The best decision Star Wars Outlaws made was getting as far away from the films as possible. Yes, the game does take place within the original trilogy timeline—specifically between episodes 4 and 5 —however, there is nary a mention of the Force, Jedi, Sith, or even lightsaber. What ties the game does have to the films are natural and never presented as fanservice or an appeal to your nostalgia . While Outlaws does play it safe in terms of its main character and main plot, it is nonetheless refreshing to experience a side of this universe only teased in other media. And this setting isn’t just a coat of paint on your run-of-the-mill Ubisoft open-world game, either. All the parts are there, but tweaked and contextualized just enough to fit the narrative that it doesn’t feel like yet another massive RPG bloated with busy work.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who had fallen off of both Ubisoft games and Star Wars many years ago, I’m honestly impressed with how Outlaws won me over. For every low point or flaw, there was something else unique or standout that alleviated it. Barring a few minor bugs and glitches and a concerning opening few hours, I can easily recommend Star Wars Outlaws to anyone who has fallen out of love with either Ubisoft or Star Wars in the past decade.

Price, availability, and specs

Star Wars Outlaws is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The Standard edition costs $70, the Gold edition $110, and the Ultimate edition $130. It is an open-world third-person shooter in the Star Wars universe featuring a new character named Kay Vess navigating the criminal underworld of the galaxy.

What I liked about Star Wars Outlaws

Bucking tradition

Despite being both a Star Wars and open-world game, Outlaws pulls off the impressive feat of feeling fresh in both regards. You will still have your blasters, Stormtroopers, map markers, and side quests, but given just enough distance from what you expect from those things to make it feel worth investing in this story.

I found the main story to do its job of giving you believable enough reasons to travel to all these worlds for the most part, but it was the characters and syndicate systems that got me hooked. ND-5, the droid companion shown off in the marketing materials, is the latest in a long line of droids that have stolen the spotlight in Star Wars media. His straight-man attitude and the bit of friction he has with Kay’s naivety was when Outlaws really started to click for me.

If you were fearing Outlaws would be a repeat of the recent Assassin’s Creed games where your map would be a minefield of markers, it both is and isn’t. There are tons of things to do and find, but they are doled out at a more reasonable pace and reveal themselves in a mostly organic way. You might overhear two criminals talking about where they hid their stash, get a tip from a bartender, or offer to help out a merchant. Most can be ignored, but they all had context and a tangible reward such as improving your reputation with a specific syndicate.

Balancing your relationship with the different syndicates posed some of the most interesting dilemmas in Outlaws. Was I willing to risk harming my reputation with one syndicate to raise it with another in order to more easily complete my current goal? These choices—both in what you do and what you say—impacts more than just a bar on some menu. Entire areas of some maps will become hostile with a low enough reputation while raising it up unlocks exclusive gear from vendors.

Likewise, this isn’t an RPG where you’re grinding out XP that you mysteriously turn into new skills or buffed stats. Outlaws once again shines in its commitment to engrossing you in the world by tying your progression to people and equipment. Unlocking new skills is a two-step process that begins with finding an expert who can teach you skills in a certain area, followed by you performing a set of actions or challenges to unlock one of several skills. It feels like a slightly more involved version of the skill system from a game like Skyrim where you get better with a weapon by using it, only Outlaws adds a small meta-game that asks you to experiment with the game’s mechanics in ways you might otherwise not have.

Combat also has a slow start, but even from the offset your blaster feels and sounds like a proper weapon. Once you get some upgrades and learn to involve Nix in the flow you can start to manipulate the systems in some exhilarating ways. And Kay’s fragile nature encourages you to rely more on cunning than brutality.

What I didn’t like about Star Wars Outlaws

Slow opening and some clunky combat

Kay didn’t make a very good first impression on me. Despite supposedly being raised doing underhanded work, she acted so naive that I had no sympathy for her when she instantly trusted a stranger only for them to betray her in a matter of hours on more than one occasion. There’s also the fact that, before building her crew, Kay’s solo banter left a lot to be desired. If you’re tired of quips like “I think that went pretty well, right?” after a massive firefight, you won’t find much reprieve until you start building your actual crew for Kay to bounce lines off of.

Building that crew is the main thrust of the narrative, which follows the exact format you have in your head: you get a list of specialists you need to recruit to pull off the big job, track them down, and end up helping them out of some more pressing predicament before they join you. The story isn’t without some good twists, but mostly plays things on the safe side.

While outright combat is fun and punchy, stealth can be hit-or-miss. You’re often required to remain in stealth, but the mechanics and tools aren’t as tight as they need to be. You will often find yourself working your way through a location only to come across a roadblock where there’s simply no way to sneak by unnoticed, even with Nix’s help. Outlaws is normally fantastic with offering you multiple paths and options to get the job done, but these forced stealth areas feel more trial-and-error than anything else.

Verdict: Should you buy Star Wars Outlaws?

As disenchanted as I was with both the source material and general output of publisher Ubisoft, Developer Massive has convinced me that there is still magic to be found in a galaxy far, far away. By unleashing itself from the restrictive canon and need to reference the core trilogy at every turn, Outlaws is afforded the freedom to tell a story at a more relatable scale. Combat pulls its weight thanks to the solid feel of your main blaster, and each additional layer you add on top opens up more ways to turn each encounter into a sandbox. You may just have to suffer through a few early stealth sections before you get there.

Kay’s quips won’t be for everyone, and there are more than a few moments you will need to suspend your disbelief, but taken as a whole, you’ll find a lot to love joining this crew.