Star Wars Outlaws: 4 Best Ways It Changes The Ubisoft Open-World Formula

Ubisoft is well-known in the gaming industry for its open-world concepts and recognizable gameplay. From Assassin's Creed to Far Cry and beyond, players have come to expect certain things from a Ubisoft open-world game, but Star Wars Outlaws has arrived to try and change that perception.

Star Wars Outlaws was expected to be yet another copy-paste of every other Ubisoft open-world game with a bloated map full of quests and points of interest ready to distract and overwhelm at any given opportunity. Except somehow, Star Wars Outlaws surprised even the most jaded gamer.

A Clear Map Layout

The Most Comprehensive Ubisoft Map To Date

One of the best features of many Ubisoft open-world games can also be the worst. Ubisoft tends to develop expansive worlds full of immersive fun, from main missions to random NPC interactions. There are quests and tasks to complete and side missions to explore, but with each one of these marked on a map with its own icon, it can become overwhelming to look at. Star Wars Outlaws still has the core of this gameplay but with a cleaner and more satisfying execution.

Gone are the player maps filled to the edges with icons showing every possible quest, task, cache, or vendor. Now with Star Wars Outlaws, players can enjoy a relatively clear map with subtle icons showing only what the player has stumbled upon so far. One of the joys of this new open world is how much agency the player is given which, in turn, encourages them to explore further. Each player's icon layout will look slightly different depending on where they have been, what side missions they have accepted, and how often they have strayed from the beaten path.

A Sense Of Freedom

A Truly Open World

Kay Vess wants her freedom which, for her, means to have the Imperials and the syndicates off her back for good. The best thing is, for a lot of players, playing as Kay is the most free they have felt in an open-world game for a while. Pretty early on in Star Wars Outlaws, the galaxy opens up and players can enjoy space and ground exploration seamlessly. There are no tedious loading screens when attempting to travel from planet to moon and beyond. Fast travel is even available from one planet to another if the player wants to bypass space travel altogether.

Unlike some Ubisoft titles of the past, there is no long wait to unlock large swathes of the map. There is no main mission to complete before you can explore every corner of the map, and as soon as space travel becomes available, other planetary maps do too. Players can explore to their heart's content, especially since she brings her trusty deathtrap speeder with her wherever she goes.

A Curious Mind Rewarded

Discover More Through Exploration

Thanks to her speeder, and the upgrades players can apply, Kay can traverse a map in a short amount of time. The developers of Star Wars Outlaws made sure to craft varied and interesting places that were easy to get from one end to another without it feeling like a huge undertaking. Pair that with the unlockable fast travel points, and exploration becomes a delight. The reward for this exploration becomes a player-driven adventure in which their curiosity is rewarded. Exploration of the city or area has the potential to uncover new intriguing side quests, or hidden treasures that would otherwise stay hidden. Instead of Ubisoft spoon-feeding missions or cache locations or NPC interactions, Star Wars Outlaws leaves it to the player to respond to '?'prompts or an NPC voice beckoning them over. Players can overhear a snippet of a conversation and listen in for intel to a nearby credit stash or the location of a helpful NPC. This has created more of a player-driven experience, molded by choice and encouraging curiosity. It certainly feels like a more organic way of playing compared to previous Ubisoft open-world gameplay. Watchdogs had a similar feature where the player would listen in on private calls, but in Star Wars Outlaws it is less forced for the sake of plot, and just more of an option.

A Dynamic And Reactive World

Kay's Choices Define Player Experience

One of the curiosity-driven rewards the player gets is a dynamic world where the choices affect gameplay. Syndicate tasks and the decisions Kay must make can alter her reputation. With a poor reputation comes difficulty in moving around a particular Syndicate area while a good reputation allows Kay to infiltrate areas she otherwise could not. Having good rep certainly makes some of the fetch missions easier when they are based inside a syndicate stronghold or base.

Every player is going to play differently, crafting varying levels of reputation with each Syndicate, and this creates a galaxy of possibilities. Where one player may be able to safely race through a Pyke territory with no problem, another may end up in a shootout or a race to escape. The unpredictability of a reactionary world makes for such a more interesting and lively game than players may have experienced with Ubisoft titles previously.