Star Wars Outlaws Is the Game You're Looking For

Star Wars Outlaws is placed between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" movies from the original (and best) trilogy. Narrative Director Navid Khavari is behind the story. He was also the narrative lead on Far Cry 5 and FC 6, along with other major narrative roles on Far Cry 4 and Primal, The Division, Assassin's Creed Unity, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. The upcoming SW game is directed by Julian Gerighty, ex-creative lead on The Crew, and Tom Clancy's The Division 2.

From what we've been privy to, it looks like the main plot won't make a fool out of George Lucas anytime soon. However, there seem to be enough narrative elements to comprise a decent story, although it won't rival God of War or anything truly PlayStation 1st-party anytime soon.

The trailer starts with the main "bad guy," Sliro, monologuing to a bunch of other "bad guys" about seizing the opportunity for their crime syndicates to prosper in times of war.

The Empire was too busy fighting off the Rebel Alliance forces, leaving a huge lawlessness gap. Star Wars is like the Old West, but in space, so this perfectly fits the narrative and atmosphere. We see Sliro's henchmen, the Zerek Besh, dressed in military uniform, which was intentional, according to creative director Julian Gerighty.

He said that because Sliro has plenty of resources, he can afford to hire a more expensive workforce and equip them with high-grade weaponry and armor. They also comport themselves differently from other crime syndicates on purpose.

If the point of the game design was to differentiate these lawless factions by behavior and wealth hierarchically, then my hunch tells me that the Zerek Besh might be the last ones we fight toward the end of the game.

The reputation system is extremely interesting. You'll have to rank up your rep with certain factions to progress during key story points. They'll have high-risk, high-reward missions in which you'll embark. So you'll steal, infiltrate secret locations, and do all sorts of outlaw things.

Choose wisely, though, for your actions can be your undoing with the ever-changing reputation system. This sounds like we'll fly at light speed all over the galaxy. Hopefully, the intergalactic traveling experience will be completely different from Starfield. We did see space battles against Imperial TIE fighters, so there's a good chance this game will create fans surrounding piloting.

W e meet our loveable protagonist, the Han Solo-esc rascal, Kay Vess, and her not-Chewbacca-like alien pet, Nix. Nix is cute and all, but he's also resourceful. Judging by the footage, you can send him to fetch you weapons and items if you take a stealthier approach.

Because you, or better said, the character you'll be playing, Kay, double-crossed Sliro, because why not... he hired one of the best bounty hunters available with the sole purpose of hunting you down. We don't have a lot of details on the gameplay mechanics, but let's pray we'll see a hunter-prey game design like the Prince of Persia had with the Dahaka or like Mr. X and Nemesis from the Resident Evil series.

Speaking of gameplay, we've seen an Uncharted-like grapple hook used for traversal, silent takedowns during combat, speeder bikes for traveling, complex action set pieces, and, of course, your trusty spaceship.

Oh, and let's not forget about Han Solo frozen in carbonite. I doubt we'll see more than a tip of the hat regarding Han, but maybe we'll encounter other original characters like Lando, Leia, Chewie, Ben Kenobi, or even Luke Skywalker. If not, Jabba the Hut will have to do.

At a glance, your purpose in Outlaws is to gather a team of other rascals from across the galaxy and pull off the heist that will set you for life, not unlike Ocean's 11. If this turns out to be a Star Wars heist game, it's music to my ears. Of course, the cast of characters has to be as unique, intriguing, and funny as in the Ocean's movies. The good news is that on August 30, we'll find out everything there is to know.

Until then, we have to look forward to the Ubisoft Forward event on June 10, which should show more gameplay features from Star Wars Outlaws. Rumors and tin foil hat conspiracies tell tales of other spectacular games with high chances of being featured at the showcase.

The gaming community hopes to see the rumored Splinter Cell remake, The Rogue Prince of Persia, more of The Crew Motorfest, and hopefully, even Far Cry 7, Ghost Recon, and Division Heartland.

I never recommend pre-ordering any game, especially in this day and age where many AAA games come out broken, but there are three versions of Star Wars Outlaws. The cheapest is the $70 Standard Edition, containing the base game and an insignificant pre-order bonus.

Then, there's the $110 Gold Edition with 3 days of early access and the season pass with two DLCs: the "Jabba's Gambit" exclusive launch mission and the "Kessel Runner Character Pack" with some cosmetics for Kay and Nix. Lastly, the $130 Ultimate Edition has all of that plus the Rogue Infiltrator Bundle, the Sabacc Shark Bundle, and a Digital Art Book.

Of course, if you have an Xbox or PC, you don't need to buy any of those because you can opt for Ubisoft+. It's $18 monthly, and you can access over 100 Ubisoft games. Oh, and with Ubi+, you get the $130 Ultimate Edition, provided your subscription is active.