'Star Wars Outlaws' preview: Fine but forgettable

Mashable spent four hours previewing 'Star Wars Outlaws,' and found it to be a fairly standard video game in a Star Wars skin.

Previewing a video game prior to its release is a bit like dipping your fingers in cake batter. You can get a fair idea of the flavour, the ingredients, and what it's aiming to be, but any impressions come with the caveat that it still hasn't been baked.

Star Wars Outlaws is like a cake mix in a box. There's nothing inherently wrong with this. The beauty of a box mix is that it's specifically designed to deliver enjoyable, commercially safe results without demanding much effort on your part. However, while pleasant enough, such confections are rarely memorable beyond the point of consumption.

If all you want is to turn your brain off and enjoy some fairly generic gameplay with a Star Wars skin, Star Wars Outlaws may have you covered. But if you were hoping for something richer with a bit more heart, you'll have a better time if you readjust your expectations now.

Sneaking through Star Wars Outlaws

Developed by Ubisoft Studio Massive Entertainment, Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess, a space scoundrel whose creation was clearly inspired by her more famous predecessor Han Solo. Left with a bounty on her head after a job gone wrong, Kay assembles a team to pull off a massive heist in hopes of paying off the syndicate of space criminals pursuing her.

Mashable didn't get quite that far in the four hours we spent previewing Star Wars Outlaws, which is set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Instead, we explored the savannah moon Toshara and snuck around the snowy planet of Kijimi largely solo — barring Kay's furry, axolotl-like, alien pet Nix (and yes, you can pet the alien).

Stealth features significantly in Star Wars Outlaws' gameplay, befitting Kay's occupation as a space thief. While my blaster was certainly required at times, I preferred and was largely encouraged to avoid battles where possible. Instead, I crouched behind boxes and crept outside of sight lines to pilfer equipment or information, accessing encrypted files via a Wordle-like symbol deduction minigame.

Stealth features significantly in 'Star Wars Outlaws' gameplay, befitting Kay's occupation as a space thief.

Nix was invaluable to these criminal escapades, and a clear highlight of Star Wars Outlaws' gameplay. Capable of attacking or distracting enemies, stealing items, and even activating panels, Kay's merqaal companion makes it much easier to sneak through areas undetected. I enjoyed sending Nix to latch onto peoples' faces so I could knock them out without raising the alarm. He also seemed to have fair self-preservation instincts, so I never had to worry about his safety in a firefight.

My sneaky efforts were further assisted by my enemies' frequently questionable peripheral vision, situational awareness, and ability to detect downed colleagues. This made covertly taking down enemies much easier than it could have been, making me feel relatively accomplished, though I got the impression that I wasn't exactly contending with the brightest stars in the galaxy.

Into the air vent, flyboy

I appreciated that Star Wars Outlaws sometimes offers multiple avenues through which you can achieve your set objective. For example, I could try to rustle up enough credits to pay for access to a restricted area, or simply find a way to sneak in. I initially went for the former, but the gambling mini-game cut me off after I'd only bet on a few space horse races, leaving me without enough for the buy-in on space cards.

Fortunately, I ended up finding a handy dandy Kay-sized air vent leading to the area, which allowed me to save my meagre stash of credits. You'll likely spend a notable amount of time searching for and crawling through vents in Star Wars Outlaws, which are rather useful for infiltrating places you aren't authorised to enter. Seasoned criminal organisations should really have tighter security.

Vents are also a good indicator that you're probably going in the right direction. I had notable difficulty with navigation in Star Wars Outlaws' open world. Despite the direction markers at the top of the screen, there's a relative lack of visual prompts, and it was often unclear exactly how to get where I needed to go. More than once I found myself wandering in circles. While Star Wars Outlaws does use colour to signify climbable surfaces, I found the slight yellow hue so subtle that it often blended with the rest of the scenery, especially when the lighting is also yellow. As a result it's easy to miss areas you can climb, or erroneously attempt to climb surfaces that are merely decorative.

I further found the boundaries of where I was and wasn't allowed to go weren't always clear. Occasionally I found myself unceremoniously thrown out of areas with no warning, having wandered too close to its entrance guards. Not only was this annoying, it also cost me reputation points with the affronted criminal faction.

