‘Star Wars: Outlaws’: Creative Director Says Planet Maps are Double to Triple the Size of the Zones in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’
Star Wars: Outlaws is going to have even more expansive worlds than those seen in Ubisoft’s 2018 hit Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, according to the developers of the upcoming open-world adventure game.
Talking to EDGE Magazine (hat tip MP1st), Star Wars: Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty explained that exploring each playable planet will be something of an odyssey in and of itself, with some worlds doubling to tripling the size of one of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey‘s seven zones. All the worlds in the video game are designed from scratch by Ubisoft Massive Entertainment, and are not procedurally-generated. That being said, each world has fixed locations that you can visit above the planet and on the surface, which is effectively the standard for Star Wars games anyways. The game is placed Star Wars: Outlaws between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so the developers sought to recreate the feel of what Star Wars galaxy looked like around that time, down to creating a “lens” for the game’s camera that makes the adventure have similar lighting and presentation to those movies.
As far as gameplay is concerned, Gerighty indicated that players having extensive freedom is a major goal for this title, with each encounter being set up to have multiple possible approaches that suit where the player wants to take Kay Vess. These encounters will have long-term consequences for the player, as the game’s “Reputation System” will open up avenues for specific quests and affect your standing with various factions as you progress. Nix, the animal companion and partner-in-crime for Vess, serves a similar function to BD-1 in the Jedi games by assisting the player in the various combat and puzzle sequences that she experiences. Some other details pointed out in the piece are that the Trailblazer, the ship players will use to explore the Outer Rim with, was inspired by spaceship models and toys in the 1970s and 1980s, though the droid ally ND-5 is based more on the designs of the prequel trilogy. Nix’s look is also inspired by Jim Henson’s various characters, being somewhat more in-line with the 1970s/1980s aesthetic.
Star Wars: Outlaws showcases the criminal underworld during the waning days of the Galactic Empire. Players will step into the shoes of Kay Vess, who works alongside ND-5, a modified BX-Series Commando Battle Droid and her pet alien creature Nix. Under the recommendation of the mysterious Jaylen, Nix and her allies will go on a journey that will have her fight against the Empire and the various crime syndicates working parallel to them. This motley crew will explore a variety of open-world environments across the galaxy far, far away using their wit and will to survive.
Star Wars: Outlaws will be released sometime in 2024.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
