Star Wars Outlaws

The collaboration that would bring to Star Wars Outlaws was first announced in January 2021, when Lucasfilm Games revealed it had partnered with Ubisoft Massive (Tom Clancy's The Division) to make an open-world game based on George Lucas's beloved sci-fi universe.

Shortly afterward, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors the project was still in the early stages of development. Indeed, in early 2022, leaker Tom Henderson believed the game wouldn't be released until 2025. However, in late 2022, Ubisoft Massive was already looking for playtesters in the area around Malmö, and in early 2023, the studio teased big incoming news on the project. Ahead of the Summer 2023 events, Kotaku shared a rumor that the game would actually be released in early 2024.

Release date, platforms, pricing, editions

The official unveiling of Star Wars Outlaws occurred during Summer Game Fest, which showed a brief trailer. However, the real stunner came with the Ubisoft Forward keynote, when the developers debuted an impressive gameplay demo that showed a combination of tight third-person combat, big open world vistas, and seamless planet-to-space transitions.

Star Wars Outlaws was immediately set for a 2024 release window, although it was likely originally planned for a Q1 launch, as previously reported by Kotaku. However, in October 2023, Ubisoft practically confirmed a small delay into the next fiscal year and out of Q1.

Following a series of ratings from various boards, Star Wars Outlaws finally received its August 30 launch date in early April, which is also when pre-orders opened on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.

All editions of the game, including the Standard one priced at $69.99, will receive the Kessel Runner Bonus Pack, which includes cosmetic packs for your speeder and starship. The Gold Edition, priced at $109.99, adds three days of early access, the Season Pass with two post-launch DLCs that will introduce all-new stories, quests, and areas to discover, as well as the exclusive Jabba's Gambit mission and the Kessel Runner Character Pack with cosmetics for Kay and Nix. Lastly, the Ultimate Edition ($129.99) adds the Rogue Infiltrator Bundle (cosmetics for Kay, Nix, her speeder, and the spaceship), the Sabacc Shark Bundle (cosmetics for Kay, her blaster, Nix, the speeder, and the spaceship), and a digital artbook featuring a selection of the game's concept art and visuals and unique cinematic storyboards.

The highly anticipated game will also be playable on day one with the Ubisoft+ Premium subscription.

Genre and Setting

Star Wars Outlaws is set between the events of the second and third films released in theaters: 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi. The developers picked this specific period in the story because it was a time when the Empire didn't care too much about certain illegal activities, allowing the criminal underworld to thrive. It is here that protagonist Kay Vess (played by actress Humberly González, who previously starred in Ubisoft's Far Cry 6 as Mercedes 'Jonrón' Martin), clearly inspired by the legendary scoundrel Han Solo, attempts one of the biggest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen with the help of her Merqaal companion Nix. Confirmed planets include Tatooine (the Mos Eisley cantina will be in the game), Kijimi, Akiva, and Toshara.

As far as genre goes, this is the first-ever open world Star Wars game, and it will feature typical third-person action/adventure mechanics. It's also single-player only.

Gameplay

The game will place a significant emphasis on stealth. Kay is, after all, essentially a thief, and she can take down enemies after silently approaching them from behind. She'll be helped significantly by Nix, a tiny Merqqal who can distract enemies in various ways, such as attacking them head-on or interacting with the environment. Kay also has her trusty blaster and a series of gadgets to aid in combat situations.

Intriguingly, the protagonist is a freelancer of sorts. As such, she'll have dealings with various factions from the criminal underworld, taking on high-risk, high-reward contracts. This all ties back to the reputation system built into the Star Wars Outlaws. Lead Systems Designer Matthieu Delisle recently explained:

If you have a bad reputation with the syndicates, they won't let you in. You can sneak in, but if you get caught, you will be kicked out. However, if you have a good reputation once you've worked good rep with the Pyke Syndicate, for example, you'll be able to freely go in and then you can get access to a bunch of opportunities. That can be things like jobs for the syndicates, merchants with some of the better stuff for sale, intel, rumors, and can also be high-stakes Sabacc tables. The syndicates are hubs of opportunities that you get access to with the right rep.

Therefore, player choices will be critical, and some of them will take place in RPG-style branching dialogues, though this won't lead to multiple endings.

As mentioned, Star Wars Outlaws is the first open world game set in this beloved setting. Ubisoft Massive said the planets have all been handcrafted and will be as large as two or three zones from Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Kay will have a speeder at her disposal to travel on the ground.

There is, of course, also space flight in the game with Kay's Trailblazer spaceship. However, Ubisoft clarified there wouldn't be freeform space travel, meaning that players will fast-travel (technically with the spaceship's hyperdrive) between the orbits of the various planets. Here, though, they'll find various points of interest, things to do, places to explore, and, of course, dogfights.

Technology & Specs

Star Wars Outlaws is powered by Ubisoft Massive's acclaimed Snowdrop engine, already seen in Tom Clancy's The Division and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, among others. The studio has partnered with NVIDIA to support DLSS 3 (Frame Generation), Reflex, RTX Direct Illumination, and RTX Global Illumination on PCs equipped with GeForce RTX graphics cards.

Last month, we also learned of a partnership with Intel on the CPU front. There will be a Star Wars Outlaws bundle for those who purchase qualifying Intel Core 14th Gen processors at select retailers. Moreover, Intel promises special optimizations for those users rocking these CPUs.

Ubisoft still hasn't shared the official system requirements for this game. We will update this article once they are released.