Star Wars Outlaws Review (PS5) | Push Square
Star Wars Outlaws has been billed as the first-ever open world game set in the Star Wars universe; a claim that immediately puts developer Massive Entertainment on the back foot. Ignoring the fact Star Wars Galaxies did it first over two decades ago, it opens the game up to an extra layer of scrutiny: is it even open world in the first place? Control is taken away from you when hidden load screens bridge the transitions between a planet's surface and space. Is that open world, or secretly open zone? We'll leave the question to the gaming gods, but that potentially fragmented structure speaks to what Star Wars Outlaws is at its core: a game made with the best intentions that doesn't quite come together.
When it's left to revel in its Star Wars setting, as you set up a round of Sabaac in the corner of a backwater cantina, Outlaws is at its best. When it has to weave combat and stealth sequences in between its big-budget CGI cutscenes, Outlaws is at its worst. The faction-focused reputation system is stuck in the middle, leaving little impact on the world and its inhabitants. It's a game of mountainous highs and frustrating lows, forming an uneven experience that delights just as much as it disappoints.
Set in between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, the Galactic Empire is at the heights of its power and the criminal underworld is thriving as multiple factions battle for respect and control. Main character Kay is stuck in the middle of it all, yet having grown up surrounded by scum and villainy, it's all become second nature. Double-crossing someone is no big deal to her, and neither is stealing a bounty reward intended for whoever gave her the job in the first place. Despite her charismatic personality and quick-witted nature, Kay — on the face of it — isn't a particularly nice person. Following a heist gone wrong, then, she's the perfect lead for a daring break-in behind enemy lines.
The opening failures provide the protagonist a
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