Star Wars Outlaws is set to release later this year, but Summer Game Fest provided fans and journalists with their first hands-on preview of the highly anticipated game. While the majority of previews were positive, there were some negative impressions.
In a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Star War Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty was asked about those negative reactions and if they think the demo is representative of what players should expect when the game launches later this year.
Coming into a show like this while you’re finishing a game, you have to make a lot of choices, and our producer told us that we get one demo to take to all these shows we’re going to, so Gamescom, Comic-con etc.
They’re consumer and journalist-focused. We had to choose something that was a 20-minute bite-size chunk with lots of variety, lots of representative systems, but not the open-world portion. We’ll spend a lot more time on those things. This is a starter, rather than a main course.
Gerighty previously revealed that Star Wars Outlaws will take anywhere between 25 and 60 hours to complete, depending on your playstyle. So in a sense, what fans and journalists played at Summer Game Fest was just a very small sliver of the overall experience.
As the first open world Star Wars game, Ubisoft had to be selective with what it would bring to the show. A 20 minute demo may give players a chance to experience the various gameplay systems, but I would say it's hardly representative of the overall game, including its story.
When asked if the criticism will be answered with the full game when it releases later this year, Gerighty responded: "I think we have a very compelling overall game, and I think just a part of it is represented in our current demo."
In Star Wars Outlaws, players will explore the galaxy as Kay Vess, a scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life. In their quest for freedom, they will take on high risk, high reward missions from the galaxy’s crime syndicates.
During Summer Game Fest and Ubisoft Forward earlier this month, Ubisoft shared 10 minutes of gameplay footage that offered those who couldn't attend the event an in-depth at gameplay. The footage follows Kay Vess on a mission to find an expert gunslinger and convince them to help her upgrade her skills with a blaster.
As an action-adventure game, Star Wars Outlaws has also been referred to by some as "Star Wars Uncharted." Gerighty was asked about the comparisons and if they thought they were fair. While the creative director pointed out that the Uncharted games were a "reference point," they don't necessarily mind the comparisons.
It wasn’t necessarily our reference point. It’s such a wonderful game to be compared to, if you’re going to be compared to somebody, it might as well be the best in the industry. Naughty Dog and what they do is absolutely brilliant, I’ll take it. It wasn’t the point of origin.
Star Wars Outlaws releases on August 30, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.