How good is Star Wars Outlaws?
Let’s be honest: Did anyone expect anything other than a Ubisoft game from Outlaws? If so, they will be disappointed. The game delivers exactly what the publisher can do, albeit adapted for a wider target group. No more, no less. And that’s okay.
Outlaws is only considered the game of the year in very few cases. It is mentioned again and again that its mechanics are well known, but are implemented better elsewhere. VG247 therefore no longer describes the game systems – they are already known. However, it also appears again and again that Outlaws simplifies the old Ubisoft formula. Sneaking, which plays a major role, remains rudimentary in its options and suffers from inconsistent AI and narrow cones of vision of the enemies. A similar verdict is made about shooting. And climbing around also takes a hand with very clear markings and invisible boundaries – although, like the mini-games, they can at least be deactivated, the reviews reveal.
Reduced to that, Outlaws can actually be a pretty bad game, and Eurogamer hardly has anything good to say about it. It is implemented averagely at best and is far too simplified. Elsewhere, there is a distinction: the systems are enough to keep you entertained during the main story, which lasts around 20 hours, says GameStar, among others. How good it is depends on what you want. It doesn’t usually surprise you, but it does take you through linear levels with great views. However, the story is not Outlaws’ greatest strength, according to all reviews.
This is, as is typical for Ubisoft, the game world itself – and the backdrop that it creates. For Kotaku, the best moments came from exploring. PC Gamer, like IGN, finds it child’s play to slip into the role of the villain. This is helped by the fact that some tasks simply arise from (overheard) conversations and are therefore absorbed organically, GameStar notes. In addition, Ubisoft dispenses with open role-playing mechanics. Skills actually have to be learned from trainers, PC Gamer is pleased to report. This, writes VG247, creates enormous joy in the unknown beyond the horizon and in discovery, in adventure – but in a Star Wars world that skilfully captures the worlds from the films.
From this perspective, the fascination with Outlaws is obviously greater than the annoyance over weak or mediocre mechanics that are merely considered good enough. In the end, it’s a question of emotions: Outlaws “feels so good,” judges VG247. Why? As in other reviews, because it “comes closest to a real visit to the Star Wars universe” (Kotaku) and believably conveys the feeling of being part of this world. It is therefore first and foremost a game for fans of the brand and the Ubi formula, according to the consensus of the rating average. However, anyone who rolls their eyes at the words “Ubisoft” and “open world” will at best find that Outlaws reinforces their image.
Conclusion
With Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft has managed to reflect the look of the films quite accurately in a game. The cinematic look is pleasing, and there is a lot to see. The combination of the numerous details and the well-implemented ray tracing integration is fun, but there is also criticism. The animations and character representation are simply no longer up to date and the image is generally (intentionally) quite blurry. Despite the same developer and the same engine, Star Wars Outlaws does not come close to the graphic splendor of Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora (test).
The hardware requirements of Star Wars Outlaws are very high, especially the graphics card, but the processor is also put to the test. Upsampling is a must for reasonably high frame rates, but it still works well even at low resolutions. But even with upsampling, you need a fast GPU; entry-level graphics cards of the current generation are left empty-handed when it comes to maximum image quality. GeForce graphics cards are consistently a little ahead of the Radeon competition, but this is normal when using hardware ray tracing.
RTXDI is no fun, but DLSS Ray Reconstruction is great
Nvidia’s RTXDI was not well received in the test. The dynamic ray tracing lighting looks only slightly better in the game, but the performance costs are enormous even on the fastest GeForce RTX 4000 cards, while Radeon models become unplayable. On top of that, VRAM consumption explodes with the feature, so that even 16 GB is sometimes not enough in Ultra HD. Due to the game’s already low performance, the editors recommend leaving RTXDI switched off regardless of the graphics card.
One Nvidia feature that is absolutely convincing, and even inspiring, is DLSS Ray Reconstruction. Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t use full ray tracing, but the benefits of DLSS Ray Reconstruction have never been as great as they are here. Reflections in particular, but also numerous other image elements, show significantly more detail with “RR”, and the game’s suboptimal, noisy denoiser is completely replaced by a much better one. Even without RTXDI, the benefits of DLSS Ray Reconstruction are great, so it should be used on every GeForce RTX graphics card. Radeon and Arc owners are left empty-handed and have to make do with the far less attractive game denoiser.
Star Wars Outlaws in the technology test
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If you are looking for more performance in Star Wars Outlaws, you should first configure upsampling accordingly and then reduce the graphics details as a second step. With the latter, the really cool ray tracing effects will suffer significantly, but the FPS boost will also be correspondingly large. With these settings, it is even possible to achieve decent frame rates with a GeForce RTX 3060 and a Radeon RX 6650 XT in Full HD. Intel’s Arc models benefit much less, but an acceptable FPS value can also be achieved here.
The PC version of Star Wars Outlaws proved to be stable in testing, and there were no problems apart from the high GPU and VRAM requirements. So anyone interested in the game can easily get the PC version if they have the appropriate system.
ComputerBase received Star Wars Outlaws from publisher Ubisoft to test. The game was made available under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible release date. The manufacturer had no influence on the test report and there was no obligation to publish it.
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