Massive Entertainment explains in a new interview with GamesRadar+ that combat in Star Wars Outlaws entails more than merely dodging behind cover and gunning for heads.
Gameplay for Star Wars Outlaws was finally shown off by Massive during today’s Ubisoft Forward, and it looks fantastic. The action-adventure game, which stars the scrappy hooligan Kay Vess and her friend Nix, seems like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale galaxy far, far away.
After the expose, we sat down with creative director Julian Gerighty to talk about how Massive wants players to approach combat from the perspective of a “rascal” rather than a seasoned fighter like, say, Cal Kestis from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
“What we wished to do is nail the rascal dream,” Gerighty said. And if you’re a Star Wars hooligan, you probably aren’t a seasoned soldier. You’re a bad guy who happens to have a gun. With your blaster, your devices, all of the equipment, and Nix, you’re prepared to take on any challenge as a resourceful underdog. You’re not ducking behind cover and firing at people’s heads.
Both the first time she pulls out her blaster in the station and later on her Speeder Bike, we see Kay employ a ‘technique shot’ of sorts in the gameplay reveal trailer. The move isn’t just flashy; it also appears tactical, and the payoff, with your foes collapsing to the ground and taking off, is aesthetically beautiful. It reminds me of the Dead Eye targeting mechanism in Red Dead Redemption, a comparison that Gerighty seems to find acceptable.
“The ‘Trick Shot’ gives the player a brief opportunity to pull off an action that feels at once incredibly lucky and incredibly fantastic. Gerighty said it best when he said, “It’s all about making you feel tremendously competent in those minutes. You store the energy, and then you release it, making regular occurrences possible.
To learn that we’ll have a few more tricks up our sleeve than what we saw in the video is encouraging, as we haven’t seen a lot of Star Wars Outlaws gameplay. Still, I won’t complain if Star Wars Outlaws ends up being nothing more than a cover shooter with some technique shots.
Sometime in 2024, Star Wars Outlaws will be released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
While you wait, check out these top-notch Star Wars games.
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After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in English, I worked as a copy editor and contributed my writing skills to publications like SFX, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG in my spare time. Since joining GamesRadar as a Staff Writer, I’ve been assigned to the West Coast, where I’m responsible for running the regional office (my house) and writing about games I’m too terrified to finish.
