Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars Outlaws is an open world video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. The game is story-driven, features an open world, and utilizes Massive Entertainment's proprietary Snowdrop game engine. Outlaws centers on Kay Vess, a slicer and thief from Canto Bight who crosses the Zerek Besh crime syndicate, leading her to crash land on the moon Toshara and become entangled in the criminal underworld's ongoing Syndicate War. The outlaw Jaylen Vrax and his BX-series droid commando ND-5 recruit Vess to build a crew to reattempt a heist against Zerek Besh's leader Sliro Ruback, and so Vess travels with her merqaal companion Nix and ND-5 to the planets Akiva, Tatooine and Kijimi in order to find the right crew. 
==Plot summary==
Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, the leader of the upstart criminal syndicate Zerek Besh, Sliro Barsha, murders the leaders of his rival syndicates in a bid to consolidate his power. Meanwhile, Kay Vess seeks a way to escape her homeworld of Cantonica to start a new life in the Core Worlds. In her desperation, she takes up a job with a crew led by Dennion who plan to break into Sliro's vault and steal his fortune. Kay successfully opens the vault, only to be surprised when Dennion's crew reveal themselves to be part of the Rebel Alliance, and their real objective was to free their team leader Asara who was being held prisoner by Sliro. Kay demands payment from Dennion but is shot by a stun blast and forced to escape on her own. Believing Kay is responsible for the break in, Sliro puts a death mark on her head. Kay steals a ship called the Trailblazer and makes an emergency jump to the planet Toshara, but is forced to crash land due to damage to the ship.Star Wars Outlaws
On Toshara, Kay meets Waka, a mechanic who is willing to repair the Trailblazer, but Kay has to do jobs for the local syndicates in order to earn the money to pay for the parts. As Kay gets the Trailblazer repaired and performs jobs for the local syndicates, she is soon forced to choose which syndicates to curry favor with, either assisting or betraying them at several opportunities. Eventually, she manages to salvage a replacement nav computer from a shipwreck only to be double crossed by Waka, but he is killed by the bounty hunter Vail, who is after Kay's death mark. Kay ends up being saved by outlaw Jaylen Vrax and his droid enforcer ND-5. Jaylen asks for Kay's participation in breaking into Sliro's vault again to steal his fortune, and instructs her to gather necessary crew members to pull off the heist.
Kay and ND-5 then proceed to travel around the galaxy to recruit crew members. She frees their safecracker, Ank, from the clutches of the Ashiga Clan on Kijimi. On Tatooine, she searches for their heavy, Hoss, but they along with Vail run afoul of Jabba the Hutt. Hoss is killed while Kay and Vail are forced to work together to escape, with both women earning each others' respect. On Akiva, she searches for the droidsmith Gedeek and helps him hijack the Empire's Viper Droid project for the Rebel Alliance to secure his loyalty. However, before they can recruit a slicer, ND-5 begins to malfunction due to his power core failing. Kay and Gedeek enter an abandoned Separatist factory only to run into Asara's Rebel cell. ND-5 is repaired and Asara decides to join the crew as their heavy. However, Jaylen decides to recruit Riko, an expert slicer and Kay's estranged mother who abandoned her when she was a child.
Despite her reluctance to work with Riko, Kay continues with the plan by stealing Sliro's master code, discovering that Sliro is actually a director of the Imperial Security Bureau and Zerek Besh is merely a front for the organization. She then leads the team in breaking in to Sliro's vault. However, it's revealed to be a trap, and Sliro corners Kay in the vault and orders Vail to kill her. Vail instead turns on Sliro, knocking him unconscious and holding off his guards in return for a cut of the loot. Kay and her team manage to escape the planet, but she finds out what they stole wasn't Sliro's money, but instead a codex containing all of his information about the Empire. Jaylen then betrays both Kay and Asara, revealing his aim was to usurp Sliro and take control of Zerek Besh for himself. He then forces ND-5 to stun Kay and locks her on the Trailblazer while taking Asara prisoner.
With Riko's assistance, Ank and Gedeek rescue Kay, who finds out the Trailblazer is now on the Imperial Star Destroyer Revelator. Wanting to rescue ND-5, Kay infiltrates a meeting between Sliro, Jaylen, and Darth Vader. Vader agrees to let Jaylen take control of Zerek Besh, and Jaylen reveals that he is actually Sliro's older brother before killing him in revenge for betraying and hunting down their family. Kay manages to remove ND-5's restraining bolt, and he kills Jaylen to protect Kay. Kay, ND-5, and Asara then fight their way off the Revelator with the Codex. With the assistance of Asara's Rebels and the syndicate Kay has the best relations with, they destroy the Revelator and make their escape.
Afterwards, Asara returns to the Rebel Alliance with critical data from the codex, Ank and Gedeek decide to work together on casino heists, Vail is paid off with a copy of the codex, and Kay and ND-5 leave for their next adventure. In a post-credits scene, a disguised Kay helps Riko escape an Imperial prison.
==Gameplay==
Outlaws has a faction reputation system, which shapes the world in small ways based on dialogue choices and other decisions like choosing a subtle or aggressive approach in specific missions. Kay Vess's actions will dictate how individuals/factions react to her. The dialogue is branching. However, there are not branching narrative threads.
The game can broadly be divided into three types of settings: cities, large open-world areas, and space. Vess can travel the galaxy at will, and take part in various side quests. Vess will have a different standing with each criminal leader based on the player's actions. Every planet and moon has explorable space around them, which the player can explore using the Trailblazer, exploring points of interest. Upon reaching the edge of the area, the Trailblazer can use its hyperdrive to leave the area.
