Star Wars Outlaws puts players back in a galaxy far, far away, this time as a smuggler moving between rival crime gangs rather than a hero with a sword of light. Released for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, the open-world action-adventure asks a simple question: what does life look like at the edges of the Empire, away from grand battles and famous heroes? The answer is a mixed one.
Trailer, via Ubisoft.
A Smuggler’s Life
The core loop follows a familiar shape. Players explore several planets, take on jobs for criminal gangs, and slip in and out of guarded areas using stealth, quiet payoffs to guards, or blaster fire. The gathering and robbery missions recall other open-world adventure games, but the underworld setting gives it a distinct flavor.
Star Wars Outlaws leans hard into its underworld setting. Bars, back-alley deals and smuggling runs replace the wide battles the series is best known for. That choice pays off in mood, even when it does not always pay off in mechanics.
Combat and Stealth
Shooting and stealth make up the two parts of most missions, and the two systems don’t always fit together well. Blaster fights are serviceable but rarely thrilling, with enemy AI that can feel either too passive or suddenly too alert. Sneaking past guards fares better, rewarding patience and route-planning over brute force.
The game offers a small set of tools to work with:
- A blaster with a changeable setting for stunning or lethal fire
- A companion creature that can distract guards or bring items
- Gadgets for breaking into machines and shutting down security
- A speeder for moving fast across open ground
None of these tools feel new on their own. Together, they give players enough choices to approach most situations in more than one way, which is the point.
Standing With the Gangs
The gang standing system is where Star Wars Outlaws tries hardest to set itself apart. Actions taken for or against one crime gang ripple outward, affecting standing with others. Help one gang and its rivals close ranks against the player.
This is a smart idea. It doesn’t always land with the weight it should.
Standing shifts sometimes feel arbitrary, and the consequences can be more cosmetic than real — a locked door here, a hostile guard there, rather than a path through the story that truly changes shape. Still, when the system works well, it gives missions a sense of weight that many open-world games lack.
Performance on the Big Three
Technically, Star Wars Outlaws runs into the kind of rough edges that have become common in big open-world releases. In my time with the PS5 version, frame pacing hiccups and pop-in were noticeable, and reports from players on other systems suggest similar issues. PC offers the most extra room for players with strong hardware, but none of the versions feel fully polished.
The visual work on planet scenes is strong, particularly in dense city and bar spaces where lighting and crowd detail do a lot of the mood-setting work. Open desert and forest areas look less impressive by comparison, occasionally showing the seams of a large map built for scale over detail.
| Platform | Mode | Target |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 | Performance | 60 frames per second |
| PS5 | Quality | 30 frames per second |
| Xbox Series X/S | Performance | 60 frames per second |
| Xbox Series X/S | Quality | 30 frames per second |
| PC | Variable | Depends on hardware |
The narrative follows the smuggler protagonist across a handful of worlds as she works to pay off a debt to a crime boss. The stakes stay personal and small-scale by Star Wars standards, which is a deliberate choice in mood. It mostly works, though the pacing slows in the middle stretch, where side missions pile up faster than the main plot moves forward.
Voice acting is a strength throughout, giving the crime bosses and hired guns distinct personalities even when the writing itself stays fairly plain. Fans of the wider Star Wars galaxy will recognize plenty of texture in the world-building, from gang politics to the criminal trade behind it.
Side content is plentiful, sometimes to a fault. Reward boards, smuggling contracts and exploration challenges are scattered generously across each planet, and while none of it is bad, the sheer amount can blunt the effect of the main story missions.
It’s a game that rewards patience more than mastery.
Star Wars Outlaws is an ambitious attempt to tell a street-level story in a series usually focused on wide-reaching stakes. The gang standing system, the stealth-driven mission design and the smuggler’s-eye view of the setting all show real invention. The execution doesn’t always match the ambition, particularly in the feel of combat and technical polish.
Players looking for a tightly tuned action experience may come away wanting more precision in the shooting and more weight in the gang consequences. Players drawn to the setting and the idea of living outside Imperial law will find plenty to enjoy in the mood, the world detail and the freedom to solve problems in more than one way.
Star Wars Outlaws earns its place as a solid, occasionally uneven entry in the growing list of Star Wars games — ambitious in idea, inconsistent in execution, but never dull to spend time in.
