Wars is so recognisable, it’s almost akin to another AssCreed era to mess around in.
Star Wars Outlaws isn’t just retreading old sand, though. Both the video above and the interview sheds light on the game’s original planet called Toshara, which aims to capture that Star Wars mix of believable National Geographic nature and weird alien stuff. The team used Tanzania's rocky grass fields as reference and captured audio recordings from the location too. But the alien edge comes in with the huge slabs of crystal, along with the city resting under a huge rock, and of course, the actual aliens.
Anyway, Star Wars Outlaws comes from Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio, best known for The Divisions. It follows rogue Kay Vess and her alien dog Nix, who’s an all-new species created for the game (where have these adorable things been hiding for 40 years?) Kay’s misadventures through the criminal underworld will have us outrunning/out-biking/out-flying the Empire and several space mob bosses, Jabba The Hutt included.
The game is due out in 2024 for PC and consoles. Ubisoft Massive’s other Disney collaboration, Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, is releasing in December.
If you were worried that Star Wars Outlaws was going to end up being an infinite Ubisoft timesink ala Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the developers at Massive Entertainment want to put you at ease, noting that the experience will be «very manageable».
Ubisoft knows its way around compelling open worlds, but Star Wars Outlaws is shaping up to be one of its biggest and most densely detailed yet. As previously announced, each planet in the release will be fully explorable, with enough open space to give you a meaningful sense of adventure. And the French publisher is handcrafting every one: there’s no procedural generation.
Ever wondered what kind of nightmarish, extraterrestrial smoothy you could whip up with the disgusting liquids that barbarian Luke Skywalker was always chugging down? It might not actually taste that bad; as dedicated fans well know, George Lucas had a bad habit of making things sound worse than they actually are (see "Jizz" as an example of this, the specific kind of space-jazz employed by the Max Rebo band).
In a recent interview, developers at Massive outlined the size and scope of Star Wars Outlaws stating that the title is «not a 200 or 300-hour epic unfinishable RPG.»
While Ubisoft’s last few releases have been more miss than hit, the future is slightly better, thanks to titles like Star Wars Outlaws. Developed by Ubisoft Massive of The Division fame, it’s an open-world third-person shooter starring Kay Vess, who pursues the scoundrel lifestyle across numerous planets.
Despite its open world, Star Wars Outlaws won't be a «300 hour epic unfinishable RPG». Phew.
If you’re a fan of the Star Wars franchise, then you might understand that there is a dark underbelly in the galaxy. Most might instantly think of the Jedi and Sith as being the focal point. But those that are not Force-sensitive have other areas to worry about. We know that there are a few criminal syndicates that thrive in this galaxy, with the Hutt Clan being one of the more notoriously known. However, if you dig deeper into the franchise, you might come across other notable crime syndicates citizens are fighting back against or aligning with. You’ll find that these criminal syndicates will play a big role in Star Wars Outlaws.
Coming up with a Star Wars game is harder than you might imagine. There’s a lot to be mindful of regarding keeping things canon. You certainly don’t want to write against what a movie, film, novel, or comic book has already established. So we imagine the efforts to deliver the Star Wars Outlaws game were challenging and rewarding for the team. Fortunately, we can go into this game knowing that the developers took quite a bit of time ensuring that it remains authentic to the franchise.
One of the reasons that Star Wars Outlaws intrigued gamers from the moment it was revealed was that, on the surface, it looked like no other game set in the galaxy far, far away that we had seen before. Primarily, games from this galaxy focus on the Jedi/Sith or are based on the movies that have come out. Oh, or are LEGO versions of those films. Just saying. This game from Ubisoft is in a much different position because it focuses on the smuggler Kay Vess, who is trying to obtain her freedom and start a new life for herself.
Star Wars Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty says the upcoming open-world game won't follow in the footsteps of modern Assassin's Creed titles as a "200 or 300-hour epic unfinishable RPG."
Since the last three Assassin's Creed games are gigantic RPGs with equally as expansive maps, there's understandable anxiety when Ubisoft announces a new RPG--will it be an unfathomable time sink of hundreds of hours? With Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft says no.
Ubisoft has addressed some worries about Star Wars Outlaws’ playtime.