I’m currently playing through Star Wars Outlaws and I can’t seem to understand why the game didn’t do well. It’s a beloved property and it has great world building. It’s Uncharted, but with lasers, that should be a slam dunk.

I know when the game launched, it had hard set rules around some portions that required stealth. You get caught, game over, done. I can see how that would be annoying, I’m playing after that has been patched out and there were sometimes that I would get spotted, and I feel like I didn’t really have a chance to avoid it. So, I get into a gun fight, clear the room and move on. But I can see how it would be frustrating to get caught because you don’t have eyes in the back of your head and its game over.

So, it makes more sense to allow you to recover from those failures and maybe shoot it out. I also think it makes more sense for the character, Kay Vess. She’s not some super spy she’s an aspiring scoundrel and I do like that she stumbles her way through the game. I think it can be hard to connect with a character that always has a plan or seems to have all the skills and tools necessary. There was one scene where I had to either bribe or lie my way into a high stakes Sabbac game. It was enjoyable to watch Kay mess up with each lie and to just have the guard give up and let her in because he was so annoyed.

I do wonder if the game didn’t do well for two reasons: a female character and the Ubisoft formula. I want to be clear and say neither of those are valid reasons to short sell this game. Kay Vess is a fun character, and I’m enjoying her trying to figure out the criminal underworld as the game goes along. She’s not some battle-hardened criminal with a dark past. She got screwed over on a job and just wants to clear her name and maybe smack the people that betrayed her. She doesn’t go straight for violence, and it’s kind of nice that she doesn’t have the stomach for the darker choices. But it isn’t a bad game because there’s a female character and Star Wars, specifically, needs more variety in who its stories are about.

As for the general issues with the Ubisoft formula, you can tell they tried really hard to not follow it. But you say open world and Ubisoft in the same sentence, and I don’t think many people have a positive image of what that looks like. Finding towers to uncover the map, a ton of collectables that you’re not really sure why you’re grabbing and, in some games, mechanics to liberate sections of the map from an oppressive force.

This game doesn’t have a lot of that, yes there is an open world, but you just kind of get to exist in it and explore. I will say that because the game gives you a speeder, the maps have to be a lot larger to make that choice worth it. So, there were times that I was just cruising through empty fields. I would have preferred maybe a more curated, smaller world, but that’s just me. You can’t really get rid of the oppressive forces because it’s Star Wars, that happens in the movies, not one game. You’re just one person who is trying to exist around the empire and it was interesting how the story makes it feel like you just want to say out of the empire’s crosshairs and make some credits. You’re not looking for a revolution. That could of course change as I play through the game, I feel like that’s a trope of Star Wars, the reluctant rebel.

I’ll be honest, I used to love Star Wars, but I have fallen away from the setting. I think Star Wars relies too much on the Jedi and it’s weird how it’s a whole galaxy, but stories happen with some of the same planets and everyone kind of knows each other. That would work in an old west setting, there’s a couple towns all kind of close to each other so yeah, of course Luke’s dad made the droid that then follows you around. But this game reminded me that I do enjoy the setting and the world building. I like, of course, that there is no Jedi to be found. I like that I’m seeing different worlds for once. I am not excited about going to Tatooine, a planet that is supposed to be on the fringe, but a lot seems to happen there. I think I can stomach it though because the game is doing so much more.

Even the system where you manage your reputation with all the criminal factions is interesting. I was worried it would be easy to just max out each faction quickly and then just stop worrying about it. While yes, I did max out the one faction at the very start (Crimson Dawn for their sleek outfits), I was happy that the relationship was just locked in. I messed up some jobs and even betrayed them on some where it made sense, and they hated me again. I like that I have to balance it and pick when to just do the job or pivot to giving the goods to someone else, when it makes sense. I won’t say it’s hard to balance all these relationships, but I do still like that I have to think about it. I think of the Elder Scrolls games where you can join every faction and become the head of each one. I think it would be more interesting if you joined the Fighters Guild and that cut you off from the Mages Guild. You want to be the top wizard of the Mages Guild but you’re clobbering monsters for the Fighter’s Guild? Sorry, leave it for another character.

I’ll keep playing this game and I know I’ll keep having fun. I feel like the pivot to being pro-rebellion is right around the corner. But maybe with everything else the game is doing, I won’t mind.