Highlights
- Star Wars Outlaws needs to balance nostalgia with originality to preserve its authenticity.
- The game risks being too similar to iconic Star Wars moments, potentially jeopardizing the immersion of the narrative.
- Despite inevitable fan service, Outlaws can be smart about incorporating familiar iconography without disrupting immersion.
Star Wars Outlaws has never been coy about its inspirations and the scoundrel-led open-world game delving into a wretched hive of scum and villainy is undoubtedly its primary selling point. This only truly works if Kay Vess is willing and capable of being morally pliable herself, though, and it’ll be interesting to see how lenient her ethical compass can be regarding various criminal syndicates in a galaxy far, far away.
There’s a chance Star Wars Outlaws has merely indulged in iconography and popular character cameos as a way to cement itself in its particular era, but these inspirations and references are concerning if they adhere too closely to the source material. It’s already possible that Outlaws could parallel Solo: A Star Wars Story in numerous ways, but Outlaws’ story trailer also demonstrates unabashed parallels to Return of the Jedi. If these parallels are too similar, they risk a semblance of inauthenticity for Outlaws’ story regardless of how immersive or fun they are as moments of nostalgic fan service.
Star Wars Outlaws isn’t a Han Solo Story, But It’s the Next Best Thing
Solo: A Star Wars Story may never end up receiving a sequel and yet Star Wars Outlaws is already shaping up to be a spiritual successor in many ways.
Star Wars Outlaws Shouldn’t Needlessly Slip into Nostalgia Bait
If Massive is told it can adapt the rancor pit trap as a gameplay sequence it’s tough to see how it could deny such an opportunity. Dropping Kay into the rancor pit below Jabba’s throne and having players battle the enormous creature would be incredibly thrilling and nostalgic as a gameplay sequence, but it would potentially create a lore inconsistency.
But even simply having Kay brought to Jabba for Star Wars fans to once again see this musty throne room is fan service jeopardizing any narrative authenticity Kay and Jabba’s encounter could possess. Massive might have a wholly original plan concocted for how to approach this nostalgia bait; however, Kay and Nix sliding down a dune toward a sarlacc pit in the story trailer seems to suggest their experience thwarting Jabba will echo what Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Leia, Lando, C-3PO, and R2-D2 endure a little later on in the Star Wars timeline, at least in terms of the perils they face on Tatooine.
Star Wars Fan Service is Inevitable, But Outlaws Can Be Smart About It
Now, certain parallels would be impossible to avoid; Jabba did have a throne room on Tatooine at this time and therefore having him take refuge anywhere else for the sake of originality wouldn’t be canonically accurate. Jabba also could’ve already had an incapacitated Han Solo in his possession at that time, so that iconic block of carbonite would likely be on display in his throne room.
It’ll be neat to see Kay stumble upon these bits of iconography, especially if the throne room is even briefly explorable in a gameplay sequence and not a quick cutscene, but pushing it further than that might disrupt immersion flatly. Plus, if Outlaws wishes to depict the Hutt Cartel as a formidable criminal organization, Kay shouldn’t be able to escape from Jabba or defy the Hutt Cartel without an intimidating threat looming over them.
Boba Fett could feasibly be that threat despite how much that would veer into fan service, but feeding Kay and Nix to a rancor or sarlacc would be on the nose regardless of how often Jabba may have doled out that punishment to captives. In fact, if Outlaws wants to get ahead of this and be of service to Star Wars canon further, it should allude to the idea that Jabba doesn’t yet have a rancor but has created a lair for one as a means of foreshadowing what Luke will fall prey to in Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately, Outlaws’ world premiere reveal trailer already spoiled that a rancor will indeed appear.
Star Wars Outlaws
Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws is an in-development game that will be published by Ubisoft. The sci-fi franchise’s first full open-world project, Outlaws follows Kay Vess and is set during the Imperial Era. Announced for PC and ninth-generation hardware, the game is expected to drop in 2024.
- Released
- August 30, 2024
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft , Lucasfilm Games
