Ubisoft Massive is making changes to how stealth works in Star Wars Outlaws.
In a new post on their official blog, creative director Drew Rechner explains how the change actually works out in-game:
“Our first step in expanding player choice is removing forced stealth from almost all quest objectives. This doesn’t mean that sneaking is no longer a viable or even preferable option in some cases. Rather, if you’re caught while sneaking, the objective won’t fail and reset you to the last checkpoint. Instead, you’ll seamlessly transition into combat.
We know many of you enjoy the stealth approach, so it was important to us to preserve that playstyle while also giving you the freedom to decide how to tackle each mission. Ultimately, you’ll have the choice to sneak, go in combat-first, or—my personal favorite—sneak until you’re caught and then blast your way out.”
Rechner also explained that you can now choose to go in guns ahoy in syndicate districts, and promised that there will be an improved combat experience, all in the next update.
These are improvements to how the game works in general. As Rechner acknowledged, the stealth systems that Massive built don’t always work as they were intended to. So, these accommodations are both meant to satisfy frustrated fans, and perhaps to deal with those issues without having to reprogram the game too extensively, at least theoretically.
But of course, this comes at the expense of the story that Massive wanted to tell. Kay Vess is not a bounty hunter in the same way that Han Solo was. Actually, she’s a petty thief, who wasn’t above killing people, but is more likely to skulk away. Massive made a very particular character for their slice of the Star Wars universe, but because they weren’t able to sell her character and story to the fans, they have to revise that original narrative they made.
We reported on Rechner being brought in to take over the creative director job at the start of this month. That in itself seemed to be an acknowledgement that the game Massive released wasn’t quite complete, and it’s up to Rechner to polish the game up to something that fans will be satisfied is truly finished.
And that creative director job needed to be brought in, because Rechner is making the big creative decisions like this. So don’t be too surprised if the Star Wars Outlaws that comes out after all these updates and patches turns out to be a completely different game.
