Star Wars Outlaws Review

September 10, 2024 Pendragon

With thanks to the folks at Ubisoft, I’ve been spending some time in a galaxy far, far away for my Star Wars Outlaws review. I’ve been lucky enough to play on PC and Xbox Series consoles, and this review will cover both platforms.

As ever, I’ve included my common-sense parent’s guide, covering age ratings and in-game content. So if you’re looking to find out if Star Wars Outlaws is good, or if it’s safe for kids, read or watch on, below.

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The Basics – What is Star Wars Outlaws About?

Available on: PC (Ubisoft Connect, Ubisoft+), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
Price: c£60-£115
Type: Open-world Sneaky Star Wars Subterfuge
Download: 54GB (PC)

In Star Wars Outlaws players will take on the role of Kay Vess. As an up and coming scoundrel living in the city of Canto Bight, you’re looking to get off world and find your place in the galaxy. Kay is supported by the incredibly cute Nix, a familiar who will help you to steal items, open doors and many other helpful actions along the way.

You’ll follow a story which leads through Imperial turmoil, as well as local politics with factions where Kay can gain and lose reputation. This has a direct impact on gameplay as well, meaning players may have to sneak through areas where they have poor reputation, in order to achieve mission objectives.

Nix provides incredible support throughout the game.

Outlaws has a solid main quest, as well as a significant number of side quests, objectives and mini games. You can pick up side quests as well as other bits of information by speaking to or overhearing citizens as you wander around cities and rural buildings. This could set you off on a new mission, or could be a good tip to winning some cash betting on the Canto Cup races.

Players will walk, run and platform their way around cities. Getting to new areas using pretty solid climbing and sneak mechanics, leveraging local ventilation systems and a neat if fiddly hacking tool. Outside cities you can use a speeder to get around on the ground, as well as (eventually) fly the Trailblazer star ship and take part in extra-planetary exploration and combat.

Players can upgrade the stats for the blaster pistol, speeder bike and Trailblazer, by collecting resources around town and visiting mechanics. In addition, local experts will help to buff Kay’s abilities by completing objectives, to help in multiple areas.

The speeder bike upgrades can help you get around the place much faster

How does Star Wars Outlaws Play on Console?

I’ve been playing Star Wars Outlaws on my PC (Ryzen 5, RTX 3060) as well as Xbox Series X console. I’ve found things have been really well optimised here, in terms of controls, visuals and overall performance. In fact it might just be the case that the Xbox is my preferred platform, with decent visual optimisation and inclusion of a performance and fidelity option.

Loading times have also been decent on console, and after initial loading (and, of course, the “not a loading screen” loading screen while moving between planet and space flight) things have been really smooth. Overall, I’ve been very happy with Xbox performance and while this does mean that it suffers from the same visual niggles that I have on PC, it’s a decent experience that runs well.

Is Star Wars Outlaws Safe for Children?

Rating: Mostly Harmless.

Star Wars Outlaws is rated by PEGI at 12 and above, and by the ESRB at T for Teen. Obviously there’s a fair amount of violence in Outlaws, but when you get down to it, it’s mostly punches and lasers and doesn’t come with anything gory.

There is some simulated gambling in the game which might not be for everybody, but can be avoided for the most part. Overall it’s one which I’m happy for our 10 year old micro-bandit to play, and it’s one which I am rating as mostly harmless, but not entirely family friendly.

While there is combat in Outlaws, players will need to sneak a lot to get through restricted areas

The Run Down – My Five-Point Rating for Star Wars Outlaws

Gameplay – 4: I really enjoy the variety on offer in Star Wars Outlaws. General platforming mechanics are decent and while it’s not for everybody I really enjoy the stealth gameplay. There are some elements such as cloud saves which are non-functional currently, but the core mechanics are solid and have obviously been well considered.

Visuals – 3: While visuals are beautiful a lot of the time, I’ve found there are also a good few rough edges here. It’s been harder than usual to get a decent picture in photo mode, which is a shame as the environments have had a huge amount of effort to make the game feel as Star Wars as possible. Animations have also been a bit of a let down and sometimes feel a little other worldly which is a shame. Luckily this doesn’t get in the way of gameplay, but could have had a little extra polish to smooth things off.

Audio – 5: The voice acting is superb and the game’s soundtrack and effects have been really well implemented. It all adds together to just feel like you’re playing in a Star Wars film, and there are a lot of familiar sounds for nerds like me to geek out on.

Narrative – 4: I’ve really enjoyed Kay Vess’ story, and she stands out as one of my favourite protagonists. It’s easy to lose track of the narrative due to a significant number of side quests and activities, but Kay’s story is a fitting inclusion in the universe.

Replay – 5: There’s a huge number of things you can do here, keeping the gameplay fresh around the slower sneaking sections. Sabbac is great fun to play, and I’ve spent more than my fair share of time betting on the Canto Cup. There are loads of treasure troves to find as well, and a lot for completionists to tick off

Visuals do have their rough edges, but this is balanced out by some stunning Star Wars environments.

The Verdict – Is Star Wars Outlaws Worth It?

Pixel Bandits Force Level for Star Wars Outlaws is a good 8 / 10. The slow and stealthy gameplay may not work for everybody, but it has certainly ticked all of my boxes. While visuals feel a little rough at times, the underlying game mechanics and action work really well, with a lot of nice touches.

While it’s decent as a game, it’s also incredibly faithful to the Star Wars franchise as a whole. The characters, story and locations all just feel incredibly fitting, and the team’s work with Lucasfilm is readily apparent throughout. In addition to familiar locations such as Tattooine and Canto, every element of the game just drips with Star Wars nostalgia.

There are definitely some rough edges which could do with a little polish, but if you are a star wars fan and don’t mind mixing stealth sections into your blaster fire, I definitely think you should take a look here. It’s definitely not perfect, but there’s a lot to love here, and an opportunity to get lost in the Star Wars universe for countless hours.

As ever, to provide my review and common-sense parent’s guide, I received free copies of Star Wars Outlaws from the folks at Ubisoft.