Star Wars Outlaws: How Nix Was Created First
It’s a recipe for tears when Han Solo and Chewie are torn apart. C-3PO is lost without R2-D2 beeping and booping close behind him. And The Mandalorian is half the man he can be without Grogu floating by his side. Star Wars has a long lineage of companions, and in Outlaws it’s no different. Say hello to Nix, the centre of Kay’s world, and her partner in crime (literally).
“He’s Kay's family,” states game director Mathias Karlson. “He's not a person, but the only creature, the only thing in the galaxy that she truly trusts and cares for.”
Nix grew up with Kay on the streets of Canto Bight from a very young age. Little is known about how they met just yet, but ever since their younger years, they’ve been a dynamic duo willing to make their way in the world through whatever legal or illegal means present themselves. Belonging to a brand-new Star Wars species, Massive Entertainment knew that Nix would be a crucial ingredient to telling Outlaws’ story. Not only that, he would be a key cog in its stealth-action gameplay systems.
“I think the opportunity to create a new creature and add them to the Star Wars galaxy, and also have them be a companion to Kay, it came really from both a narrative and a gameplay lens,” says narrative director Navid Khavari. “We never really talked about Kay without talking about Nix. They're sort of one unit. And in the gameplay sense, Nix was almost like an extension of Kay.”
“We want him to be your long finger,” adds Karlson. “If your right hand is your blaster, Nix is almost like your long rubbery left hand that can fetch things, distract, attack, disable alarms, et cetera.”
While you don’t directly control Nix, he is a key tool in your arsenal. Think of him as Outlaws’s alternative to Watch Dogs’ suite of hacking tools and you won’t be far off the mark. With a quick tap of a button you can send him down a corridor to distract a guard, who you can then sneak up on to perform a melee takedown. Prefer a more explosive style? Have Nix quietly
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