Star Wars Outlaws makes you the most important outlaw in the galaxy

Though the Zerek Besh are Star Wars Outlaws' primary antagonists, Kay will also encounter other criminal organisations such as the Pyke Syndicate and Crimson Dawn. These space gangs do not get along, so you'll have to balance your relationships. Taking on jobs, sharing information, and getting caught infiltrating gang territory can all impact your standing with each faction, and sometimes you'll have to pick a side. This in turn affects your access to quests, areas, and gear from these syndicates.

Fortunately for you, it isn't difficult to begin earning these criminals' approval. There's a lot of talk about suspicion and betrayal, yet everyone seems largely happy to trust Kay immediately. Maybe not with larger jobs, which you'll only be able to access once you've built up a good reputation. Yet warring criminal factions will still entrust Kay with sensitive missions and confidential information despite her being a complete stranger.

The effect is jarring considering that almost everyone around you speaks as though you're embroiled in an environment of deep suspicion. It feels distinctly like playing pretend, which doesn't help with immersion.

Yet it all makes sense if you simply remind yourself: this is very clearly a video game, and Kay is very clearly the protagonist.

A flat Star Wars universe revolving around you

The conceit of Star Wars Outlaws is that you are a criminal living on the fringes of polite society, taking what jobs you can. The Empire is a constant presence, but much in the same way the police are. Intergalactic battles, politics, and power struggles may be occurring, however they don't concern you. You aren't a Skywalker, or even a Solo. You're a nobody.

Despite this, the game's universe constantly reinforces that you, a penniless outlaw and rebel with a lowercase R, are in fact the main character and thus the most important person in the universe. 

You aren't a Skywalker, or even a Solo. You're a nobody.

A mechanic you meet immediately after crash landing inexplicably forces his help on Kay despite her clear hostility toward him. A job broker singles her out and offers her work instantly. Non-player character conversations feel like little skits performed specifically for Kay to overhear, concerning either information specifically relevant to her, or quests she might elect to take up.

Star Wars Outlaws' dialogue frequently felt akin to the stories in mathematics problems, offering a thin veil of narrative to convey a new mechanic or quest. This isn't uncommon in video games, however I found Star Wars Outlaws' stage curtains more sheer than expected or typical. Characters felt like tools for conveying quest information rather than living organisms, which wasn't helped by the lack of realistic reasoning to their actions. 

Meanwhile, enemies wandered around blankly repeating empty, rote lines such as "I can do more than this," "What are we doing here?" and "The boss knows what is best for us." 

It made Star Wars Outlaws' world feel underbaked, especially when compared to more lifelike NPC interactions found in other modern games. Not every NPC needs a deep, rich backstory, but it would be great if they could at least vaguely pass for sentient.

Star Wars Outlaws' appeal lies in being able to explore the universe that so many have come to love since it was first introduced in 1977. Sadly, much of the world felt disappointingly flat. There were pockets of interest, such as in the fantastical yet vaguely familiar cantina food (I was amused to see comically oversized mangosteen in my ship's kitchen). Yet all of the game's elements failed to coalesce into an engaging, rich universe, feeling more like theatre staging.

I must also note that I was disappointed not to hear any jatz (or jizz) in the cantinas. Though the Mos Eisley Cantina's band was an iconic part of A New Hope, Toshara's denizens eschew live music in favour of an uninspiring jukebox. My fingers are crossed that the full release will include a few jatz tunes, but I'm not holding out hope.

Star Wars Outlaws is an empty playground in a galaxy far, far away

A good way to approach Star Wars Outlaws is to think of it as a Star Wars-themed amusement park filled with actors guiding you through a script that centres you as the hero, kind of what Disney's Star Wars hotel intended (and failed) to be. Whether you enjoy yourself will depend on if you can turn off your brain and just lean into the fantasy.

Despite how obviously shallow it was, I still had an inoffensively pleasant four hours previewing Star Wars Outlaws. After all, you typically play a game to play a game. A box cake is still cake. Sometimes you're just in the mood for empty calories. So as long as you aren't expecting anything more, you'll likely have an adequate, forgettable time exploring this galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Outlaws arrives Aug. 30 on Xbox, PlayStation 5, and PC.