Sabacc can be played within the game.
==Development==
Narratively, the starting point for Outlaws was to have the game have the POV of a scoundrel. Afterwards, the game was pitched to Lucasfilm Games, and it was settled that the game would take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The story started to crystalize around the idea of having a character and story that wasn't part of the Galactic Civil War. Motion capture filming began on June 14, 2022. Kay Vess was played by Humberly González, who believed that her character's resilience and hope is especially relatable to the Venezuelan people. Her country had voted for democracy but continued to have their freedom suppressed by the ruling authoritarian regime, and González's father made great pains to let her move to Canada and pursue her dream career as an actress.
González identified with Kay Vess' story and character, saying that unlike the usual scoundrel archetype, her character shows more vulnerability that makes her more relatable to people such as herself, a Latina women with an immigrant background, with Outlaws story being based Vess' sense of estrangement, being alone, and then having to "slowly start letting people in to help you." González said that depending on player choices, Vess learns to trust "the hard way" and make personal connections beyond just Nix, which is particularly relatable to the experiences of immigrants, people of color, and women. Outlaws narrative director Navid Khavari similarly appreciated that, growing up as an immigrant, Star Wars had kept his family connected. Author Charles Soule, whose Crimson Dawn comic saga ties into the events of Outlaws,Crimson Reign 5 was allowed to see the game early as the creatives worked out the timeline links between their story and those told in Soule's works.
The score of Outlaws was performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Scotland's Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. A collaborative effort between composers Wilbert Roget II, Jon Everist, and Kazuma Jinnouchi, additional music was performed by Nashville Music Scoring and many soloists. Simon Koudriavtsev served as the soundtrack's audio director while Cody Matthew Johnson served as producer and also songwriter.
The game "went gold"—marking the end of its pre-release active production period—in July 2024. The game features a Standard Edition, Gold Edition, and Ultimate Edition. The Gold Edition features early access to the game, and a season pass featuring cosmetics, two DLC expansions, and a "Jabba's Gambit" mission. The Ultimate Edition features this, additional cosmetics, and a digital art book. More cosmetic packs are a pre-order bonus. The Ultimate Edition is available for Ubisoft+ subscribers. Outlaws is set to receive two post-launch story packs and cosmetic bundles for the season pass. The first expansion, Wild Card, was released on November 21, 2024, and the second expansion, A Pirate's Fortune, will be released in spring 2025.
==Continuity==
Star Wars Outlaws features extensive references to other Star Wars media, ranging from canon novels such as Aftermath and the movies of the sequel trilogy, to area names only used in early West End Games products and other obscure sources from the Legends continuity.
The game is set during the times of the Syndicate War appearing in the "Crimson Dawn" trilogy of comic crossover stories, Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters, Crimson Reign, and Hidden Empire and is set more or less concurrent to the events of Crimson Reign. As such it features a number of characters and elements from the comics and novels relating to Crimson Dawn and its leader Qi'ra.
However, it does conflict with some details:
*Temmin Wexley's droid, Mister Bones, is absent from the game, and a conversation between Temmin and Kay implies that Kay inspires him to build Bones for security. However, the novel Aftermath establishes that Temmin made Bones the year his mother, Norra Wexley, left and joined the Rebellion. "The Buy-In," which takes place the day before the Battle of Endor, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 4 ABY, states that Norra joined the Alliance three years before, placing both Norra joining the Rebels and Bones' creation in 1 ABY.
*Aftermath, which is set in 4 ABY not long after the events of the game, also states that Temmin's aunt Esmelle lived in Myrra with her wife Shirene; however, Outlaws depicts them as living in the village of Sashin instead.
*Sliro Barsha is shown in Crimson Reign 5 to inform the Emperor on Coruscant of Qi'ra's leadership of Crimson Dawn and Crimson Dawn's role in starting the Syndicate War, which prompts the Empire to immediately begin hunting down Crimson Dawn agents throughout the galaxy. However, Outlaws, which depicts Barsha's death, shows the Dawn operating openly on multiple worlds, thus conflicting with Crimson Reign 5 unless Barsha's appearance on Coruscant is followed immediately by Kay Vess's raid on the ISB station at Dorsha Six, where Vader orders Barsha to hunt down the rebels, and by the second heist and Barsha's death aboard the Revelator.
*Asara Deyn's ISB Report collectible states that his sister Calys was killed at the "Battle of Trevini," but his in-game dialogue says she died at the Battle of Scarif instead. In-game dialogue also states that the Empire made sure to cover up information about the Battle of Scarif, meaning the “mistake” is likely intentional.
==Reception==
Star Wars: Outlaws sold poorly for Ubisoft, leading the company to delay the release of Assassin's Creed: Shadows. As of late September, 2024, the game has sold over 1 million copies. The game was nominated for The Game Awards 2024 under two categories, "Innovation in Accessibility" and "Best Action/Adventure Game." Additionally, Humberly González received a "Best Performance" nomination for her portrayal of Kay Vess.
==Media==
Star-Wars-Outlaws.png|Main poster
OutlawsPosterFull.jpg|Main poster art
OutlawsKeyArt.jpg|Key art
OutlawsSyndicatesPosterLogoTop.jpg|Poster featuring the four syndicates (portrait)
OutlawsSyndicatesPosterLandscape.jpg|Poster featuring the four syndicates (landscape)
==Credits==
==Appearances==
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Canon computer and video games