While most Star Wars games put Jedi in the spotlight, Outlaws does something quite bold and different.

With Han Solo being one of the most beloved characters in all the series and his tactics being somewhat unorthodox and questionable, there’s definitely a market for the loveable rogue in this space. And that’s where Star Wars Outlaws really opens a door.

We’re not on a journey with Kal Cestis here, trying to find his power and identity again, but we’re playing Kay Vess, a down on her luck smuggler who is looking for a big break. She finds herself between three major powers within the wider Criminal Network – The Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn and the Hutt Cartel – and it’s up to her to build up a reputation.

So what we’re dealing with here is less lightsabers, more breaking and entering, sneaking and stealing. It’s certainly a very different way to approach a Star Wars game and as such there’s a little bit of adjustment setting you might need to do in order to get into the groove with the game.

In fact, I found my first few hours with Outlaws quite hard going. The combat definitely took some getting used to with my meek pistol fire and limited health bar. There was also quite a bit more stealth than expected – almost to Splinter Cell levels at times – and the level-up/ability system also does things its own way.

Not to mention Outlaws doesn’t really see its story get going right away, you’ll actually find yourself doing several side missions before really opening up the game proper as these are essentially an extension of the central arc itself while also trying to teach you core elements of the game.

And you can’t just wander where you want either, depending on your reputation with each of the networks, you might find yourself stumbling into hostile territory or you can only go so far inside a secluded area as the rest is off limits.

Star Wars Outlaws requires some rewiring of your expectations. Not necessarily good or bad, as some things the game does really well, some things not so well. It can still frustrate you hours in when you’re trying to reach your objective marker or when you’re forced into numerous restarts because you got spotted or overwhelmed by attacking numbers. But when you get into the rhythm, the whole thing can actually feel quite satisfying and engaging.

As mentioned, the game also has an unusal approach to gaining new abilities. Essentially, you meet a number of experts in the game who can teach you distinct abilities. Some you unlock right away, such as lock picking – another thing I’ll get onto in a minute – and others you have to perform certain actions and meet certain conditions in order to gain. Like defeating enemies with a distraction or finding certain raw materials.

It’s quite a clever way to do it, as usually you just defeat enemy, gain XP and you can choose to unlock a new skill in a talent tree. Here, you have to almost learn how to play the game and make use of all of its tricks in order to fully explore the wider potential.

Of course, some of these actions are easier said than done and in the heat of the moment, you can quite quickly find yourself overwhelmed by Storm Trooper blasts or Hutt henchmen. Which is where the stealth portion of the game really comes into play, forcing you to pay more attention to enemy walk patterns and use your equipment carefully and in a considered way in order to perform takedowns and stash bodies.

There’s even a unique lockpicking game which also requires some patience and understanding to get right. You are essentially unlocking a door in time to a beat, waiting to hit the right sweet spot when your pad vibrates and sometimes having to repeat this several different times in order to unlock a door. For those who struggle with timing, it definitely takes a moment to get used to.

The meat of Star Wars Outlaws is the mission variety, though. Yes, there’s a central story to follow here – and as mentioned this takes quite a while to open up – but you also gain access to a wealth of optional side missions. These can be gathered by contracts from leading figures in the Criminal Network, some you meet in the story, some outside. You can also gather these from boards, datapads left lying around and perhaps more authentically, by leaning in at the bar or against a pillar and overhearing conversations.

This is sort of where Outlaws really comes into its own. It feels distinctly smuggler like when you overhear rival factions discuss ways they’re going to take you down when you’ve wronged them on a previous mission, or you happen to catch people talking about overthrowing a leader, or gain information about someone working under cover. That information is valuable to someone, somewhere in the game and it’s up to you to find those people and curry more favour.

Because ultimately what you want to do here is play the factions off against each other, making you less of a target and finding a path to as much neutrality as you can so you can walk a bit more freely and easily. But every action does have a consequence and inevitably someone you’ve been buds with from the start may end up being your arch enemy by the end. Regardless, that’s the fun part of Outlaws, different players are going to have different playthroughs.

And, of course, each Network has their own set of unique rewards. So if you’re in good with the Pyke Syndicate, for example, this gives you better deals with merchants and more opportunities, but you also unlock new jobs as well and even get some welcome gifts. Further depending on your standing also gives you some fun items, like blaster coatings, ways to upgrade your ship.

Plus, if you somehow max reputation with a faction, you can actually gain disguise gear that also increases your stats and can actually make you more effective in battle. So there’s definitely some benefits and merit in maxing out a reputation with a faction, even if the inevitable, direct consequence of that is you find yourself in terrible standing with another.

And ways it can go bad with you for someone else is getting hits out on you, you get awful deals with their merchants and even getting shot on sight if you stand too close to camp. Star Wars Outlaws is definitely all about balance.

But as Ubisoft say, this is an open world game and that is true to a degree, for sure. You do travel between planets and can choose when you visit / and how often. There’s also some space travel here, so that includes combat, but also means seeking out hidden areas and landing in drop zones where there might be debris or other things to find. However, to get to that point, you do need to have completed a sizeable chunk of the game.

This is where I keep coming back to Star Wars Outlaws requires some expectation adjustment. You won’t just get to hop in your spacecraft right out of the gate and bounce between planets. You need to invest quite a bit of time to get there and unfortunately the game’s approach to combat, stealth and missions is not going to be for everyone and could put you off before you do get there.

Relying entirely on blaster fire and constantly having to reload means you have to be careful with your shots and also keep a close eye on cover. Enemies will loop around you and try to attack you from behind as well, and then if an alarm is triggered, you’re probably going to be dealing with reinforcements. Who will also chase you if you try to flee the scene.

Star Wars Outlaws is pretty brutal in its opening moments. Ubisoft feel like they’ve gone out of their way to make Kay a character that is vulnerable and feels like a second, maybe even third tier character. She’s no Leia or Rey, she can die pretty quickly and isn’t able to deal with huge numbers of enemies. If you keep standing and fighting, you’re going to lose eventually. So you do have to get creative with the environment and rely a little bit on luck to get you out of a tight spot.

I like that. Too often, Star Wars games have made us feel overpowered and in control of the situation. From Dark Forces to Force Unleashed, even the LEGO games, it’s almost not a challenge at times as I can press the win button and use my force powers to send someone careering into the sun. Kay and Nix aren’t so fortunate and will need to hop on their speeder to get out of a bad spot. They will need to hide and wait out enemies that are hunting for them.

This is why I think Star Wars Outlaws will always be remembered in two very different ways, it won’t be for everyone and it will definitely frustrate you hours in. But I also really came to love what it offered and the way it tried to do something different. Though I probably wouldn’t have buried the best parts of the game so far in.

Verdict

Star Wars Outlaws is one of the most bold Star Wars games I’ve seen in years. It’s not perfect, and definitely punishes the player who doesn’t take the time to learn its systems. It also buries a lot of the open world content deeper into the game, meaning you really have to invest time to get the most out of it. And with the strong focus on stealth and combat, there’s a degree of patience required. But once you really get into a rhythm and get into the mindset of the game, there’s a lot of fun, enjoyment and excitement to be had here that offers something really different to the Jedi-led games we’ve been playing over the years. Especially when trying to balance the factions and their requirements.

Pros

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Star Wars Outlaws is out now on PC, PS, and Xbox

Played on PlayStation 5

Code Kindly Provided by Ubisoft for review purposes