Star Wars Outlaws was a welcome little treat to have shown in a cinematic trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase last weekend, and it was even more surprising to see as much gameplay as it revealed at the Ubisoft Forward the next day. Star Wars Outlaws’ premise is incredibly simple on paper and is highly digestible for fans of the lowlife criminal underbelly that prevails in this particular era of Star Wars, but its Grand Theft Auto-like reputation system and enemy gang factions also make a remarkable match for the IP in that sense.
Moreover, Star Wars Outlaws’ Kay Vess wields a blaster pistol with three bolt modules players can swap between, and combat transitions fluidly between regular hails of blaster fire, hectic speeder chases in the open world of each planet, and dogfights in space while aboard their ship. It will be interesting to see how impactful player choice actually becomes in the narrative, too. However, there is one part of gameplay the cinematic trailer seemingly revealed that was not gone into in the gameplay walkthrough, and this is the potential for a Sabacc mini-game.
Star Wars Outlaws Has Explicitly Shown Sabacc and Now Needs to Double-Down on It
Because the cinematic trailer showed Kay playing Sabacc—Star Wars’ take on Poker, technically—it would be a huge letdown if Star Wars Outlaws did not feature it as its own mini-game. It would not make sense to have it be a prominent part of the trailer if it wasn’t going to be involved in gameplay somehow, especially since Kay fleeing and engaging in speeder combat did end up being part of the gameplay walkthrough reveal.
Of course, having Kay and Nix swindle their way through a Corellian Spike match for credits is a succinct way to instantly portray her as a scoundrel character since Han Solo and Lando Calrissian can be seen doing the same in Solo: A Star Wars Story. That said, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world game and could take its clear Rockstar Games inspirations even further by including Sabacc as a mini-game that fans could play honorably or even potentially use Nix to swipe credits from unsuspecting opponents while mid-game.
Poker and other gambling mini-games are a fun way for players to enjoy immersive recreation in the Read Dead Redemption universe, as is Blackjack or Dominoes, and Sabacc could be that too for Star Wars Outlaws. Indeed, Sabacc could also become Ubisoft’s own Gwent if it decides to draw on CD Projekt Red for inspiration as well.
Poker and Sabacc don’t commonly involve the player bringing their own cards to a table, but Kay might choose to literally hide some cards up her sleeve or on Nix in order to sway the odds of a hand in her favor. This way, players could collect Sabacc cards throughout the galaxy and choose to insert them into her hand if it would give her the edge needed. Otherwise, it would be great to see another casino mini-game or card collection feature like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’s Pazaak in Star Wars Outlaws to immerse players in the galaxy.
Either way, Gwent is a phenomenal mini-game feature that Star Wars Outlaws could draw inspiration from while also having sit-down matches of Corellian Spike at local cantinas or hideouts on whichever planets they embark upon. It would likely be difficult for players to make time for leisurely card games if they are constantly being pursued by increasing numbers of the Galactic Empire, but downtime in such a frantic journey would be greatly appreciated and help to reinforce the classic scoundrel archetype.
Star Wars Outlaws releases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
