How Star Wars Outlaws Fulfills the Starship Fantasy First
Lightsabers, blasters, and Jedi robes are all important parts of the universe’s iconography, but Star Wars just wouldn’t be Star Wars without ships. X-Wings. TIE Fighters. The Millenium Falcon. Just a quick look at any of these famous spaceships conjures up daydreams of freedom and adventure among the stars. And so, unsurprisingly, spaceships are kind of a big deal for Star Wars Outlaws.
“I've been a Star Wars fan for decades, and the space side of things is in particular quite important to me,” says Allen Frank, senior game designer at Massive Entertainment. “I grew up on games like X-Wing and TIE Fighter, Rogue Squadron.”
With five distinct, deeply detailed open worlds to explore in Outlaws’ galaxy, you’d be forgiven for thinking the inky black space surrounding each of them would be a little empty in comparison. But Massive has applied much of the same design ethos that it uses planetside to the outer space regions.
“There's a lot to do,” says creative director Julian Gerighty. “There's secrets to discover. There's exploration, you can scan for opportunities. And of course there'll be living world events or ‘living space events’.”
In an effort to bring the galaxy to life, a variety of NPC routines will break out into organic events. A freighter may come under attack from pirates, or the Empire may pull over a smuggling ship, and you’ll be free to intervene or stay back. Wrecked ships cast out distress beacons, but are they a source of riches or a trap? It's events like these that will fill out the vacuum of space between Outlaws’ planet surface gameplay.
Between those moments, you’ll likely want to find a place to moor up, stretch your legs, and scout for new opportunities. That’s where space stations come in, which function akin to the cities you’ll explore planetside. “There'll be a cantina, there'll be a bar, there'll be people to talk to, there'll be opportunities, there'll be sabacc [playing card] tables, there'll be secrets, there'll be exploration,” lists
Read more on ign.com
