There's a very good chance Star Wars Outlaws is taking us back to Tatooine, and while series fans have rightfully grown sick of the planet, there's no avoiding it in a story set in this era of the galaxy's underworld.
We don't have official, hard confirmation that Outlaws will take us to Tatooine, but the cinematic stinger at the end of Ubisoft's official gameplay walkthrough leaves little room for doubt. We see protagonist Kay Vess confronted by a number of thugs in a desert town that matches the usual Tatooine architecture exactly.
Tatooine appears in five out of the first six Star Wars films, but its role in the story is as a lifeless place that nobody in the galaxy truly cares about. Despite that, the planet's central place in the films means it makes regular appearances in games and other Star Wars media, often in an effort to evoke the vibes of the movies in a way that doesn't always make sense for the story being told. Fans are rightfully getting pretty sick of seeing the desert planet.
Oh thank goodness we haven’t been to tatooine in like 2 months I was getting worried https://t.co/8f7rcPzTMKJune 12, 2023
Tatooine feels like less the backwards, out of the way planet where nothing ever happens that Luke was desperate to escape from and more like the centre of the STAR WARS universe with every passing day. https://t.co/cCN2XiU7utJune 12, 2023
It would’ve been so so very cool if the Empire had tested the Death Star on Tatooine instead of Alderaan https://t.co/zFavl9yAqGJune 13, 2023
Star Wars Outlaws does have an out here, though, as its story makes a visit to Tatooine pretty much inevitable. Outlaws is all about managing your relationships with various criminal factions, including the Hutts - and Jabba the Hutt has his palace, of course, on Tatooine. While most of the galaxy doesn't care about the desert planet, the presence of a major Hutt boss and its very distance from the more law-abiding sectors of the galaxy makes it a haven for the outlaws that this game is all about.
Outlaws is set in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and I'm starting to wonder if we might not spend a fair amount of time interacting with Jabba directly. The cinematic trailer does show Han Solo frozen in carbonite and a very familiar-looking rancor, and while that could just be an effort to set the tone of the game, it could also be an indication that we'll have some role on the fringes of the events of the films.
Check out our interview with Star Wars Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty for much more on what to expect from the game.
