Ubisoft’sStar Wars Outlawstakes players into a rarely explored corner of the universe. Rather than focusing on the escalating battle between Jedi and Sith, the upcoming open-world action game focuses on Kay Vess and her journey through the criminal underworld––a concept that undoubtedly has fans intrigued.
For Ubisoft Toronto Narrative Director Navid Khavari, this was an exciting venture to embark on. Khavari and his team set out to craft a story uniquely set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. As we know from the films, this is an era when crime lords like Jabba the Hutt, who is prominently featured in the game, still operate. Star Wars Outlaws also explores the inner workings of the Pyke syndicate, Crimson Dawn and the Ashiga Clan.
Star Wars Outlaws
Star Wars Outlaws set to give franchise fans a galaxy to explore
With 10 minutes of gameplay shown, Ubisoft Forward gave us a better look at the open world of Star Wars Outlaws.
Establishing the time period for Star Wars Outlaws and introducing Kay Vess
Khavari pieces together an interesting concept set during a rarely explored time period for fans.
In the expanded Star Wars canon, we often explore the periods between the prequels and the original trilogy. Even The Mandalorian peels back a post-Return of the Jedi setting for fans. However, the one year between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is rarely investigated outside of comics. “Everything just sort of started to fall naturally into place,” Khavari says when asked about approaching this era of the franchise. “The fact that the Empire and the rebellion are doing their thing somewhere else, and you have a character like Kay who could care less about it, was really a blessing for us.”
Kay Vess is very much our vessel for exploring the criminal world of Star Wars. Originating from the workers district of Canto Bight, Kay and her pet Nix escape in the Trailblazer ship and set out to get rich in this vast universe. This leads players to cross paths with new and familiar characters along the way.
“With a character like Kay, where we were super focused and excited about is that we can take this character and kind of ping pong back and forth between the syndicates. These syndicates are your gateway to the underworld. You have everybody from the Hutt cartel and Jabba the Hutt. Also, Crimson Dawn and Lady Qi’ra. We were able to fashion the Ashiga Clan, the brand-new syndicate on Kijimi. What’s exciting is that there’s so much happening under the surface that the underworld is really thriving. It was important for us to have a character who is a rookie who is experiencing it all for the first time.”
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Working with Disney to keep Star Wars Outlaws within the canon of the universe
It’s one thing to come up with an interesting concept for a game. But it’s another to be able to execute on it. Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, all new core Star Wars projects must adhere to the established canon. For a game like Star Wars Outlaws, the creative team is lucky in that they have ample room to play in their corner, dealing with the underbelly of the universe. However, it’s still a collaborative project with Disney.
“They were so generous, both with their time and also with their expertise. I would say openness to what we were trying to do. I think there was really something special about the fact that we have kind of expertise in developing open-world games. They have a rich history of developing games with Lucasfilm for years. They also have this narrative tapestry that they can pull from. There was a perfect merging of minds together. While we were very much in the driver’s seat of this, they would always help us with the Star Wars of it all.”
Disney and Lucasfilm have encyclopedias and archival knowledge of everything to do with Star Wars. This is an asset for Ubisoft as it helps maintain synergy from one medium of storytelling to another. “We were talking about the pill box lights within the Imperial compound,” Khavari said, thinking about a meeting he was in.
“They know details about Star Wars that I could never even fathom. The things that they can spot or help us with are things that you subconsciously don’t even realize sometimes. It’s what makes Star Wars.”
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Star Wars Outlaws aims to recontextualize previously explored planets
With locations only explored in the sequel films, Outlaws brings new perspectives to these areas.
As mentioned, Kay Vess originates from Canto Bight. Only seen in The Last Jedi, the casino planet is divisive amongst fans. However, Khavari sought to recontextualize Canto Bight by examining a new area of the planet. “We’re not going to go to the casinos. We’re talking about the worker’s district. This is the realm where Kay looks to those casinos and might wish that was a world she could be a part of, but she never will. So, that was always the angle of how we fashion which planets we work with.
This also extends to Kijimi, another planet shown in the sequels. While only explored through the lens of The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Outlaws adds new lore to Kijimi. “I think is super important if you look at a planet like Kijimi. We saw opportunities where this planet was featured in Rise of Skywalker.” The game sees Kay and Nix explore the planet long before the Derriphan destroys the planet. The game also introduces the new Ashiga Clan as part of its syndicates.
“What happens if we expand the whole thing?” Khavari asks. “What happens if we build a syndicate that’s in control of Kijimi, a brand new one? It’s about bringing in the iconic but also, how we can make it our own. How can we bring something new to this? And it’s a balance, for sure. There’s an authenticity to it that I think players will feel.
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Star Wars Outlaws aims to balance both new and familiar
Khavari aims to include meaningful characters that serve the story.
That balance Khavari refers to is integral to Star Wars. Fans can be cynical when catering too much to fanfare or simply not enough. It’s a fine line but one Star Wars Outlaws approaches. “We were also very, very careful with whether it’s iconic characters or people or things you might recognize.” The knee-jerk reaction to hearing Jabba the Hutt is in the game is that we’re once again retreading familiar locations like Tattooine. But Khavari assured me that its inclusion feels authentic.
“For us, the authenticity was crucial… the organic feeling. For Kay’s journey, she’s going to run in to Jabba. We don’t want this to feel like some cameo. She has to learn through this character–– there’s a whole storyline around that. When she comes to Jabba, she completely underestimates how powerful he is. And as a rookie scoundrel, she has no idea who Jabba the Hutt is. It’s part of that learning curve of you can’t go into this world naively, like you have it all figured out.
Star Wars: Outlaws creators share how they captured the spirit of the original trilogy
Ubisoft Toronto lead writer Nikki Foy and lead actor Humberly Gonzalez discuss Kay Vess and the writing in Star Wars Outlaws
