With the exclusivity EA had over the Star Wars licence expired, it felt like the door was now open for plenty of new experiences within the galaxy far, far away. With Star Wars Outlaws, from Massive Entertainment, that has come true. An open world adventure where stealth is the best policy in a dangerous galaxy. A galaxy that Kay Vess has to survive by working with the most prolific crime syndicates.

A small-time thief from Canto Bight, Kay dreams of leaving to make a name for herself. Seeing other worlds. What should have been a simple job of sneaking into a club to grab an identicard then making for the spaceport turns into a fight for survival. Made even worse when her refuge at the Broken Hoof bar is compromised. Its owner, Bram Shano, provides her a job that should see her away from the city.

Canto Bight serves as the tutorial area, first introducing scavenging for credits by picking up things to sell. Then gaining intel that can be used to talk people into moving. And finally the stealth-based gameplay for moving around undetected and the louder side of things for things go awry. Stealth works for most situations, with some sections not allowing you to get caught at all. That resets back to the checkpoint to begin again.

Stealthing around provides some tense gameplay, where observing the area helps to define paths through them. Especially when there’s multiple options. Nix, Kay’s small quadrupedal friend, helps a lot with the stealth. Distracting enemies, pushing buttons out of reach, and even attacking enemies to allow Kay to get a takedown on them. Nix even provides the sonar-like ability to highlight nearby enemies and interactive objects.

Sometimes, a bit of slicing is required to progress. Door panels and computers have different minigames to complete for a successful slice. For doors, it’s rhythm-based. A pulse of a few beats keeps repeating. Match it in time to the lights and the door is open. For computers, it’s a game of Mastermind. Numerous symbols are presented, with each guess being followed by which are right or wrong, or right but not positioned correctly. Of the two, I much prefer Mastermind, but that’s just me not gelling with the beat.

That big job for Kay to pull off as part of a crew brings her into contact with Sliro, leader of the syndicate Zerek Besh. While that crew left her for Sliro, having rescued one of their own Rebel Alliance members, Kay now faces a manhunt within the confines of the mansion. And a death mark put on her having escaped with the Trailblazer. Sliro’s personal freighter. Which gets damaged during her flight and hyperspace jump to Toshara.

This is the point where Star Wars Outlaws starts introducing all the open world elements it holds. Main missions to follow, side missions to complete, contracts from the various syndicates to accept. Betting on the fathier races, playing some hands of Kessel Sabacc, various collectables to hunt down. And it’s also the point where the reputation system is introduced.

The Pykes are the main syndicate of Toshara, here under the leadership of Gorak. The first meeting with him doesn’t go so well, but a meeting with Danka – an information broker who frequents the cantina where Gorak has his suite, puts Kay onto a way to get in his good books. And this is an effective way to show off the benefits of a good reputation with a syndicate.

Syndicates control some areas of planets, usually where they have bases. A good reputations allows free access to these. Since the starting reputation is poor, stealth is needed to sneak into the Pykes’ base in the city of Mirogana to collect some intel that will be of interest to Gorak. The first major of choice of the game is present here. What to do? Save the information to deliver directly to Gorak, or turn it over to the Crimson Dawn contact along with the information they wanted Kay to collect?

As I say, the Pykes are the major syndicate of Toshara, so I went on to tell Gorak personally of what I’d learned. A reputation increase with the Pykes followed this, allowing me to freely walk the area I’d previously had to sneak around. Though there are still things a syndicate won’t tolerate if they spot you, such as picking up materials or slicing into computers. And you also have to be careful not to accidentally press the takedown button when near someone. That definitely won’t help your reputation.

I spent quite some time after this just exploring Toshara. Discovering all I could about this planet and messing around in photo mode. There were some places I couldn’t yet reach, and others that felt important. There were other controlled areas outside of the city, including by the Empire. Who I definitely didn’t want to mess with, as I discovered when a mission had me tangle with them.

Experts are those who will provide new upgrades and abilities to use. Bram Shano is one of those experts, starting Kay off with two abilities to start with. Several other experts exist who Kay will meet across her adventures, with each introductory mission providing the first of those abilities upon completion. For the rest, tasks and materials provide access. Since these provide an advantage to Kay, it is worth tracking down what they need.

At a certain point in the story, space is visited. Since the Trailblazer still has a damaged hyperdrive, initial excursions are only to the facilities close by. Space flight is simple enough, as is combat. There’s plenty to find out in space, and it looks just as great as the landscape of Toshara. Should the Imperials be hunting you, a quick stop by a communication relay can end that. Not so lucky on the ground, however.

The Empire cannot be favoured. You have no reputation with them. As such, escape is your only option for when wanted by them. Break out of sight, and eventually they will fall back. For the crime syndicates, it’s a different story. Have a terrible reputation with them, which I eventually did from snubbing Crimson Dawn too much, and they will sporadically send a hunting team after you. Only by increasing reputation with them will those hunts stop.

Eventually, the missions on Toshara end with the hyperdrive being fixed and a choice of where to head next. Akiva, Kijimi, or Tatooine. Gaining the hyperdrive now means Star Wars Outlaws is fully open for exploration, which provides plenty of enjoyment for me. And more opportunities to use the photo mode, which has a bit of depth to it that I have yet to touch.

There’s a great amount of fun to be had with Star Wars Outlaws, even if might appear to be a slow start. It works, in my eyes. Something else that also works is how Kay seems a bit out of her depth. The voice work with the slight hesitations and drawn out words, the mannerisms that try to be casual but show the fear hiding underneath. It great to see in action.

There are a few issues I’ve noted, but most seem of little consequence. Stuff like being hit by a slow moving speeder and being knocked to the floor as though someone’s pushed you to the ground. Also doesn’t help that such will make you lose a unit of health, thus making you consider whether a stim vial needs to be used to recover it. The same can also be said for drops you’d think would be survivable. Especially when larger drops didn’t reduce health.

For Star Wars fans who want to explore the galaxy during the period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is a great game for doing so. It really makes you feel the lived in world the original trilogy of films presented. For that alone I can give it an easy recommendation. Even non-fans are likely to enjoy just how much details there is to these worlds.

Images Taken From:
Star Wars Outlaws | Xbox Series S