Star Wars Outlaws Delivers the Galaxy’s Underworld Far Better Than Solo or the Book of Boba Fett

ign.com:

Since we first visited a galaxy far, far away back in 1977, there have been a few glimpses at the universe’s dark underbelly – the “wretched hive of scum and villainy”. As early as A New Hope’s brief excursion to the Mos Eisley cantina for our first meeting with Han Solo, it was clear this was a galaxy filled with colourful characters who wouldn’t necessarily play by the rules. But while Star Wars projects like Solo and The Book of Boba Fett have spotlighted this infamous criminal underworld and its syndicates, it is only the franchise's latest video game that truly takes a deep, worthwhile dive into this murkier, darker corner of the universe. Star Wars Outlaws is filled with criminal enterprise, backstabbing, and syndicates vying for control, and does all this far more effectively than any other Star Wars movie or TV show to date.

Outlaws puts us in control of Kay Vess, a smuggler from Cantonica (the casino planet memorably explored in The Last Jedi.) From the game’s opening moments it is immediately obvious that this project is not overly tied into the wider plot of the Skywalker saga, telling a self-contained story with just the right amount of nods and cameos that service the story. It means Outlaws is free to dive deep into what makes Star Wars’ criminal underbelly tick.

Serving that goal is a reputation system that places importance on building relationships with the galaxy’s major syndicates on each of Outlaws’ five planets. On Kijimi, for example, Crimson Dawn is locked in a battle for control with the Ashiga Clan. Free to work for either of these syndicates, each job Kay chooses has a bearing on her standing with the group that hired her and, in turn, the people she turned down. Through this system we get a clear sense for which syndicate has the strongest presence on each planet and how Kay’s actions might help turn the tide.

The blend of existing planets like Kijimi, Catonica, and Tatooine, plus new planets like Toshara and Akiva, each have varying