Star Wars Outlaws
Star Wars Outlaws is a 2024 action-adventure game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. Set in the Star Wars universe between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the story follows Kay Vess, a young scoundrel who assembles a team for a massive heist in order to escape a crime syndicate. The game is played from a third-person perspective, with the player traversing an open world environment and engaging in various activities.
The development team, supported by Lucasfilm Games and ten other Ubisoft studios, sought to combine canonical elements of the Star Wars universe with their own ideas, focusing on creating cinematic and seamless gameplay. Humberly González provided the motion capture and voice for Kay, while Dee Bradley Baker voiced her companion, Nix.
Star Wars Outlaws was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on August 30, 2024, and was released for Nintendo Switch 2 on September 4, 2025. The game received generally positive reviews from critics. In October 2024, Ubisoft reported sales of Star Wars Outlaws underperformed expectations.
Gameplay
Star Wars Outlaws is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The player controls the scoundrel Kay Vess, traversing open world environments on planets and in space while engaging in various activities. The game features four explorable planets: Akiva, Kijimi, Tatooine, and Toshara. The planet Cantonica is also featured in certain story missions. Combat combines melee attacks and the use of a blaster, which has several firing modes, including an electromagnetic pulse. Kay can use environmental objects, such as explosive barrels, to her advantage. Kay has the Adrenaline ability, which charges during combat and triggers a time-slowing effect, allowing for a rapid series of shots at marked targets. She can also use stealth to sneak past or neutralize enemies. Kay's arsenal includes a grappling hook and an electronic hacking device. Her companion, a small creature named Nix, can scan the environment, interact with objects, and distract or attack enemies.The player traverses planetary surfaces on a speeder bike and travels between planets aboard a starship called the Trailblazer. The player can also explore the orbits of planets and moons, as well as engage in space combat using the ship's weapons, including a laser cannon and missiles. Space stations provide hubs for trade and additional missions. By completing game activities, the player earns credits that can be used to purchase items and gear. As the game progresses, the player can upgrade Kay and Nix's abilities, along with enhancements for the blaster, speeder, and Trailblazer. The player can acquire new skills and upgrades by seeking out experts and completing their assignments.
In Outlaws, the player encounters four factions: the Ashiga Clan, Crimson Dawn, Hutt Cartel, and Pyke Syndicate. The player's decisions and actions throughout the game directly impact Kay's reputation with each. A high faction reputation grants access to locations, assignments, and discounts in faction shops. Conversely, a low reputation may result in factions dispatching mercenaries to pursue Kay. The game features a six-level wanted system that determines the intensity of Imperial forces' pursuit of Kay. The player can evade pursuit by hiding, bribing, or eliminating enemies. Additionally, the game features dialogue trees with answer choices that affect mission outcomes.
Plot
Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, the leader of the upstart criminal syndicate Zerek Besh, Sliro Barsha, murders the leaders of his rival syndicates in a bid to consolidate his power. Meanwhile, Kay Vess seeks a way to escape her homeworld of Cantonica and start a new life in the Core Worlds. Desperate, she takes up a job with a crew led by Dennion, who plan to break into Sliro's vault and steal his fortune. Kay successfully opens the vault, only to be surprised when Dennion's crew reveal themselves to be part of the Rebel Alliance, and their real objective was to free their team leader, Asara Deyn, who was being held prisoner by Sliro. Kay demands payment from Dennion but is shot by a stun blast and forced to escape on her own. Believing Kay is responsible for the break-in, Sliro puts a death mark on her head. Kay steals a ship called the Trailblazer and makes an emergency jump to the planet Toshara, but is forced to crash land due to damage to the ship.On Toshara, Kay meets Waka, a mechanic willing to repair the Trailblazer, but Kay has to do jobs for the local syndicates to earn the money to pay for the parts. As Kay gets the Trailblazer repaired and performs jobs for the local syndicates, she is soon forced to choose which syndicates to curry favor with, either assisting or betraying them at several opportunities. Eventually, she manages to salvage a replacement nav computer from a shipwreck only to be double-crossed by Waka, but he is killed by the bounty hunter Vail Tormin, who is after Kay's death mark. Kay is saved by outlaw Jaylen Vrax and his droid enforcer ND-5. Jaylen asks for Kay's participation in breaking into Sliro's vault again to steal his fortune, and instructs her to gather the necessary crew members to pull off the heist.
Kay and ND-5 then travel around the galaxy to recruit crew members. On Kijimi, she frees their safecracker, Ank Parako, from the clutches of the Ashiga Clan. On Tatooine, she searches for their heavy, Hoss, but they, along with Vail, run afoul of Jabba the Hutt. Hoss is killed while Kay and Vail are forced to work together to escape, with both women earning each other's respect. On Akiva, she searches for the droidsmith Gedeek Obaz and helps him hijack the Empire's Viper Droid project for the Rebel Alliance to secure his loyalty. However, before they can recruit a slicer, ND-5 begins to malfunction due to its power core failing. Kay and Gedeek enter an abandoned Separatist factory only to run into Asara's Rebel cell. ND-5 is repaired, and Asara decides to join the crew as their heavy. Jaylen also recruits Riko Vess, an expert slicer and Kay's estranged mother, who abandoned her as a child.
Despite her reluctance to work with Riko, Kay continues with the plan by stealing Sliro's master code, discovering that Sliro is a director of the Imperial Security Bureau and Zerek Besh is merely a front for the organization. She then leads the team in breaking into Sliro's vault. However, it's revealed to be a trap, and Sliro corners Kay in the vault and orders Vail to kill her. Instead, Vail turns on Sliro, knocking him unconscious and holding off his guards in return for loot. Kay and her team manage to escape the planet, but she finds out what they stole wasn't Sliro's money, but a codex containing all of his information about the Empire. Jaylen then betrays Kay and Asara, revealing his aim was to usurp Sliro and take control of Zerek Besh. He then forces ND-5 to stun Kay and locks her on the Trailblazer while taking Asara prisoner.
With Riko's assistance, Ank and Gedeek rescue Kay, who finds out the Trailblazer is now on the Imperial Star Destroyer Revelator. Wanting to rescue ND-5, Kay infiltrates a meeting between Sliro, Jaylen, and Darth Vader. Vader agrees to let Jaylen take control of Zerek Besh, and Jaylen reveals that he is Sliro's older brother before killing him in revenge for betraying and hunting down their family. Kay manages to remove ND-5's restraining bolt, and he kills Jaylen to protect Kay. Kay, ND-5, and Asara escape the Revelator with the Codex. With the assistance of Asara's Rebels and the syndicate Kay has the best relations with, they destroy the Revelator and escape. Afterwards, Asara returns to the Rebel Alliance with critical data from the codex, Ank and Gedeek decide to work together on casino heists, Vail is paid off with a copy of the codex, and Kay and ND-5 leave for their next adventure.
In a post-credits scene, a disguised Kay helps Riko escape an Imperial prison.