Star Wars Outlaws feels like Ubisoft’s own Red Dead Redemption

There was plenty to see and do during the four hours I spent with Star Wars Outlaws at a recent preview event. The universe was at my fingertips, but my adventure was at its best when I could simply vibe. My most memorable moment came when walking into a dingy bar on Kijimi from The Rise of Skywalker and playing several rounds of Sabacc, only to walk back to my ship and find some loot to smuggle. It’s such moments that sell the smuggler fantasy that Ubisoft is touting as the first open-world Star Wars video game.

Behind all of this, players have to balance their relationships with the five different Syndicates that rule the underworld of the Star Wars galaxy. While I still have questions about how this system will play out in the long term, as well as plenty of nitpicks, the relationship management adds to the sandbox feel of Ubisoft’s sci-fi adventure. At its highest points, it feels like Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment is using Star Wars Outlaws to deliver a sci-fi answer to Red Dead Redemption.

Attention to detail

My lengthy Star Wars Outlaws preview began on Toshara, a new planet created by Ubisoft that was the first section of the game that opened up to players. It’s here where I met the Pyke, Crimson Dawn, and Hutt syndicates and began forming relationships with each as Kay Vess. For the most part, doing so came through missions that had me exploring Toshara’s open world on a speeder bike.

As an open world, Toshara does seem a little barren, though, with only the occasional building or outpost scattered across a mostly empty field. Things got much more lively once Kay reached Mirogana. While Ubisoft games can vary in quality, they consistently nail excellent world design thanks to fantastic attention to detail. Mirogana gives off the feeling I want from a dingy, crime-ridden city on a backwater planet.

While Stormtroopers are walking around and the Empire is feigning control, it quickly becomes clear that the Pykes are in charge. The city is full of vendors (some of whom are being shaken down for bribes), games of Sabacc with high buy-in rates, and a cantina, as well ase agents from every Syndicate, who recruit and do their dirty work. There’s even an arcade minigame inspired by Atari’s Star Wars arcade classic. These little touches demonstrate genuine love and passion for the franchise. I imagine that a lot of my playtime will be spent looking for those little details and minigames that add flavor to this massive Star Wars world.

It’s refreshing to see a Star Wars story that — at least for now — doesn’t tie back into the rebellion and instead focuses on a grimier part of the universe. Humberly Gonzalez delivers a great performance as Kay Vess, intentionally portraying her with a mix of confidence and naivete to the universe. That’s a combination seen in some of the best Star Wars protagonists, from Luke Skywalker to Anakin Skywalker.

Dealing with the Syndicates

There’s a fairly linear story path for players to follow, but there’s also room to craft more personal, emergent stories within the game’s sandbox. Some of that comes from completing challenges in the world to obtain new abilities, but it mostly comes through gameplay and players’ ever-changing relationships with each Syndicate. In practice, Star Wars Outlaws feels like a Star Wars-themed riff on the original Red Dead Redemption.

Swap the horses for speeder bikes and bullets for lasers, and some similarities emerge. There’s a Dead Eye-like system during combat and a wanted system if you run afoul of the Empire. I never did the latter during my playtime, but another journalist I talked to mentioned being on the run from the Empire at one point after they accidentally hit a Stormtrooper with their speeder bike. More relevant to a lot of the game is whether or not Kay is feuding or friendly with one of the Syndicates.

It’s not as detailed as something like the Nemesis system from Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, but Kay’s actions influence her standing with each of the five factions: the Pykes, Crimson Dawn, the Hutt Cartel, the Ashiga Clan, and Zerek Besh. Help one of them out on a story mission and get a big bonus. Kill a lot of their guys or make narrative choices to screw them over, and they’ll start to hate you.

If you have a good standing with a Syndicate, you can freely waltz into their territory on planets like Toshara and get discounts from their vendors. Anger one, and they’ll shoot Kay Vess on sight and send bounty hunters after her. By the end of my playtime on Toshara, I’d experienced the latter. I had decided to work with Crimson Dawn rather than the Pykes. That meant I killed many of their mercenaries, snuck into and stole a lot from their territory, and even exposed the Pykes’ criminal acts to the Empire during a story mission that saw Kay sneak onto an Imperial starship.

When I finished the last mission of the demo, I got an angry call from the leader of the Pykes on Toshara and learned that he was sending bounty hunters after me. If I had to continue playing the game after this, I’d be looking over my shoulder constantly until I improved my relationships with the Pykes, likely at the cost of my standing with another Syndicate. This meta-game within Star Wars Outlaws is shaping up to be the most compelling part of an otherwise straightforward open-world sandbox.

Best as a sandbox

The second part of my demo took place on Kijimi, as I had to convince the hivemind Ashiga Clan that operates there to work with Kay. Before this, I had a great time navigating Kay’s starship through the thick clouds of gas and around the planet’s rocky debris. Dogfights are simpler than those in Star Wars Squadrons, but feel more satisfying than Starfield‘s space combat. After landing on the planet, I stole an item from Crimson Dawn to gain favor with the Ahsiga clan.

I had to go into Crimson Dawn territory to do this, and unfortunately, my favor with them was reset to neutral for this part of the demo. I had to sneak in, but I would instantly fail when a Crimson Dawn member spotted me. A similar thing happened when I was sneaking around the Imperial Starship in the previous part of the demo. It feels restrictive, and considering there’s little punishment for being caught, it just ends up making Star Wars Outlaws‘ stealth gameplay feel underbaked.

I’m very worried about stealth and overall restrictive gameplay in story missions being a significant issue in the full game, as there are a lot of areas where this happens. Thankfully, after I recovered the artifact, I could continue exploring Kijimi and its side activities at my leisure. This planet was my favorite part of The Rise of Skywalker, and I love seeing it realized in such intricate detail. I rounded out my demo by playing upwards of 30 minutes of Sabacc, which is a fully playable minigame here.

Like Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Star Wars Outlaws is at its best when players are free to explore and immerse themselves in the world and gameplay systems. I enjoyed playing a match of Sabacc in a cantina more than sneaking through an Imperial starship for a story mission. Gameplay takes a turn when it becomes more restrictive for the sake of narrative or the Syndicate relationship system.

From the four hours of Star Wars Outlaws I played, I found more of the former than the latter. If the Star Wars smuggler fantasy and open-world mechanics appeal to you, Star Wars Outlaws looks as though it delivers that swimmingly. But if you’re planning to mainline the story and not play around with the Syndicate system, you may be in for a very different experience.

Star Wars Outlaws launches for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on August 30.