New open world Star Wars game from The Division studio

[Jtheripper]

Seems as expected, ign fair sounding review gives it a 7, with average basic stealth and action, and lot of polish needed on ps5 at least, including inconsistencies in stealth, action game reaction.
But fun overall apart from that.

Hope they will improve it, at least bug patches, and maybe improve the middling parts.

 

[Fezzik]

A surprisingly positive review (8/10) from grumpy Gamecentral

Star Wars Outlaws review - scruffy looking nerf herder

GameCentral reviews Ubisoft’s new open world game, with a journey into the dark underbelly of the Star Wars universe.

metro.co.uk

 

[Veinz]

I want this to be good but I have no faith in Ubisoft, they make some of the most generic and boring single player games.

 

[Jtheripper]

Just watched a review of big dan gaming, jeez, i dont know lol, it didn't sound good..

He showed how lots of the time missions are obligatory stealth, and the stealth doesn't work well.
Getting a failed mission when downing a guard knocking him over, even unseen , being spotted from afar for no reason, not being spotted even walking near a guard, guards not reacting as should etc.
Gonna wait a good long time and hope its improved.

 

[Fezzik]

Star Wars Outlaws Reviews

Star Wars: Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure game that immerses players in the scoundrel lifestyle of the Star Wars universe. Critics praised the game's expansive worlds and the freedom...

opencritic.com

Most seeing it as a decent game, with some extreme outliers like Eurogamer. Probably not going to get it straight away though, may as well wait for the inevitable sale.

 

[kjb]

Star Wars Outlaws Reviews

Star Wars: Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure game that immerses players in the scoundrel lifestyle of the Star Wars universe. Critics praised the game's expansive worlds and the freedom...

opencritic.com

Most seeing it as a decent game, with some extreme outliers like Eurogamer. Probably not going to get it straight away though, may as well wait for the inevitable sale.

I would definitely wait for the sale and patches to be put out as well. It will probably around 35 during the holiday season

 

[Nacho Libre]

I just played about an hour (early access) on PC and completed the first mission. On the gameplay side it plays like modern Assassin's Creed games (disclaimer: I like those), so no surprises there I suppose.

If I had to score that first hour it would be an 8.5 and see where the story/character development takes me. The graphics are quite good and detailed, and performance with ray tracing does hold at 60 fps. But Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (its Snowdrop engine twin) was more impressive at the start for me.

Two hours now and I just completed my first job (actually second, but I'm not counting the first). At this point, the character you play is sort of a blank slate. Just a little fish trying to swim in a big pond full of sharks, and without any stakes in the galactic struggle. People like her probably weren't any better during the Old Republic that under Imperial rule, so one can excuse her amorality.

 

[Fezzik]

As expected the launch version on PS5 was broken old code and you really need the day 1 patch to make it tolerable.
Games being rushed out unfinished and unpolished, there's no point buying anything at release.

 

[Nacho Libre]

After 3 1/2 hours I have no major technical issues to report on PC, so cross my fingers it keeps that way. At this point the main star of the game is the environment and locations and the gameplay is responsive, just not quite original.

Spoiler

There is a lot of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed mechanics, and modern Tomb Raider/Uncharted/Horizon Zero Dawn into the mix, I guess that's the single player adventure game formula for you

, and now I can jump into space, so I'll see how that goes.

 

[kjb]

As expected the launch version on PS5 was broken old code and you really need the day 1 patch to make it tolerable.
Games being rushed out unfinished and unpolished, there's no point buying anything at release.

I totally agree with this statement. As consumers we win when we wait for the game to go on sale. You get it at a lower price and hopefully it is patched and working properly as well by that time

 

[Jtheripper]

Did see some fun looking gameplay on willyb channel, although fairly edited, so maybe hid the bad parts.
He was playing on a harder difficulty, and it seemed a good fit.
Will check it out like others said here after a while.

