Are we in a golden patch for Star Wars games? It certainly feels like that could become the case, as Disney has sought to spread the franchise out from just films and animated shows to encompass a myriad of TV spin-offs, lesser told stories and video games. Star War Outlaws looks set to smash the epic space opera setting together with all things Ubisoft when it comes out in 2024.
It’s hard to believe, but Star Wars Outlaws looks like it will actually bring to fruition that dream Star Wars game that has so often ended up stuck in development hell or been cancelled unceremoniously. From Star Wars 1313 to Project Ragtag, there’s often been that vision of a more open setting with a Han Solo-esque lead, or at least a more morally ambiguous one as you delve into the seedier parts of the universe. Oh, and you can keep your lightsabers holstered for this kind of adventure, please.
Set between the events of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, you’ll play as outlaw Kay Vess who’s trying to pull off one of the biggest heists ever in the Outer Rim. That journey will take you across several planets that obviously includes Tatooine, but also has less familiar settings and brand new ones, like the moon of Toshara.
This sounds like an absolutely massive undertaking, so who better to take it on that Massive Entertainment, eh? While they’re still best known for The Division and its sequel, the Swedish studio has established themselves within Ubisoft as a leading creative force to rival Ubisoft Montreal. They’ve just wrapped up and released Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, for example, which could easily have just been a blue Far Cry, but ended up feeling like much, much more than that, thanks to how faithfully and creatively they adapted that film series’ setting and visual style.
The grimy, lived in sci-fi of Star Wars is much simpler and more familiar to adapt. From the gameplay reveal, it’s being applied to a concoction of gameplay ideas, ranging from punchy The Division-style cover shooting, to exploring and racing through the open world on speeders, dogfighting in space, dialogue options, and more.
Again, it all looks and sounds like a Star Wars game fever dream. We can’t wait to see if and how they pull it off.
Andrewww
This is one of the very few games I look forward to in 2024. Apart from that, I’ll probably be working on my backlog (there’s still quite a few C64 and PS3 games I haven’t played), try some Plus games I never got around to (HZD2, Tsushima, Death Stranding, etc.), or buy some 2022 and 2023 games I missed… So many games, so little time…