During Ubisoft Forward 2024 today, fans were treated to an extensive look at the publisher's upcoming game Star Wars Outlaws. Billed as the first-ever open world Star Wars game, fans will explore the galaxy as Kay Vess, a scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life.
Ubisoft has released trailers and overviews for Star Wars Outlaws previously, but none have really managed to fully demonstrate the ambition and scope of the game as well as today's footage. 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 Game Director Mathias Karlson explains, expert quests are ways for Kay Vess to learn and acquire new sills to help survive the underworld. In this particular instance, she must head to Tatooine to locate a gunslinger. But as an open world action-adventure, this is easier said than done.
The footage begins with Vess on the planet Akiva, specifically the Achra Station, a remnant from the Clone Wars that now acts as a trade hub for illegal contraband. As we follow Vess through the streets, Karlson explains that it's a great place to pick up supplies as merchants affiliated with various syndicates may offer you a good deal if you are in good standing.
From there, we head off in our Trailblazer ship where we get a good look at space combat. "Each planet has its own system for you to explore and many opportunities to make a few credits which you can choose to engage in or not," Mathias notes. At that point, we see Kay Vess come to the aid of a Pyke freighter under attack by pirates. Upon defeating the pirates, Vess's reputation with the Pyke syndicate improves, while she also gains credits.
We then arrive at the planet Tatooine, which is currently under the control of the Hutt Cartel. While speaking to folks in the bustling Catina, we learn of a pirate who is deadly with a blaster, with intel taking us to one of their storehouses. "Traveling to your destination can be an adventure in itself," Mathias explains as we watch Vess navigate the sprawling deserts on her speeder. "As you move across scorching dunes and dusty valleys, you'll quickly realize that this lawless planet still holds many mysteries."
When we finally reach our destination, we discover the storehouse is heavily guarded and must find a way in without triggering the alarm. At this point, we get a long look at the many different ways to approach a mission. We see Vess sneak her way into the base and perform some stealth takedowns, some of which are with the aid of her companion Nix. At one point, things take a turn and it turns into a full-blown shootout where we see the blaster combat on full display.
Eventually, Vess makes it out and heads to the location of the expert she's been looking for. And that concludes the extended gameplay preview of Star Wars Outlaws, the ambitious new game from Ubisoft and developer Massive Entertainment.
In addition to the gameplay footage, Ubisoft also released more of a general overview trailer for Star Wars Outlaws that highlights the details of "what makes Kay an original scoundrel, the underworld setting, and the galaxy of opportunity that awaits"
Kay takes on high-risk, high-reward jobs to earn favor with the galaxy's most notorious crime syndicates, including the cutthroat Pyke Syndicate, the crafty and cunning Crimson Dawn, amongst others. More of the locations Kay will explore are shown in detail in the video above, including the jungle world of Akiva, the ancient city of Kijimi, and the savannah moon of Toshara. There are flashbacks to Kay's past growing up in Canto Bight, a memory of meeting Nix for the first time, and scenes of Kay hustling and thieving to survive.
Star Wars Outlaws launches on August 30, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.