Star Wars Outlaws suffered from a fate of its own making: expectations. Creating the first major non lightsaber focused Star Wars game in years naturally drew a lot of attention. In my opinion, those expectations were not met.

-Steam Curator: store.steampowered.com/curator/36307721-Healthy-Criticism/

Before getting into the issues, a brief overview of what Star Wars Outlaws is. It is an open world third person shooter set in the Star Wars universe. You are required to manage your reputation with three main factions, plus a bonus faction, across their respective planets.

The gameplay loop largely revolves around picking up main quests and completing them until you reach progression walls. These walls strongly encourage completing side quests in order to move forward. While technically optional, the emphasis on completing them is clear.

Faction reputation is easy to lose and equally easy to restore, but doing so often requires engaging with repetitive and tedious side quests. There is very little variety here. While some repetition is expected, the sheer number of these quests makes the problem more noticeable.

On a technical level, the game has some baffling design decisions. Depth of field cannot be disabled and is frequently forced on the player. It activates when aiming down sights and during cinematics, often obscuring the image and becoming distracting.

The dialogue is one of the game’s weakest elements. Delivery is flat, the protagonist feels restrained and emotionally disconnected, and the writing plays things far too safe. It appears to aim for a Han Solo inspired character, but lacks the charisma and tension needed to make that work. Even in high stakes moments, the dialogue fails to convey urgency or danger.

Gunplay is serviceable but limited. You are restricted to a single blaster, with alternate firing modes that can only be changed aboard your ship. While enemy weapons can be picked up, they are discarded once their ammo runs out, further limiting combat variety.

The open world can look appealing at times, but often feels purposeless. Exploration mostly consists of moving from point A to point B, with occasional minor detours that offer little reward. Dialogue sequences frequently lock you out of fast travel or space travel until they finish, further disrupting pacing. Combined with the lack of role playing systems, this limits player expression. You cannot create a class, develop a build, or meaningfully shape dialogue outcomes.

Stealth missions are often mandatory and result in instant failure if you are detected. Enemy AI behavior is predictable, and immersion suffers when enemies can be silently knocked out with little resistance. This is especially true when you can simply bonk a stormtrooper's helmet with your bear hands and knock them out effortlessly. Progression is largely tied to repeating specific actions multiple times to unlock new abilities, which feels more like checklist completion than organic growth.

You are meant to play as an outlaw operating in the most dangerous parts of the Star Wars universe, yet the underworld presented here feels heavily sanitized. There is little sense of lawlessness, danger, or consequence, undermining the fantasy the game is built around.

https://youtu.be/TUfOdbBVlS8

Star Wars Outlaws suffered from a fate of its own making: expectations. Creating the first major non lightsaber focused Star Wars game in years naturally drew a lot of attention. In my opinion, those expectations were not met. -Steam Curator: store.steampowered.com/curator/36307721-Healthy-Criticism/ Before getting into the issues, a brief overview of what Star Wars Outlaws is. It is an open world third person shooter set in the Star Wars universe. You are required to manage your reputation with three main factions, plus a bonus faction, across their respective planets. The gameplay loop largely revolves around picking up main quests and completing them until you reach progression walls. These walls strongly encourage completing side quests in order to move forward. While technically optional, the emphasis on completing them is clear. Faction reputation is easy to lose and equally easy to restore, but doing so often requires engaging with repetitive and tedious side quests. There is very little variety here. While some repetition is expected, the sheer number of these quests makes the problem more noticeable. On a technical level, the game has some baffling design decisions. Depth of field cannot be disabled and is frequently forced on the player. It activates when aiming down sights and during cinematics, often obscuring the image and becoming distracting. The dialogue is one of the game’s weakest elements. Delivery is flat, the protagonist feels restrained and emotionally disconnected, and the writing plays things far too safe. It appears to aim for a Han Solo inspired character, but lacks the charisma and tension needed to make that work. Even in high stakes moments, the dialogue fails to convey urgency or danger. Gunplay is serviceable but limited. You are restricted to a single blaster, with alternate firing modes that can only be changed aboard your ship. While enemy weapons can be picked up, they are discarded once their ammo runs out, further limiting combat variety. The open world can look appealing at times, but often feels purposeless. Exploration mostly consists of moving from point A to point B, with occasional minor detours that offer little reward. Dialogue sequences frequently lock you out of fast travel or space travel until they finish, further disrupting pacing. Combined with the lack of role playing systems, this limits player expression. You cannot create a class, develop a build, or meaningfully shape dialogue outcomes. Stealth missions are often mandatory and result in instant failure if you are detected. Enemy AI behavior is predictable, and immersion suffers when enemies can be silently knocked out with little resistance. This is especially true when you can simply bonk a stormtrooper's helmet with your bear hands and knock them out effortlessly. Progression is largely tied to repeating specific actions multiple times to unlock new abilities, which feels more like checklist completion than organic growth. You are meant to play as an outlaw operating in the most dangerous parts of the Star Wars universe, yet the underworld presented here feels heavily sanitized. There is little sense of lawlessness, danger, or consequence, undermining the fantasy the game is built around. https://youtu.be/TUfOdbBVlS8