 

[McLaren]

Played for a few hours tonight. I just got to the point that the Trailblazer can fly again. I do feel like maybe I'm going to get a bit overwhelmed on what to do next, though. This isn't a game I normally go for, but the story caught my interest & I want to dip my feet in something new. My only experience with Ubisoft is also both Division games (which I love), & I can see a little bit of Massive Entertainment's handy work in this one. But the game itself I think is good. I haven't really seen any bugs & the game looks really nice for the setting it's recreating. Controls are fine, combat does its job, stealth hasn't really bit me in the ass, but I'm on Story mode just trying to enjoy it. I think some places giving it a 7-8 is a solid score. It's definitely not doing anything ground breaking, I think it's just delivering a tried & true approach by giving you a lot to do & the 3 factions to juggle whilst doing that add in some spice.

I just played about an hour (early access) on PC and completed the first mission. On the gameplay side it plays like modern Assassin's Creed games (disclaimer: I like those), so no surprises there I suppose.

If I had to score that first hour it would be an 8.5 and see where the story/character development takes me. The graphics are quite good and detailed, and performance with ray tracing does hold at 60 fps. But Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (its Snowdrop engine twin) was more impressive at the start for me.

Two hours now and I just completed my first job (actually second, but I'm not counting the first). At this point, the character you play is sort of a blank slate. Just a little fish trying to swim in a big pond full of sharks, and without any stakes in the galactic struggle. People like her probably weren't any better during the Old Republic that under Imperial rule, so one can excuse her amorality.

Regarding your spoiler, that's one thing I really like about the story. Getting to play in a Star Wars setting that involves people not constantly engaged in the Jedi/Empire war we see so much of. I like Kay's naivety & that the other characters recognize it ("Keep those revelations to yourself").
Probably intentional, but the story also gives off a bit of a vibe of a Han Solo-inspired experience as an outlaw dealing with shady folks, just from the very beginning.

 

[Moglet]

I've played for about an hour so far and I'm enjoying it. It's not exactly a masterpiece and it looks a little rough around the edges on Xbox Series X, but it's fun enough. I'm playing it on Ubisoft+ after subscribing using a £10 Microsoft Rewards gift card so if I don't click with it after a few more hours then I've only spent £5.

 

[Nacho Libre]

For the first hours it helps to play loose, by that I mean don't try to be "righteous" just do what's necessary to finish your missions and see what repercussions your decisions bring later. If you want to do stealth, do stealth until you are caught and then its ok to shoot the place and run.

 

[Moglet]

For the first hours it helps to play loose, by that I mean don't try to be "righteous" just do what's necessary to finish your missions and see what repercussions your decisions bring later. If you want to do stealth, do stealth until you are caught and then its ok to shoot the place and run.

I'm glad you said this as I was unsure if you could end up dropping the stealth like you can in most games of this type. I usually get caught fairly quickly and resort to blasting.

 

[Nacho Libre]

I'm glad you said this as I was unsure if you could end up dropping the stealth like you can in most games of this type. I usually get caught fairly quickly and resort to blasting.

About that, the first major mission available after you can fly your ship does require a stealthy infiltration: if you get caught but can dispose of whoever spotted you without raising a general alarm, you can go on, otherwise you are done and the mission resets to the last save point. BUT there are lots of ways to go around: be patient, scan and use the environment and your critter (Nix) to your advantage. The game has lots of verticality and you can jump and climb your way and/or skulk around, some objects can be moved for cover, there are hatches, hidden corridors and rooms, etc. Then at some point stealth don't matter anymore. It's actually quite rewarding to pull that off.

I've had no major issues on PC except from some very funny ragdoll physics when you knock out someone, and they should address that.

 

[McLaren]

About that, the first major mission available after you can fly your ship does require a stealthy infiltration: if you get caught but can dispose of whoever spotted you without raising a general alarm, you can go on, otherwise you are done and the mission resets to the last save point. BUT there are lots of ways to go around: be patient, scan and use the environment and your critter (Nix) to your advantage. The game has lots of verticality and you can jump and climb your way and/or skulk around, some objects can be moved for cover, there are hatches, hidden corridors and rooms, etc. Then at some point stealth don't matter anymore. It's actually quite rewarding to pull that off.

I've had no major issues on PC except from some very funny ragdoll physics when you knock out someone, and they should address that.

I think to add to this from my experience so far, anything involving Imperials, your best bet is always going to be staying as stealthy as possible. They just have too much firepower/personnel on hand, esp. if they're touting what I believe is the blaster cannon (& a shield!) or a Walker guarding their base. They can quickly overwhelm Kay & that many people makes it hard to stop an alarm from sounding.

