Summary
- Star Wars Outlaws faced initial technical issues, but a rollout of updates by developer Massive Entertainment has since notably improved performance and gameplay.
- The game's focus on a non-Jedi protagonist and a criminal underworld story makes it a more unique Star Wars experience.
- Major fixes and upcoming DLC make 2025 a great time for fans to revisit or try out Star Wars Outlaws.
After being announced in 2021 as the first game to be developed outside of EA's previous exclusivity deal with the brand license, Star Wars Outlaws was released last August. Co-developed with Ubisoft, Massive Entertainment's Star Wars Outlaws is also the first fully open-world title within the IP, telling a new story set in one of the most widely recognized sci-fi worlds. And while a number of its elements were praised, Outlaws' initial launch and subsequent reception weren't as positive as was hoped, being marked by technical issues, bugs, and other design hiccups that bogged down the overall experience.
Early impressions noted that a few of its mechanics and major features felt undercooked, resulting in less than optimal optics and reviews upon launch. Due in part to this, Star Wars Outlaws underperformed according to the studio's metrics, prompting Massive to introduce a batch of patches and updates to address many of the wider concerns. With these, Star Wars Outlaws has since been brought up to snuff, making 2025 a good time for a replay, and for any fans who originally skipped it to give it a try.
At the time of writing, Outlaws has a Mostly Positive score on Steam and a 75 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic.
Star Wars Outlaws Deserves a Second Wind in a New Format
There is simply too much noteworthy about Star Wars Outlaws' premise to let it slip away into the past without a second chance in a new format.
Why 2025 is a Great Time to Start Over in Star Wars Outlaws
After a Bumpy Beginning, Star Wars Outlaws is Now a Much Smoother Ride
Star Wars Outlaws puts fans in the role of professional thief Kay Vess as she finds herself on the run from a notorious cartel. It was an interesting setup, forgoing the usual focus on Jedi in favor of a more scum-and-villainy vibe. With Kay not being particularly powerful compared to her pursuers and other enemies, Outlaw s leaned more into her resourcefulness and the help of her companion Nix to escape tricky and dangerous situations. Though players were given weapons, including an iconic blaster, the framework placed a heavy emphasis on stealth.
This, however, was the biggest pressure point for many, as the actual stealth design and the related missions relying on it oftentimes felt more frustrating than fun. It also limited the variety of approach to encounters that was implied at the outset. In response, Massive tweaked and refined this aspect, dropping one of the biggest and most welcome updates a few months after release in a patch that addressed Star Wars Outlaws' stealth, removing the instant fail scenarios and letting players engage in combat more freely without it feeling as constrained as it previously had.
Throughout the rest of 2024 and into this year, Massive continued to introduce further fixes and quality of life changes, with Star Wars Outlaws' most recent patch coming on February 28. Many of these improved and optimized items like graphical fidelity and lighting, making the already impressive-looking world the best it has been, while also smoothing out some other areas, such as fast travel and space combat. Star Wars Outlaws is currently in a shipshape state, and there's more coming from it in 2025 as well.
Star Wars Outlaws is Getting More Content in 2025
Alongside all the fixes mentioned above now in place, the second upcoming DLC for Star Wars Outlaws, A Pirate's Fortune, is scheduled to drop this Spring. The first major DLC, Wild Card, was released in November, and highlighted one of the titles' most popular mini-games. Wild Card saw Kay entering a high-stakes Sabacc tournament, and featured the return of fan-favorite character, Lando Calrissian. It integrated well into the main adventure, and with the next expansion set to release soon paired with the list of improvements, provides a good reason for fans to start Star Wars Outlaws again this year, as well as an opportunity for those who haven't yet to experience its overhauled version.
Star Wars Outlaws
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 75 /100 Critics Rec: 68%
- Released
- August 30, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence, Simulated Gambling, Mild Language
- Developer(s)
- Massive Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft, Lucasfilm Games
- Engine
- Snowdrop
- Franchise
- Star Wars
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action-Adventure
