‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ Developers Provide New Details About Kay, Nix and the Game’s Story
In a newly-published interview on GameSpot with some of Star Wars: Outlaws‘ developers, some new details about the game’s characters and plot were dished out. Game director Mathias Karlson and narrative director Navid Khavari talked more about Massive Entertainment’s newest game, set to release in 2024.
Massive Entertainment is most known for its open-world, MMO-shooter, Tom Clancy’s The Division. But their next highly-anticipated game takes them to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: Outlaws. Feel free to check out our coverage on Star Wars: Outlaw’s 10-minutes of gameplay footage and our article on Massive Entertainment’s reveal trailer that debuted at the Xbox Games Showcase for further breakdowns of what was already shown.
In the interview with Mathias Karlson and Navid Khavari, the pair were asked why they decided on the character of Kay Vess for their game. Khavari had this to say:
“The beauty of having a character like Kay Vess is this is her first step into the underworld and we’re experiencing that alongside of her … One of the things we always talked about as a team is, we put ourselves in the mind of Kay and how she acts. She’s not perfect, she hasn’t figured everything out yet, and that feels great. That feels natural and fresh in what we’re trying to do. And so, being able to go into that journey with her — to watch her navigate the underworld and have that sort of experience where you’re learning it alongside her — it feels great. I think that the team is super excited about that.”
Khavari also responded to some of the comparisons made between the duo of Kay and Nix with the other iconic Star Wars duo, Han and Chewie. He used this opportunity to point out some of the bigger differences between the two pairs:
“I think the main thing is, honestly, she hasn’t figured it all out yet. We kept going back to that. When you see Han and Chewie, they’re unbelievable characters, but you can tell it’s not their first rodeo. With Kay, her direction hasn’t been set yet. She hasn’t made her mark on the galaxy. She doesn’t know all these syndicates and criminal organizations. And as a character, her having that sort of self-deprecating, ‘I’m still figuring it out’ attitude feels really refreshing, to be honest …
Kay is also a bit of a loner. She’s someone who has grown up having to do everything herself, having to survive herself. And Nix is almost like this chink in her armor. It’s her only family. It’s her support system. And I think what’s great is it translates from story to gameplay as well. In a lot of ways Nix is this extension of Kay, giving her the ability to do things that she would never be able to do herself.”
Finally, Karlson and Khavari were asked about how much of Star Wars: Outlaws‘ narrative will branch off into different directions depending on the decisions made by the player. While it seems as though the game will have a number of set story moments, it appears that there will also be a number of scenes that will change depending on the choices made by the player.
Karlson: “Action and consequence is pervasive in the experience. The decisions you make and actions you take are going to have an impact on your relationship with the different factions, creating threats and opportunities. There will be an ebb and flow there, depending on the choices you make. [They also impact] the endpoint.”
Khavari: “Yeah, it’s in that moment-to-moment decision making where the narrative is going to react to what you’re doing. But also, we wanted to make sure this was a full journey for Kay from beginning to end. We wanted those anchor points — those emotional beats in the story — so it’s guaranteed you’re going to have that. But moment-to-moment, the story’s going to adapt.”
Star Wars: Outlaws is currently projecting a release date of sometime in 2024 and will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
