Both of the Star Wars Jedi games are great, but the Star Wars Outlaws is poised to dethrone them. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Survivor wowed players by applying the Soulslike formula to a Star Wars setting. With challenging, lightsaber-based boss battles, a variety of secret-laden worlds to explore, and an engaging storyline, Jedi: Survivor proved one of the best Star Wars games in recent memory.
However, the newly announced Star Wars Outlaws could change that. Announced at the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase, it's being developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. While it doesn't even have a set release date yet, early details look incredibly promising. It appears to take the long-running Star Wars video game adaptation tradition in some interesting new directions, while also incorporating some aspects of what has made past titles a success. If it combines all of these disparate parts into a cohesive whole, Star Wars Outlaws could easily become a better game than Jedi: Survivor.
10 Space Travel Looks More Immersive
In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, space travel is as simple as picking a destination at the Mantis' holotable and watching as Greez points the ship in the right direction. In Star Wars Outlaws, however, space travel looks far more involved. The freedom to actually fly through space instead of just picking a destination could be a massive improvement for player immersion. Where Jedi: Survivor's interplanetary travel was little more than a glorified loading screen, giving players total control over Kay's ship in Star Wars Outlaws can make them feel like they're actually exploring the galaxy.
9 Nix Is Way Cuter Than BD-1
One of the most charming aspects of Jedi: Survivor was Cal's constant companion, BD-1. Roughly the size of a common house cat, and given to perching on Cal's shoulder while occasionally emitting beeps and boops, BD-1 is an adorable droid and an excellent partner in adventuring. However, Star Wars Outlaws' cutesy companion, the alien Nix, simply takes the cake. With big, soulful eyes and three sets of droopy, ear-like appendages, Nix somewhat resembles a cross between an axolotl and an extraterrestrial Cocker Spaniel - a Star Wars species known as Merqaal. Their fluffy coat also looks far more pettable than BD-1's rough, metallic edges.
8 Wanted System
Incorporating an interesting feature straight out of Grand Theft Auto, Star Wars Outlaws will have a wanted system that tracks the player's nefarious deeds across the galaxy. While a feature like this would've been appropriate in Jedi: Survivor - Cal's status as a living Jedi makes him an outlaw in his own right - it would never have worked due to the game's linear structure and closed-off areas. Outlaws' more open-world structure can help this feature succeed; interplanetary travel will only be all the more exciting when players are pursued by hostile forces. The wanted system should add urgency and surprise to Outlaws' open-world exploration, both things that Jedi: Survivor lacked.
7 No More Tired Good Vs. Evil Jedi Stories
Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor have excellent stories and characters, but they follow in the footsteps of so many Star Wars plots, focusing on conflict between the Light Side and the Dark Side. Despite fan theories about Cal Kestis becoming the franchise's first gray Jedi, he's still a good guy fighting against the bad guys. Star Wars Outlaws focuses on a different aspect of Star Wars: the scoundrels and smugglers who run its vast criminal underworld. There's much more potential for morally gray characters and more challenging story quandaries in a game like Outlaws, and that goes hand in hand with another one of its new features.
6 Morality System & Player Choice
Star Wars Outlaws will borrow from another Rockstar series - Red Dead Redemption - by incorporating a morality system similar to the Western franchise's ethical spectrum. This means that the game's story will probably sometimes differ depending on a player's choice: let a character live or die, let the criminal go or turn them in, accept or decline payment for a good deed. Jedi: Survivor really only has one story path; while there are a couple of opportunities for choices, they don't really have any impact on the story. Star Wars Outlaws' morality system means its choices could actually matter, altering the direction of the plot or how protagonist Kay is perceived.
5 Player Freedom
There's a little bit of freedom to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, but the game is essentially linear. Players have some choice in of which planets they want to visit first, but there's only a handful of them, and new ones only become available at certain points in the story. Exploration mostly takes place along predetermined paths. Star Wars Outlaws, however, could be much more open-ended. It's been d as the first true open-world Star Wars game, meaning that players will probably be able to travel wherever in the galaxy they want, whenever they want. It's an ambitious concept and, if executed right, will make Outlaws extremely immersive.
4 Stealth
Jedi: Survivor didn't have a stealth system, although it did reward players for surprise attacks. Cal frequently finds himself sneaking around groups of Stormtroopers, so some kind of stealth stance would've made sense. Stealth equally makes sense in Star Wars Outlaws, in which Kay will likely often need to travel the path of least resistance to steal someone's valuables or avoid hostile guards. Outlaws will include a stealth mechanic - it'll probably borrow from Ubisoft's classic Assassin's Creed crouch-to-sneak formula. This gives players more options in dealing with enemies, allowing them to completely avoid combat when it gives them an advantage. Some kind of damage-boosted stealth strike could also be useful.
3 More Populated Cities
Jedi: Survivor had beautifully designed environments, suring Fallen Order in of their scale and branching paths. However, much of the game still takes place in barren ruins on mostly forgotten planets; at times, it just feels empty. By entering the world of the smuggler, Star Wars Outlaws has potential to include more big, populated cities - a couple of them are already visible in the announcement trailer. Larger cities are also necessary because of Outlaws' open-world format: Kay will need somewhere to find work, upgrade her equipment, and spend her ill-gotten gains. Populated cities could go a long way toward making the galaxy feel less empty in Star Wars Outlaws.
2 Space Combat
A feature central to many Star Wars video game adaptations is that of space combat. These epic, heart-pounding dogfights not only make for stunning set pieces - they can also be thrilling and challenging for the player. Unfortunately, the player doesn't do any spaceship piloting, let alone fighting, in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Star Wars Outlaws, however, will feature space combat centered around Kay's signature ship the Trailblazer. While it probably won't rival more in-depth Star Wars dogfighting experiences like Squadrons, even a relatively simple space combat system can add a whole new dimension to Star Wars Outlaws.
1 Kay's Speeder
The vehicle sequences in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor are some of their respective games' high points, but they're disappointingly brief. In general, vehicles have limited uses in the Star Wars Jedi games, which is a shame considering how much fun they are. Star Wars Outlaws, however, takes a different approach: Kay will have a dedicated, motorcycle-like land speeder that she'll presumably haul with her from planet to planet. Whether drifting through the back alleys of a seedy burg or zipping across miles of empty desert, Kay's speeder should be a handy - and delightful - tool for players to use. Plus, it just happens to look really cool.
No matter how it ranks compared to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars Outlaws has a lot of potential. However, its release date is still far in the future; plenty can happen between now and then. While it has a more-than-decent record when it comes to spectacular, ambitious open-world RPGs, Ubisoft has also had its fair share of flops and broken releases. Its announcement trailer for Star Wars Outlaws has already created tons of hype - now all it has to do is live up to it.
