As Star Wars Outlaws draws a mixed response from early previews, its creative director promises the demo was "just a part" of the full open-world adventure

Kay Vess seen in gameplay footage shown during the 2024 Ubisoft Forward event. — (Image credit: Massive Entertainment)

Star Wars Outlaws' creative director has responded to some of the negative feedback shared about the open-world game after hands-on previews were posted online, reassuring fans that "just a part" of it was represented in the demo.

Massive Entertainment's upcoming Star Wars adventure is set to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on August 30 (or three days sooner if you pre-order the pricier editions), and as the first open-world game set in a galaxy far, far away, there's a lot riding on it. The recent previews to come out of the hectic Summer Game Fest season have generally been positive – we were full of praise for it on our own – but some have criticized the game for feeling dated, bland, or lacking in character, while others feel it perhaps plays things a bit too safe.

When asked about the negative feedback in an interview with VGC, creative director Julian Gerighty explains that he's not seen all of the preview coverage, but went on to describe the demo that people have played as an "amuse-bouche" – or appetizer – of the full game, that ultimately can't represent everything it has to offer. He adds that "you have to make a lot of choices" with these sorts of demos, with Massive's producer advising the team that they only get one demo for "all of the shows" the studio goes to this year.

"And they're consumer plus journalist focused, so we had to choose something that was 20 minutes, bite-sized, lots of variety, lots of representative systems, but not the open world experience, because we're going to expose that during the studio tour, in the preview event over here," Gerighty says. "So we'll spend a lot more time on those things, so this is an amuse-bouche, it's a starter rather than the main course for the game."

Gerighty is clearly unphased by the criticism overall, as he adds: "I think we have a very compelling overall game and just a part of it is represented here."

Only time will tell whether Outlaws will be a hit with players more widely when the full release is upon us, but at the very least, we now have loads of new footage to pore over in the meantime, which has highlighted the abilities of the adorable merqaal companion, Nix. Speaking to GamesRadar+, Gerighty says that Massive sees Nix and Kay Vess as "one character" when it comes to the gameplay, with Nix allowing his buddy to "do incredible stuff without giving her the Force or powers or magic." Given how cute he is though, the rest of these skills are really just a bonus.

While you're here, be sure to check out our list of the 10 best Star Wars games to dive into today.

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.