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Star Wars Outlaws' Nix Might Be The Reincarnation Of Sam Fisher, Here To Guide The Newest Stealth-Based Protagonist
Star Wars Outlaws is a ride. Having grown a little weary of every Jedi somehow being a Skywalker who survived Order 66, I’ve been particularly interested in Ubisoft’s upcoming Star Wars Outlaws, which fulfills the promise of being Just A Guy In A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Having had about three hours of time with [...]
Star Wars Outlaws is a ride. Having grown a little weary of every Jedi somehow being a Skywalker who survived Order 66, I've been particularly interested in Ubisoft's upcoming Star Wars Outlaws, which fulfills the promise of being Just A Guy In A Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Having had about three hours of time with Star Wars Outlaws, there's a little surprise in the game's design that I don't think a lot of trailers quite covered, but makes sense in retrospect: the sheer amount of stealth you'd have to do to be a 100lb girl fighting off cartel members and Stormtroopers.
From the levels I got to play there is a big overt focus on sneaking around. Parts of the game's cities are controlled by the residing factions- Toshara has a Pykes district, while the Ashiga clan controls another on their planet, Unless you're bosom buddies with them, this turns walking around these districts into sneak-mandatory- get so much as eyeballed by a guard and you're thrown out. Heck, even getting in requires you to find secret passages to get there.
Even the game's major missions, which can involve things like sneaking into bases both Imperial and Cartel are astoundingly difficult- since the stealth is mandatory the game instead hides the "correct" route rather than give you multiple ways to get from A to B. It does allow Massive Entertainment to throw some big curveballs at you difficulty wise. Considering it'd be strange to have an Imperial refueling station just full of human-sized vents and crevices, staring down a hall full of Stormtroopers seems like suicide.
Work In The Shadows To Serve The Light
But thankfully, Kay is not the master thief of Star Wars Outlaws. Because the other half of the protagonist duo is the true Phantom Menace: Her partner, Nix.
While at first he looks like just a mascot character Nix allows for some really interesting gameplay options in Star Wars Outlaws. His ability to act independently of Kay but, ultimately, only be in one place at a time makes the game's stealth portions become high-stakes decisions.
Should you choose to play him mercifully, he can distract guards, clearing the path for Kay to go through. Feeling full of righteous fury? You can even the odds in a 2v1 by having him swoop down to Kay's aid, blinding a Stormtrooper before he raises the alarm while you take down his friend, having just witnessed the Meerqal Phantom.
Heck, if you truly channel Nix's fury he's capable of so much worse. Despite being an animal Meerqal is incredibly dexterous, and can detonate bombs either on the enemies or around them. Maybe the rebellion wouldn't have lost so many Bothans if they had a Meerqal with them, Nix is just built different.
I really like the way Kay's gameplay is built around deploying Nix because of how it circumvents a lot of stealth tropes. Kay is a broke smuggler making a name for herself, it would feel weird for her to have an array of tech bombs. She's got hacking tools, yes, but they're limited to just being her slicer, which only works on compatible terminals. Instead, having a pet so cute it distracts armed guards and commits terrorist attacks feels way more fitting.
Heck, it even gets around the vent problem I mentioned earlier. While a bunch of Kay-sized grates and cracks would be laughably irresponsible, the same can't be said for Nix-sized gaps. Just as much of the level is covered in stuff only Nix can access, be it important switches or even treasure. Some challenges will even have you working alongside the mighty Nix, as he graciously holds doors open while you shoot targets to power generators.
One thing, though, is that the way the levels are designed really amps up the difficulty. While a lot of more modern stealth games tend to let you fight your way out of situations, Star Wars Outlaws has way more mandatory stealth- while stages may seem like huge arenas, the moment an officer catches you you're reloading your checkpoint.
You wanna be really careful with these runs as a result- Nix can also scan areas for interactables and enemies, so be sure to make use of a good thing while it's there.
A Joy To Be Sneaking Around
It really can't be overstated just how much fun the stealth elements in Star Wars Outlaws are. Outside of the story missions Kay has plenty of reasons to make herself scarce- every city location also includes a portion controlled by the local faction, and if you're not on great terms with them you'll have to sneak around to gather exclusive materials or even just explore.
Given how often we see Star Wars from the lens of born fighters, Kay brings a great flavor to the Star Wars setting by cutting out the more obvious icons like lightsabers, and instead focusing on the more subtle touches: weird aliens and their constant beef with each other.
I'd personally only got to try about two planets worth of content, but the core building blocks of the Star Wars Outlaws experience seem plenty fun. Just remember to put respect on Nix's name when it counts, or you might find yourself like a group of stray Stormtroopers accidentally blowing themselves up.
Star Wars Outlaws drops August 30th for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC.