After milking its best-selling franchises, Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, dry by making new iterations using the same formula but with minimal improvements over older entries, Ubisoft is doing the same thing but with new games instead. Immortals Fenyx Rising was a good start. Believe it or not, it was a great game if a little underrated. Something tells us that applying the standard Far Cry formula to its upcoming Avatar game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, will work quite well, much to the chagrin of naysayers. But, what’s really gotten fans excited is realizing the “bigger is better” foundation laid by Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in the upcoming open-world RPG, Star Wars: Outlaws.
The adventure of the villainous Kay Vess, as revealed by Massive Entertainment earlier this year, is a sprawling epic with a scale that’s beyond massive. Apparently, each planet in the game is approximately the size of two to three zones in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
Now, any dedicated player of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey knows that each zone in that game is quite substantial in size. Therefore, multiplying that by two or three for each planet in Star Wars Outlaws is something truly grand to contemplate.
NEWS: Star Wars: Outlaws will have each planet roughly the size of 2-3 areas in #AssassinsCreed Odyssey🚀
Who else is excited to seamlessly explore, take off, engage in space battles and land on new words?😎
Source: Creative Director Julian Gerighty @jgerighty #Ubisoft… pic.twitter.com/11Cq075igN
— Rino (@RinoTheBouncer) July 15, 2023
In the game, players will guide Kay Vess, our protagonist (or rather, antagonist?), across these planets, each with a carefully handcrafted world brimming with detail and character. These planets aren’t just large but meticulously designed by those over at Massive Entertainment. Creative Director Julian Gerighty stated, each location is “handcrafted,” veering away from the typical procedurally generated environments often found in open-world games.
This game’s vastness and meticulous attention to detail are not the only exciting elements. In a recent interview with EDGE magazine, Gerighty discussed some intriguing aspects of gameplay that set this game apart. It’s not just about exploring these colossal planets, there’s a whole universe of consequences that come into play. Every decision you make, every faction you align with or go against, every credit you spend, and every quest you undertake, has repercussions.
Ubisoft has paid attention to the aspects of mobility and traversal as well. The extensive size of the planets belies the relative lack of exploration. Each one will have landing and take-off areas and players can’t freely fly above. But even with limitations, traveling to and on these planets should feel like a true journey, one that gives the players a sense of adventure and discovery.
Then there’s the companionship of Nix, Vass’ alien companion, which introduces a new level of gameplay dynamics. You will be able to control Nix to attack enemies, activate unreachable buttons, and even pick up heavy weapons from fallen foes. A pinch of Watch Dogs’ Spiderbot, a dash of BioShock Infinite’s Elizabeth, and a smidgen of EA’s Star Wars Jedi games’ BD-1, Nix is an exciting blend that brings novelty to the game.
What’s more, players can feel the influence of the era the game is set in, between 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi. The studio has developed technology to mimic some of the lenses from the 1970s, making this game not just a gaming experience but a sort of time travel with the classic Star Wars feel.
However, in this vast expanse of space, it’s important to bear in mind that the gameplay design is fundamentally different from Ubisoft’s previous games. Comparisons with games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or even Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in terms of content concentration or raw game world size can be misleading.
It’s best to take Star Wars: Outlaws as what it is – an open-world space-faring RPG with a Ubisoft flair.
Fingers crossed, the force is strong with this one as Massive Entertainment works hard to get it ready for release next year for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Serie S/X, and the PC.
