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Star Wars Outlaws showcases its scum and villainy in gameplay debut

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This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

Today’s Ubisoft Forward closed out with a whopping 10 minutes of gameplay footage for the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws, only a day after its debut trailer was released at this summer’s Xbox Games Showcase. You can view the entire gameplay video directly below, but we’re also breaking it down for you.

Star Wars Outlaws: Official Gameplay Walkthrough | Ubisoft Forward

For longtime Star Wars fans, there’s a lot to unpack here. Historically, Lucasfilm’s galaxy far, far away has been a ripe setting for video games, yet it’s been almost 20 years since the heyday of games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies. Both of these offer the most freedom of any video game in the franchise, but are antiquated by today’s standards — not to mention, neither of them is considered canon.

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Star Wars Outlaws seems exactly like what fans have been asking for, mixing elements of modern open-world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Assassin’s Creed series with the signature cinematic trappings of the Star Wars universe as players eke out their own existence as interstellar freebooters. The gameplay reveal featured all the sights and sounds you’d want from a Star Wars game, from blaster combat to ground-based speeder chases to even interstellar space travel.

Star Wars Outlaws speeder vehicular gameplay gui
Ubisoft / ubisoft

It seems like protagonist Kay Vess can manually pilot her ship in and out of a planet’s atmosphere and warp across the known galaxy at her leisure. Star Wars Outlaws takes place in the canon between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and it seems like Kay Vess and her companions — such as the adorable alien Nix and droid crewmember ND-5 — will face off against enemy factions like the Empire, as well as the Hutt, Pyke, and Ashiga clans. Players will be able to make choices to influence the events during some cutscenes too.

There’s no specific release date for Star Wars Outlaws as of today’s Ubisoft Forward, but it’s slated for a vague release window of 2024. Star Wars Outlaws is set to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Gabriel Moss
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As a Contributor on Digital Trends, Gabriel Moss shares his insights about video games and technology. He also contributes to…
The best Syndicate rewards in Star Wars Outlaws
One character points a gun at others while gambling in a bar in the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws.

You will learn very quickly in Star Wars Outlaws that it isn't the Empire that runs things -- it's the syndicates. These crime families each fight for power over the various planets you will explore and all see you as a potential pawn in their schemes. Kay has a lot of useful skills and abilities they want to take advantage of, but it isn't a one-way street. If you can raise your reputation with a syndicate all the way to the max, you can earn yourself some valuable and exclusive rewards you won't find in any container you lockpick. Doing that many jobs for a syndicate takes time, but also tends to incur the wrath of other syndicates at the same time, making it very challenging to keep everyone happy. These syndicates have the best rewards that you should work your way through the ranks to get.
How reputation works

Each of the four major syndicates in Star Wars Outlaws has their own reputation meter you need to manage. These have five major segments: Terrible, Bad, Poor, Good, and Excellent. You raise that meter by doing jobs for a syndicate and lower it by either doing jobs that hurt that syndicate or by fighting or trespassing on their turf.

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star wars outlaws interview returning characters qi ra

Unlike most other Ubisoft games, or even most RPGs for that matter, you don't level up and unlock skills as you would expect to in Star Wars Outlaws. You won't earn any points or find a skill tree waiting for you here, but rather the new Experts system. As you explore the galaxy and meet new people while hunting for treasures, you will encounter special characters called Experts who are willing to help Kay expand her skills. Well, once you find and help them out, that is. Without their help, you're stuck with your basic abilities for the whole game, so taking a break from your main quest to find them is well worth your time. The galaxy is a big place, so we'll tell you where to find each of the Experts in Star Wars Outlaws.
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As we mentioned, you won't find yourself leveling up after completing missions or dispatching enemies. The only way to learn any new skills is through finding an Expert.

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