The upcoming Star Wars Outlaws has already impressed fans with its bold take on the franchise's iconic universe. Being billed as the first truly open-world game within the IP, the title is set to be one of many firsts for the franchise for a wide range of reasons.
In particular, Star Wars Outlaws seems to be committed to showcasing a narrative within the Star Wars universe removed from the inclusion of Jedi and Sith. With these two groups long being the dominant driving force behind a lot of Star Wars media, Outlaws is set to be another shining example of how the IP can still thrive away from the portrayal of force users.
Star Wars Outlaws' More Grounded Approach
While the release of Star Wars Outlaws is quite far off, fans have already received enough promotional material and gameplay footage to have a pretty good understanding of the game's experience. As the name suggests, Outlaws stars a humanoid named Kay Vess who is often on the wrong side of the Galactic Empire's stringent laws.
The game will allow the player to travel between a wide array of locations, managing alliances with Star Wars Outlaws' different factions and crime syndicates. These relationships can foster branching narratives and opportunities, such as heists and large-scale conflicts. Of course, this kind of gameplay will see the player interact with a wide range of species and droids, but there has been practically no pre-release focus on force-sensitive figures in Star Wars Outlaws' marketing.
Instead, it seems that Outlaws will take a very grounded approach, showcasing the everyday lives of citizens whose lives have been massively influenced by the Jedi and Sith conflict in Star Wars. Like Kay Vess, many have turned to crime in order to survive, with Outlaws being poised to tell a much more human and even relatable tale when compared to the usual narratives of the franchise.
Star Wars' Gradual Distancing From Jedi and Sith
Of course, the Jedi and Sith are absolutely integral to the mainline narratives of the Star Wars franchise, and so it is no wonder the two groups have featured so heavily in the franchise's extended media over the years. With that being said, Star Wars has become decidedly more comfortable distancing itself from force users in recent projects, to great success.
For example, the recent Disney+ show Andor was a huge hit for Star Wars, telling a tale of the early rebellion prior to the events of Rogue One. The show was heavily praised from its reliance on raw emotion and grounded themes in the absence of Jedi or Sith screen time, giving a clear indication that the IP can stand on its own two feet without showcasing these groups.
While other shows such as The Mandalorian do feature force-users to an extent, it is clear that Star Wars is more than comfortable in broadening the horizons of its involved characters beyond force users. This is now cemented in the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws, which is aiming to contrast other franchise games like Jedi: Survivor in the same way Andor contrasted the force-heavy presence of Star Wars' mainline films.
One of the greatest benefits of Star Wars is the sheer scope of its galaxy and its many time periods, giving a near limitless wealth of inspiration behind new stories. This extends to weaving narratives completely away from the Jedi and Sith, and Star Wars Outlaws proves the franchise can be ambitious even when not portraying these groups.
Star Wars Outlaws releases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
