GameInformer has shared an interesting preview for Star Wars Outlaws, revealing just how much of a sly fox Kay Vess is going to be.
If your core memory of the Star Wars universe is the first released movies, you imagine a world where the rogue Han Solo dealt with the Empire, the Hutts, and other bounty hunters. The greater Star Wars universe brings in more factions and alliances, but in this game, Kay Vess deals primarily with four crime syndicates; the Hutts, the Pykes, the Crimson Dawn, and the Ashiga Clan.
The idea is, as a hired gun, you can work with any of these four syndicates, taking jobs from them one after another, even if that means your former employer becomes your enemy. Consequently, Star Wars Outlaws has a reputation system, where your reputation with each syndicate goes up and down with how you interact with them.
In the scenario played out by GameInformer’s Brian Shea, Kay tries to sneak her way into the Pykes to curry their favor, but is caught and kicked out. That drops Kay’s reputation with the Pykes, so there are stakes established if you fail playing stealth.
Kay is then offered a job by a broker named Danka to steal a file from the Pykes. In Brian’s playthrough, Kay is found out again, and has to hightail it out of their base, but after succeeding in her mission Kay also finds video footage of some Pykes plotting against one of their leaders, Gorak.
Kay learns that her client was from the Crimson Dawn, and she then gets to choose to sell her video to this client, or back to the Pykes. She chooses to go to her client.
But almost immediately, Kay also betrays the Crimson Dawn, as she discovers that she can get an lightsaber upgrade from them by stealing it. Kay manages to steal this item without being caught, and as a result, she got what she wanted, and her reputation with the Crimson Dawn was not harmed.
There are some tidbits about Kay’s different abilities as well, such as the usefulness of her animal companion, Nix, and common video game items and weapons, like a grappling hook. But what’s interesting here is that the game’s systems set you up to be in a position where you can exploit all four criminal organizations to your advantage.
Or, if you play badly, you could be well known as the greatest scoundrel in Toshara’s capital city, Mirogana. It’s all very promising from the developer that brought us the first two Tom Clancy’s The Division games, and a genuine surprise that we get sunk into this kind of a mafia/crime storyline.
Star Wars Outlaws is releasing on August 30, 2024, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Ubisoft Connect. It will not be available on Steam.
