When I opened up Twitter today, I saw an advertisement for Ubisoft’s upcoming Star Wars third-person adventure Outlaws. The publisher/developer claims the title would allow us to “experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game…”
First-ever open-world game set in a galaxy far, far away? What? As pointed out by several already on Twitter, the claim is false. Outlaws is a bit late, considering Star Wars Galaxies game out twenty years ago.
The 2003-launched MMORPG allowed players to travel to several planets, explore, create cities, and live whatever they wanted in the pre-Disney Trilogy Star Wars Universe. The sadly (officially) defunct game was possibly the most “open-world” a game of this scale could be.
If we want to flash forward into the 2010s, Star Wars: The Old Republic is another MMORPG that did some of the same things as Galaxies. Again, it allowed us to explore open worlds set in a time long before the Galactic Empire. Thankfully, this game is still up and running.
I will give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the company meant the first non-MMORPG open-world Star Wars game.
Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game and become the galaxy's most wanted in #StarWarsOutlaws.
— Star Wars Outlaws (@StarWarsOutlaws) June 12, 2023
In case UbiSoft pulls the tweets down, here’s a screenshot of the inaccurate claim:
I’ll give Ubisoft credit for creating a slick trailer. The 10-minute gameplay walkthrough also gave me a little hope. It’s a nice change of pace to focus on gunslinging rather than lightsaber swinging.
The HUD looks limited, which I’m thankful for. I want to see the environment, not a dozen icons, mini-maps, and whatnot. The cover mechanics also look fun, reminding me of the various shootouts in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: Outlaws has a lot going for it as long as it doesn’t fall into the typical Ubisoft pitfalls: too much pay-to-win DLC, five different versions of the game at launch, season passes, hunting down beacons to reveal parts of a map.
Outside of gameplay annoyances, Outlaws must avoid one of the biggest problems that Star Wars games faced for several years: not letting us play as baddies. We don’t need everything to be a redemption story about a scumbag or an Imperial jumping ship to help the Rebel Alliance. Let us be rogues.
The downfall of Battlefront 2‘s story was seeing the paint-by-numbers hardened believer of the Empire suddenly turning on them because, shocker, the Emporer was not a nice fellow.
What are your thoughts on Ubisoft’s weirdly ignorant marketing? Let us know below.
[Source: UbiSoft]
Pirates & Princesses (TM) (Stylized as PNP) is an independent, opinionated News and Information site focused on Travel, Entertainment, Fashion, the “Geek Girl” Lifestyle, and more. We focus heavily on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando Resort, and other themed entertainment and travel destinations. Our news staff includes former theme park and entertainment industry employees, journalists and dedicated pop culture and theme park enthusiasts. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of this site, our affiliates or our sponsors.