On TV and in films and games, Star Wars has the same problem.
The original trilogy was an unprecedented mix of grizzled Western, brooding Samurai film and pioneering Science Fiction which made for transformative popcorn entertainment, a true pop-cultural event.
Most things they do make lots of money, but in a cultural impact sense, in the Disney-era particularly, Lucasfilm has only managed to repeat anything close to that level of success a couple of times, most recently with the Mandalorian; itself a Sci-Fi soup of The Lone Ranger, Seven Samurai and good old fashioned practical effects.
Saddled with this legacy, with the series already steeped in nostalgia for John Wayne, John Ford and Flash Gordon since the late ‘70s, new Star Wars media has the unique prerequisite of being authentically “Star Wars-y” before it can even attempt to deliver on its own ideas.
This can pull a project both towards the Dark Side and the Force, because it makes a lot of Star Wars stuff inherently derivative and unimpressive, by design it’s aping the wet puppets, pew-pew blasters and sliding doors on strings that we all find cozier than the inside of a Tauntaun. However, because it has that route into everyone’s happy place – even if it’s no bigger than a womp rat – when something really nails that vibe, it really nails it.
After its post-launch re-work, Star Wars: Outlaws is a perfect example of this. It doesn’t do much that’s new or exciting in and of itself, but there are so many Star Wars hallmarks it gets right that it’s quietly one of the best, breeziest, most action-packed and rollicking romps you can play over the Holidays (even if it retains some of the weirdness that left if with a rightly mixed reception at launch).
This is especially true if you live in a cold, snowy climate – or wish you did for Christmas. Just as you’re settling into your groove with Outlaws, your mission takes you to the frigid, slick and stony streets of Kijimi (home of the sequel trilogy’s only redeeming character, Babu Frik). As the snow drifts down and you get to wear a Hoth cosplay puffer jacket, it’s lovely.
But to get the right feel post-patch, the first thing you need to do is turn one of the main changes straight back off.
One of my favourite things about Star Wars: Outlaws is playing with the letterbox, wide-screen aspect ratio, which immediately grounds all of the action and exploration in the unique grungy, yet cinematic aesthetic of Star Wars. It turns the flat, arid landscapes of Toshara and Tatooine into frames from the films instead of just another Ubisoft open world.
The amount of fluff activities scattered across the main planets are mercifully restrained, although I have definitely started ignoring random quest givers like I owe them a fiver as I wander from place to place.
But the moment that really sold me on Outlaws was on Tatooine. In need of new parts for my blaster, I found a merchant on the map, set off and sprinted around the corner to meet them, only to come face-to-face, or rather thigh bone to yellow golf ball eye, with 3ft of unadulterated Jawa.
Can you imagine how much better other open world games would be if the merchants were Jawas? Like in Far Cry 6 or something you just came around the corner and it’s a little Jawa standing on a box behind the counter. “Umpeeni! Whanga hoopa!” he’d say, handing over a new silencer – it’d be great.
Anyway, these little moments of Star Wars-y discovery are all over Outlaws and make it feel like an amazingly lived-in representation of a galaxy far, far away. The cities and spaceports are perfectly populated with big hitters and deep cuts alongside a sprinkling of major movie characters and Easter Eggs I won’t spoil.
There are gameplay elements of Outlaws I don’t love. From, I think, the second worst communicated lockpicking mini-game I’ve played (after Kingdom Come: Deliverance) to visual signposting in platforming sections that’s harder to read than Aurebesh, there’s a surprisingly low floor to some of the mechanics and design that’s very jarring when it appears. But ultimately it’s low-stakes, simple stealth with a seat-of-your-pants energy once it all goes wrong that calls to mind Han, Luke and Leia escaping from the Star Destroyer in A New Hope, as you scoop up Stormtroopers’ blasters and haphazardly fire back at them one-handed.
Now, after its difficult initial release, I feel like Star Wars: Outlaws occupies a similar place to a lot of Disney Star Wars. It’s a pulpy, but gorgeous and lushly produced caper that was too flawed on launch to capture the cultural consciousness like its predecessors, but, when freed of the pressure to do so, is just clean, escapist fun. This is Star Wars to enjoy under a blanket pulled up to your nose with just your eyes peeping out.
Sadly, that’s not enough to feed the gears of the AAA games machine, but that’s Ubisoft’s problem to solve, not the playing public. If you need me, I’ll be swapping a Jawa three rolls of Bantha wool for a power converter.