Star Wars Outlaws will no longer punish you with forced stealth sections

Star Wars Outlaws‘ next update is set to bring much-requested changes to the struggling game, which Ubisoft said has underperformed since its August launch.

The company and developer Massive Entertainment announced everything included in Title Update 1.4, which was sent out to PC and consoles on Thursday and is set to address some of players’ biggest gripes with the open-world RPG.

“What we’ve learned from you is that what we needed to focus on was choice, the ability to choose how to play and with what tools. But also deeper, more engaging combat and more fair stealth,” game director Fredrik Thylander said in a video.

Previously, there were areas, like Syndicate districts, where you were forced to use stealth. This goes against the standards set by other Ubisoft open-world games, especially in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Now, you can choose how you approach combat in these areas — either with stealth or aggressively with your blaster. And if you want to use your blaster, enemies now have visual weak points that, if hit, can trigger explosions or other spectacular deaths. Aiming down sights and firing from the hip are both now viable options for blaster fights, with improved accuracy and other improvements.

Stealth itself has also gotten some tweaks. At launch, players realized stealth sections could be challenging even on lower difficulties, with one mistake booting you back to the previous checkpoint. This was especially frustrating considering the aforementioned forced stealth. Massive has improved detection so that players will now know if they’re being detected, allowing them to adjust as they go like in other stealth games.

“Restrictions like ‘Do not raise the alarm’ or ‘Do not get caught’ in quests were forcing players into stealthy playstyles, limiting the ability to choose whether to use combat or not. As a result, some quests could feel frustrating or unfair,” new creative director Drew Rechner said in a developer update.

In general, a lot of the big changes in 1.4 involve combat, which was one of the game’s biggest sticking points. However, there are some quality-of-life changes that can help you navigate alongside combat. For example, players can now hold two-handed weapons while climbing or using grappling hooks so that they won’t be dropped outright. Enemy AI has also been tuned for better decision-making.

You can check out the full patch notes for other details, like how Ubisoft improved visuals and even added a toggle that lets you turn off cinematic visuals in favor of more crisp ones.

The update also coincides with other updates from its road map, including the release of the first story pack, called Wild Card, which has Kay team up with Lando Calrissian in a high-stakes Sabacc game. Star Wars Outlaws was also released on Steam on Thursday.