 

[Nacho Libre]

Now on minigames/Sabacc: Picking locks and cracking terminals have a minigame mechanic that FORTUNATELY you can set to off. As for Sabacc, the rules are incomprehensible to me (to be honest, any card game more complex than a game of UNO is) so I will ignore it, and if I have to miss a major storyline around it, so be it.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Regarding stealth: if it says “Do not get caught”/“Do not raise the alarm” it means stealth is mandatory, if it doesn’t you’re free to go loud.

As you play along you will unlock more upgrades and abilities to deal with certain types of enemies more efficiently.

 

[Nacho Libre]

Well, seven hours into the game and it's safe to say that I'm having fun, and I want to see it through. For my PC settings I opted to try the Hardware Unboxed settings, and they hold in my rig:



Now, about the toxicity around this game, if sacrosanct PlayStation Studios had published it, we would be having a totally different discourse (I don't hate PlayStation games, I play them on PC too). Some folks just have to accept that Ubisoft is having a good streak: Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown, Assassin's Creed Mirage, The Crew Motorfest, and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, and that they make good games.

 

[Fezzik]

From what I’ve seen the toxicity has nothing to do with Ubisoft. It’s a new Star Wars product that also stars a female character, of course the “fanbase” will hate it no matter what.

 

[McLaren]

From what I’ve seen the toxicity has nothing to do with Ubisoft. It’s a new Star Wars product that also stars a female character, of course the “fanbase” will hate it no matter what.

I think it's a mix of both. I saw a lot of pre-release assumptions that were essentially, "It's Ubisoft? Gonna be a stinker". I mean, when I read the presumptions coming from the fans of Assassin's Creed games, I could see that as many testified that after playing so many, it takes a few AC games for the gameplay to make noticeable leaps. But, Outlaws coming from Massive who created both Division games & as a long time invested player in both of those titles, that doesn't apply here given Massive clearly took a different, more appropriate approach. The only striking similarity is yeah, it's a pretty safe game play design (which seems to be the common complaint for Ubisoft), but both have been fun for me for different reasons.

Your second sentence, though, I think has definitely contributed more to it, esp. since this game's build up was coming alongside The Acolyte which was getting a lot of negative feedback for various things so a lot of it must have spilled over. But after 17 hours now & still having yet to visit Akiva, I don't see anything in the game that panders to "culture war" critiques. The game's pretty clear Kay is a normal human whose nobody really special in the universe & other characters in the game will react to her as such.

Personally, I read a lot of hesitation, but the game still looked interesting. Then I watched a streamer play it for a few hours, decided it looked fun enough to give Ubisoft $20 to try it & I've been pleasently surprised by it. My 1st day did have some doubts towards the end of my session, but I came back & I've ended up liking it way more than I ever thought I would. As mentioned, I'm a big, big fan of The Division games (esp. since I also walked into that series not knowing what I was getting beyond an interesting plot), so Massive gets another thumbs up for me. Whatever they do after The Division 3, I might just play it as well.

 

[MXH]

Just watched Gameranx ’Before You Buy’ video and will definitely pick this up in a few months, probably during the usual PS christmas sale. Should be enough time for Ubisoft & Massive to iron out some bugs and whatnot.

They seemed to have nailed the Star Wars vibe and setting, which to me, is more crucial than anything else. Might not be a GoTY contender but certainly looks more than decent enough. Don’t get the hate at all but that’s to be expected form the SW fan base, I guess 💁‍♂️

 

[Nacho Libre]

I ran into some instability issues (the game crashed three times), but that was due to my system and not software issues. This is not a game where you can get away with undervolting your card, it seems. I haven't had any issues thereafter and I've done space missions and visited two other off worlds.

 

[Nacho Libre]

Whenever you are sneaking into Imperial facilities remember to use this to your advantage: 1) Officers/technicians are absorbed with their duties at hand and... 2) Stormtroopers really can't see with those things

 

[McLaren]

Speaking of the Imps: I wonder if there's any point in me going for the Imperial outfit except just to have it. It's supposed to greatly reduce detection by the Imps (as well as speed up your wanted cooldown), but the Moldour Thief outfit seems to do the same thing with every one.