Embracing Galactic Misfits: Unleash Your Inner Outlaw in Star Wars Outlaws

Highlights

Star Wars Outlaws has already showcased 10 minutes of gameplay, exhibiting the developer's confidence in its progress and potential.

The game will provide players with the opportunity to make choices that will change the course of the narrative, enabling them to mold the story and delve into the ethically ambiguous elements of the Star Wars universe.

Outlaws aims to offer unrestricted gameplay, granting players the freedom to participate in activities like deception and pursuit of bounties, thus delivering a revitalizing and captivating experience within the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars Outlaws has already showcased a substantial amount of gameplay, despite not having a confirmed release date and only a general release window of 2024. In contrast, many other games that were announced before or after Outlaws are yet to reveal any footage. Outlaws, on the other hand, was ready to share over 10 minutes of gameplay. It is difficult to predict how Outlaws' development will progress leading up to 2024, but the gameplay reveal indicates that Massive is quite confident in their current progress.

A significant highlight of Outlaws' gameplay reveal is the inclusion of narrative-altering decisions for players. These decisions may or may not lead to multiple endings, but it will be intriguing to see how actions can be influenced or avoided depending on the paths players choose. Thus, it is highly likely that Outlaws will allow players to initially embrace the life of a scoundrel, only to undergo transformative experiences throughout the game that shape their moral compass. However, due to the existence of choices, Massive cannot shy away from granting players the ability to become immoral smugglers who may eventually gain admiration across the galaxy.

Star Wars Has Leaned on the Good Guys for Too Long

The Star Wars franchise has typically focused on the light side of the Force in its main characters, even when Anakin played a secondary role to Obi-Wan in the prequels. This balance between light and dark, good and bad, is a central theme in Star Wars. However, there hasn't been a story that specifically centers around the dark side. This is why the series Andor was so refreshing, as it portrayed morally ambiguous characters in a new way, even without the Force playing a major role.

Andor, the main character, is complex and doesn't fit neatly into any predefined categories, whether he joined the Resistance or not. It's this complexity that is essential for Kay in the series Outlaws. If Kay is written solely as a "good" character, disregarding any questionable decisions, it would feel like a repetitive story that has been told since the beginning of Star Wars.

Star Wars Outlaws Shouldn’t Pull Its Punches with Players’ Nasty Choices

It would be amazing if fans could enact their Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption fantasies within the Star Wars universe, using Outlaws to cheat opponents in Sabacc, track down bounties, mistreat NPCs, and engage in unrestricted role-playing. While the game currently presents players with limited choices and binary options, the inclusion of Outlaws' reputation system could be incredible if it were tied to narrative events where players are pursued by authorities simply for being genuine troublemakers, rather than due to the oppressive nature of the Galactic Empire.

Although it is deeply ingrained in fans' minds that the Empire represents the 'evil' faction in Star Wars, players should have the freedom to cause their own kind of significant chaos, even if their only objective is to steal credits for survival in a hostile world. If players are constrained to join the Resistance or adhere too closely to a lighthearted moral compass, it would fail to satisfy fans' expectations for the thrilling premise that Outlaws promises to deliver.

Star Wars Outlaws releases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.