Star Wars Outlaws combines stealth, spaceships, and speeders for an enticing open world

Star Wars Outlaws is drawing ever nearer, and alongside Ubisoft Forward, we had the chance to check out an in-depth look at the Star Wars Outlaws gameplay.

Heidi Nicholas

Published 10 Jun 2024

Ubisoft Forward has just given us a new in-depth look at the Star Wars Outlaws gameplay. It'll be the first open-world Star Wars game, and we can get started with the Star Wars Outlaws achievements when it launches on August 30. Star Wars Outlaws shifts the focus away from the Jedi and focuses on the “scoundrel” Kay Vess and her adorable, axolotl-like companion Nix. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (just after the Battle of Hoth), Star Wars Outlaws is all about Kay and Nix and their dream of freedom. To do this, they need to put together a crew for a major heist while stealing, fighting, exploring, managing their reputation, and contending with the crime syndicates and the threat of the Empire.

Ubisoft Forward shared a new look at the game (included above), but the TrueAchievements team also had the chance to see work-in-progress footage at a Ubisoft remote event for three quests: The Relic, False Flag, and The Wreck (you can check out images from these quests, courtesy of Ubisoft, below). These all showed off different aspects of the game, and there looks to be a lot of variety in what Kay and Nix can get up to, whether it’s stealth, gadgets, distraction techniques, and more on the ground, or dogfights in space with her ship the Trailblazer.

Kay has a lot of tools at her disposal: a data spike and slicing kit (it looks like these have minigames depending on when you’re trying to lockpick a door or hack into a computer), grappling hook, electrobinoculars, smoke bombs, grenades, and more. She’s also got a blaster, of course, and we saw three blaster modules. Plasma is the main module, used for damage, while the Ion module can be used against shields and droids, and the Stun mode is a special mode which can one-hit regular enemies, but comes with a cooldown.

Star Wars Outlaws combines stealth, spaceships, and speeders for an enticing open-world

Kay’s most important aid to a scoundrel lifestyle, however, is her companion Nix. Nix can survey and scan areas to reveal enemies or interactable items, and can be sent to cause distractions (we saw a cute little Axolotl roll which would naturally be very distracting even if you’re busy guarding stuff for the Empire), place traps, or attack enemies (this attack mode seems to be a full-on leap at an enemy’s face, which is understandably a bit alarming). This suggests a few interesting possibilities, such as disarming a weapon and possibly having Nix steal it, or else sending Nix to attack one enemy while Kay handles the other. In-between criminal activities, Nix canters along next to Kay or clings to her back when she climbs.

The False Flag quest had Kay heading to an Imperial space station to destroy data and to help a Gallusian, called Bosnok, escape onto the Trailblazer before escaping back to Gorak, the underboss of the Pyke Syndicate. Kay also has the optional objective to not raise the alarm, which suggests we can choose whether to be stealthy or go in all blasters blazing. Kay can send Nix to attack a guard, steal from him, distract him, or place a trap, and while Kay’s sneaking through the station, you could see the tantalizing gleam of chests to loot.

We also saw those minigames in action as Kay uses the slicing kit to get into a computer and lockpick a door. There was, unfortunately, a stormtrooper right behind that door. This was bad news for Kay but good news for us, since we had the chance to see all-out combat. Along with those blaster modules, Kay can also blow up environmental objects like those explosive barrels all enemies seem to like to keep around. Then she headed out on the Trailblazer, picking up the “Wanted” status as she goes. The quest shows how you can clear this status by wiping data at an Imperial comms relay, but first Kay had to take out some TIE fighters, giving us a chance to see the Trailblazer in action with several options including missiles (which also have a cooldown), and the option to shoot while in “pursuit” mode.

There was a lot going on on-screen alongside the chaotic action, with info flashing up to tell Kay she’s in restricted Imperial territory or that she’s flown past a treasure location. When Kay and Nix finally managed to escape, we saw a bustling planetary settlement, full of talk and activity, as they headed to a gambling parlour to meet with a contact. Interestingly, this quest showed Kay crossing the Crimson Dawn in favor of the Pyke Syndicate, although it’s not yet clear if we can choose this or if it’s a decided mission outcome.

The next quest, The Wreck, showed us what happens while Kay is searching for a nav computer on a High Republic shipwreck to help repair the Trailblazer. Exploration was highlighted here with Kay’s grappling hook and climbing abilities. If you’ve been playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor recently now it’s in Game Pass, this part might look familiar with sliding, grappling, and swinging to yellow climbable frames. Nix’s scan ability helps to highlight interactable things and we saw his trapping skills in action. Throughout this gameplay footage, you could see different in-game actions being tracked for related activities, such as defeating enemies with melee, or else lockpicking or doing things with Nix.

Lastly, we saw The Relic quest, where Kay’s been caught up in a syndicate war, and needs to steal a relic by infiltrating a Crimson Dawn safehouse. The trouble here is that she needs to do it for a good reputation with the Ashiga clan, but getting caught could damage her reputation with the Crimson Dawn. This quest takes Kay to a snowy planet where we saw more stealth abilities (although some of the enemies seemed to be pretty forgiving about not noticing you or not seeing you even when you take out people right next to them).

Overall, Star Wars Outlaws looks pretty amazing (and perhaps a great new contender for the best Xbox open-world games, and we can't wait to get our hands on it on August 30. In the meantime, you can find out more in our round-up of everything we know about Star Wars Outlaws!

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Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.