Star Wars Outlaws devs explain how they decided which of "the most iconic corners of the galaxy" to explore in the open-world game

Star Wars Outlaws takes places on a number of planets both familiar to franchise fans and new for the open-world game, and Ubisoft says it chose which locations to explore based on what would best serve the story of protagonist Kay Vess.

"When crafting our story, we knew we wanted to allow players to explore some of the most iconic corners of the galaxy while also offering completely new and exotic locations for them to discover," creative director Julian Gerighty tells GamesRadar+. "Each of the locations featured in Star Wars Outlaws are crucial to Kay’s story which was really the starting point. Then we evaluated the locations based on their themes and gameplay opportunities they presented, ensuring each had a strong, thriving underworld that would offer unique and interesting situations for a new outlaw such as Kay."

Gerighty previously confirmed the size and scope of all the planets in Star Wars Outlaws, saying that the planets would be "handcrafted" and "manageable in size for both the player and developer at Ubisoft Massive." Now hearing that the story served as the starting point for all those planets, my hopes continue to grow that Outlaws will offer a tighter, more directed open-world narrative than many other Ubisoft games of recent years.

Star Wars Outlaws tells a tight story across specific locations with "strong, thriving underworlds," as Gerighty explains in our full interview, but while the game doesn't have multiple endings, it does have a reputation system where your fortunes with various factions will wax and wane according to your choices. You can even betray Jabba the Hutt, though it remains to be seen if you'll end up with a carbonite prison sentence as a result.

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