How Star Wars Outlaws introduces a new cast while honoring classic characters

Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws takes players to a rarely explored corner of the universe. Rather than focusing on the escalating battle between Jedi and Sith, the open-world action game focuses on the journey of Kay Vess and her criminal organization, a concept that’s sure to intrigue fans.

For Navid Cavalli, Narrative Director at Ubisoft Toronto, this was an incredibly exciting project. Cavalli and his team have crafted a unique story set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. As we know from the films, this is a time when crime lords like Jabba the Hutt, who feature prominently in the game, are still active. Star Wars Outlaws also explores the inner workings of the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn and the Ashigah Clan.

Star Wars Outlaws

Open World

Action adventure

system

Franchise

Star Wars

Platform

PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

release

August 30, 2024

Developer

Large-scale entertainment

Publisher

Ubisoft, Lucasfilm Games

engine

Snowdrop

ESRB

t

Enlarge

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Star Wars Outlaws Time Setting and Kay Vess’ Introduction

Khavari puts together an intriguing concept set in a time period less known to fans.

The Star Wars extended canon often delves into the period between the prequels and the original trilogy; even The Mandalorian delves into a post-Return of the Jedi setting for fans. But the year between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi has gone largely unexplored outside of the comics. “It all just started to fall into place,” says Cavalli when asked about tackling this era of the franchise. “We were really lucky with the fact that the Empire and Rebels were doing their thing somewhere else, and we had a character like Cay who didn’t really care about that at all.”

The Cay Vess is the perfect vessel for exploring the criminal world of Star Wars. Cay and her pet Nix, from the working-class district of Canto Bight, escape on their Trailblazer ship and set off to get rich in this vast universe, which will see players meet new and familiar characters along the way.

“What got us so focused and excited about a character like Kay is that we get to have this character bounce back and forth between the syndicates. These syndicates are the gateways to the underworld. You have the Hutt Cartel, Jabba the Hutt, everyone. You also have Crimson Dawn and Lady Qi’ra. We’ve created a new syndicate for Kijimi, the Ashigah Clan. What’s exciting is that there’s so much going on beneath the surface and the underworld is really thriving. It was important for us to introduce a new character who’s experiencing everything for the first time.”

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Working with Disney to keep Star Wars Outlaws within the universe’s canon

Cavalli and his team had a lot of freedom to play within the Star Wars sandbox.

Source: Ubisoft

It’s easy to come up with an interesting concept for a game, but executing it is another matter. Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, all new core Star Wars projects have had to adhere to the established canon. In the case of a game like Star Wars Outlaws, the creative team is lucky in that they’re able to operate well within their own capacity to work on the other side of the universe, but it’s still a collaborative project with Disney.

“They were very generous with their time and their expertise, and I think they were open to what we were trying to do. I think the fact that we have expertise in developing open-world games was really special. They have a rich history with Lucasfilm having developed games for years, and they also have a tapestry of stories that they can draw from. It was a perfect blend of our minds. We were in the driving seat on this project, but they were always there to help us with the Star Wars pieces.”

Source: Ubisoft

Disney and Lucasfilm have an encyclopedic and archival knowledge of all things Star Wars, which is an asset to Ubisoft because it helps maintain synergy between the storytelling mediums. “We were talking about pillbox lights on the Imperial compound,” Cavalli said, thinking about a meeting he was in.

“They know details about Star Wars that I could never have imagined. There are things they can find out and help with that sometimes you don’t even realize. That’s what makes Star Wars Star Wars.”

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Star Wars Outlaws aims to recontextualize previously explored planets

Set in locations only previously explored in the sequel films, Outlaws will portray these areas from a new perspective.

Source: Ubisoft

As mentioned, Cay Vess is from Canto Bight. The casino planet only appeared in The Last Jedi and is a polarizing topic among fans. But Cavalli tried to recontextualize Canto Bight by looking at a new area of ​​the planet. “We’re not going to a casino. We’re talking about a worker’s district. It’s an area where Cay might see the casino and wish it was a world where she belongs, but it never is. So I was always thinking from that angle when deciding which planet to cover.

This also applies to Kijimi, another planet that appears in the sequel. While only explored from the perspective of The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Outlaws will add new lore to Kijimi. “When you look at a planet like Kijimi, I think this is really important. We saw an opportunity for this planet to appear in The Rise of Skywalker.” In the game, Kay and Nix will explore the planet long before it was destroyed by the Derifans. The game will also introduce the new Ashigah clan as part of the Syndicate.

“What if we expanded the whole thing?” asks Cavalli. “What if we created a syndicate that controlled Kijimi? A whole new syndicate. It’s not just about taking something iconic, but how do we make it our own? How do we bring something new to this? And it’s definitely a question of balance, of having an authenticity that players will feel.

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Star Wars Outlaws aims to strike a balance between the new and the familiar

Khavari aims to feature meaningful characters that serve the story.

Source: Ubisoft

That balance Cavalli mentions is essential to Star Wars. Fans can get cynical if the game panders to too much fanfare or simply not enough. It’s a fine line, but one that Star Wars Outlaws tackles. “We also thought very carefully about iconic characters and people, or things that you would recognize.” When you hear that Jabba the Hutt is in the game, your reflex is to think that it’ll be a re-creation of a familiar place like Tatooine. But Cavalli assured me that the appearance will feel authentic.

“For us, authenticity was important – making it feel natural. In Cay’s journey, she encounters Jabba. We didn’t want this to feel like a cameo. She has to learn through this character. There’s a whole storyline around that. When she meets Jabba, she completely underestimates his powers. And as a novice scoundrel, she has no idea who Jabba the Hutt is. That’s part of the learning curve, that you can’t just innocently jump into this world like you have it all figured out.

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