Star Wars Outlaws combat isn't just "taking cover and taking headshots"

Star Wars Outlaws key art — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Combat in Star Wars Outlaws involves more than just ducking behind various covers and aiming for heads, Massive Entertainment explains in a new interview with GamesRadar+.

During this week's Ubisoft Forward, Massive finally unveiled Star Wars Outlaws gameplay, and it looks ace. Starring the scrappy outlaw Kay Vess and her companion Nix, the action-adventure game looks like a breath of fresh air in a well-trodden galaxy far, far away.

We sat down with creative director Julian Gerighty following the reveal and learned a little more about how Massive intends players to approach combat from the perspective of a "scoundrel" instead of a trained warrior like, say, Cal Kestis from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

"What we wanted to do is to nail the scoundrel fantasy," Gerighty said. "And the outlaw fantasy in Star Wars means that you're not a trained soldier. You're an outlaw with a gun. So you're gonna approach any situation as a resourceful underdog, with your blaster, with your gadgets, with all of the equipment, and with Nix. But you're not precisely taking cover and taking headshots."

In the gameplay reveal trailer, we see a couple instances of Kay using a "trick shot" of sorts; once when she first busts out her blaster in the outpost and again when she's riding on her Speeder Bike. The maneuver isn't just flashy, it also looks tactical, and the result - that being your enemies crashing to the ground and exploding - looks mighty satisfying. It reminds me of Red Dead Redemption's Dead Eye targeting system - a comparison Gerighty doesn't seem to mind.

"The 'Trick Shot' gives the player a moment where they can really hit something precisely that feels both incredibly lucky and spectacular. It's all about making you feel super proficient in those moments," said Gerighty. "You charge it up, and then you can unleash it – so they can happen fairly often."

We haven't seen a whole lot of Star Wars Outlaws gameplay, so it's encouraging to hear we'll have a few more tricks up our sleeves than what we saw in the trailer. Still, even if Star Wars Outlaws does end up just being a cover-shooter with trick shots, I won't complain.

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.