Once I attended the primary hands-off briefing for Star Wars Outlaws at Summer time Sport Fest 2023, I left Ubisoft’s demo room on a excessive, pondering this could possibly be the piece of media that lastly pulls me into the Star Wars universe. I cherished the concentrate on a solo protagonist, Kay Vess, and her cute merqaal pet, Nix. I adored the truth that builders stated the sport would inform a cohesive, linear story, reasonably than throwing gamers into an unfocused open world and calling it AAA. I used to be desirous to get my palms on it.
Since then, I’ve been lucky sufficient to entry two completely different previews of Star Wars Outlaws, and my preliminary pleasure has been tempered. It’s not utterly extinguished, however the slices that I’ve performed have strengthened a bloaty vibe underpinned by unclear navigation and generic fight. I nonetheless assume Star Wars Outlaws is a fairly sport with fascinating character designs and environments, however I’m now much less hopeful about all the pieces else it’s providing — you recognize, the weather that haven’t been plucked instantly out of the present Star Wars universe.
The sections I’ve performed of Star Wars Outlaws span cosmic dogfights, parkour ranges in metal-lined area stations and navy bases, and stealth missions towards roaming Stormtroopers and interstellar prison factions. I additionally hopped on a speeder and had a good time flying over the dunes of Toshara with Nix on the again of my bike; one factor I’m undoubtedly trying ahead to within the full sport is getting into hovercraft races.
As for the bits I really performed, I might describe the general theme as complicated. I encountered a head-scratching second within the first minutes of my preliminary preview at Summer time Sport Fest 2024 in June: I crawled by way of a busted, rocky base and located myself on the mouth of a cliffside cave, the mountain too steep to climb down and the bottom too distant for a leap of religion. I stood there and looked for a sign of the place to go subsequent, scanning the surroundings backward and forward and prime to backside, however nothing jumped out. So, I jumped.
This was the inaccurate transfer, and I died and reset. After looking the sting of the cave for a couple of extra minutes and second-guessing whether or not I used to be within the correct location, a Ubisoft spokesperson identified a strip of coiled metallic excessive above my head — actually as far up as Kay’s subject of view would go and blended in with the foliage. An not easily seen white label recognized it as an interactable object, however your entire factor was extremely straightforward to overlook. I pushed R3 on the controller and hooked onto it with my grappling gun, feeling extremely dumb. Sadly, this was a repeated expertise (and feeling) all through the preview ranges.
One of many promoting factors of Star Wars Outlaws is its parkour-style mechanics, the place Kay climbs metallic grids, slides alongside shallow ledges by her fingertips and makes use of her grappling hook to swing throughout gaps. Nevertheless, these mechanics are hit-or-miss, draining the circulation from any tried parkour motion. The climbable grids are highlighted in a boring yellow that doesn’t precisely stand out towards rusted metallic partitions, and even when Kay jumps on to them, she typically fails to attach. This occurred to me throughout each previews, in numerous sections of the sport, and the second occasion led me to assume the grid wasn’t really climbable in any respect. I wasted a great chunk of time farting across the affected space earlier than contemplating one other leap to the grid. It labored, however the loop left me pissed off.
I don’t thoughts some enmeshed, not-obvious traversal factors in my video games, however Star Wars Outlaws appears to take this concept too far.
Navigating the environments was additionally weirdly difficult. I received misplaced in a number of areas in my previews, even with a responsive HUD and highlighted goal markers on the display screen the entire time. The little yellow indicator was tough to comply with by way of maze-like settlements crammed with similar-looking stalls, stairwells and hallways, and monitoring aims solely received tougher as soon as blaster fights broke out. I by no means need to surprise the place the hell I’m alleged to be going in the midst of intense fight, however Star Wars Outlaws served up this case a number of occasions.
I loved some sections of the sport simply nice, significantly the ultimate mission that I performed. On the icy planet Kijimi, I snuck right into a protected, two-story ballroom on a mission to steal an object within the heart of the area. Nix is all the time by Kay’s aspect and he could be instructed to gather shinies, flip switches, and distract or assault enemies, and I made him do all of these items throughout this mission. The stealth mechanics in Star Wars Outlaws are easy — crouch to be sneaky — and enemies are typically oblivious until you’re instantly of their line of sight. In rooms with two enemies, it’s finest to ship Nix after one guard whereas silently taking down the opposite, after which end off the attacked, disoriented foe as Nix scurries away. I employed this tactic to nice success, and even as soon as a blaster battle broke out anyway, I had fun lobbing grenades and touchdown headshots on this degree.
My time on Kijimi offers me hope that possibly I simply want a couple of uninterrupted hours with Star Wars Outlaws for the sport to essentially click on. I’m intrigued by its fame system, the place gamers can observe their standing with numerous interstellar prison networks, altering the extent of entry Kay can have with the related areas and characters. Hacking doorways and safes entails a screwdriver and a bit rhythm sport, and the method is satisfying each time. The speeder controls properly and I’m stoked to check out some precise races as soon as I follow a bit extra. House battles are dizzying and completely serviceable. Nix is lovely in each scenario. There’s a lot to stay up for right here, however I can’t neglect the frustration that’s seemingly constructed into the climbing mechanics, grappling hook and nav system.
I’m involved that Star Wars Outlaws has fallen sufferer to traditional AAA bloat, providing a giant universe of mediocre experiences, a few of them half-functional and the remaining missing depth or innovation. Within the sport’s previews, there are hints that that is the case. As all the time although, I’m ready to be stunned.
If I had recommendation for anybody concerned with Star Wars Outlaws — and this nonetheless consists of me, simply barely — it will be this: Lookup. Like manner up.
Star Wars Outlaws will hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 30.
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