Star Wars Outlaws is the WORST game I've played in 2024 (FULL REVIEW)

Summary

In this review, 'Star Wars Outlaws' is criticized as one of the worst games of 2024, with a heavy focus on flawed stealth mechanics and lackluster mission design. The open-world content is deemed generic and the story forgettable. Despite some enjoyable action combat elements, the game suffers from performance issues and a short playtime, making it not worth its high price tag. The reviewer rates it 4.5 out of 10, suggesting it's a game to skip unless heavily discounted.

Takeaways

• 😡 Star Wars Outlaws is considered the worst game the reviewer played in 2024 and possibly the worst stealth game they've ever played.
• 🔍 The stealth mechanics and mission design are criticized for being inconsistent and frustrating, with enemy detection being particularly problematic.
• 📦 The game offers limited weapon variety, with the player mostly restricted to one weapon type throughout the playthrough.
• 💻 Performance issues such as flickering, popping, and crashes to desktop are mentioned, affecting the gaming experience.
• 🕒 The game's length is shorter than expected, with the main story and side quests completed in approximately 22 hours.
• 💰 At a full price of $70, the game is deemed not worth the cost, especially considering its content and performance.
• 🐾 The game features a unique stealth mechanic involving a pet companion named Nicks, which can perform various tasks to assist the player.
• 🚀 The open-world content is described as generic and lackluster, with repetitive missions and a lot of empty space.
• 👥 The story and characters are forgettable, with the protagonist, K VES, being bland and lacking depth.
• 🤝 The game's progression system is underwhelming, with abilities that feel more like gear upgrades rather than significant advancements.
• 🛍️ The game includes faction reputation systems and side quests that offer some variety but are mostly procedurally generated and forgettable.

Q & A

What is the overall opinion of the reviewer about 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The reviewer considers 'Star Wars Outlaws' to be the worst game they've played in 2024 and possibly the worst stealth game they have ever played, giving it a score of 4.5 out of 10.

What are the main issues the reviewer found with the stealth mechanics in 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The stealth mechanics are criticized for having inconsistent enemy detection, where enemies can spot the player from a distance or not at all, and for alerting all enemies and triggering alarms upon detection.

How does the reviewer describe the mission design in 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The mission design is described as terrible, with many missions requiring the player to remain undetected, leading to a trial and error play style that the reviewer found boring and frustrating.

What is the reviewer's opinion on the weapon variety in the game?

The reviewer found the weapon variety to be lacking, with the player being mostly limited to one weapon, the Blaster pistol, and not being able to create actual loadouts.

How long did it take the reviewer to complete the main story and substantial side quests of 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The reviewer completed the main story and most of the substantial narrative-driven side quests in 22 hours.

What is the reviewer's stance on the price of 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The reviewer believes that 'Star Wars Outlaws' is not worth the $70 price tag or the $130 for the ultimate edition.

What is unique about the stealth mechanic involving the Pet Companion Nicks in 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

Nicks, the Pet Companion, offers a unique stealth mechanic where the player can send him to fetch items, detect enemies, disable alarms, detonate barrels, set traps, distract enemies, or even attack them to set up a takedown for the player.

What are the reviewer's thoughts on the open-world content of 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The reviewer found the open-world content to be lackluster, with generic collectibles, boring missions, and a lot of empty space, and did not find it as engaging as other open-world games.

How does the reviewer describe the main story of 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The main story revolves around assembling a team of experts to pull off a major heist and is described as forgettable, lacking charm or good writing, and being similar to a discount version of Mass Effect 2.

What is the reviewer's opinion on the character development in the game?

The reviewer found the characters, including the protagonist K VES, to be bland and forgettable, lacking humor, emotional depth, or strong motivations.

What is the reviewer's final recommendation regarding 'Star Wars Outlaws'?

The reviewer does not recommend 'Star Wars Outlaws' even on a discount, suggesting that it might be worth considering for a big Star Wars fan at a significantly reduced price in the future.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Disappointing Launch: Star Wars Outlaws Review

The reviewer expresses strong dissatisfaction with 'Star Wars Outlaws,' labeling it as the worst game of 2024. They criticize the game's stealth mechanics, mission design, and lackluster open-world content. The character development is described as bland and unlikable, and the gameplay is marred by performance issues and a short playtime. The high price tag is deemed unjustifiable for the experience offered. The video promises a spoiler-free critique with some exceptions in the story section.

05:00

🔍 Stealth Over Action: A Missed Mark on Gameplay Balance

The reviewer is surprised by the game's heavy focus on stealth, which contrasts with their initial expectations of a balanced action-stealth experience. They find the enemy detection to be inconsistent and frustrating, with the game's mechanics leading to a trial-and-error playstyle. The inability to disable alarms or cameras with weapons is highlighted as a design flaw, and the takedown animations are criticized for being unrealistic. The unique aspect of the Pet Companion, Nicks, is acknowledged but not enough to save the overall stealth experience.

10:01

🌌 Open World, Closed Experience: The Lackluster Star Wars Setting

The reviewer laments the underwhelming open-world design of 'Star Wars Outlaws,' which fails to captivate despite being the first of its kind in the franchise. They describe the world as filled with generic collectibles, repetitive missions, and vast empty spaces. The four main locations are briefly described, with the jungle planet AKA receiving praise for its beauty. The space exploration aspect is criticized for its lack of depth, and the main quest's short duration is a point of contention. The side content is largely dismissed as forgettable and procedurally generated, with the exception of a few substantial side quests.

Keywords

💡Stealth game

A stealth game is a genre of video game that emphasizes avoiding detection by enemies rather than engaging in direct combat. In the context of the video, the reviewer expresses disappointment with 'Star Wars Outlaws' as it heavily focuses on stealth mechanics, which they find to be inconsistent and frustrating, making up about 90% of the gameplay experience.

💡Enemy detection

Enemy detection refers to the way artificial intelligence in a game identifies the player's presence. The reviewer criticizes the 'Star Wars Outlaws' for having inconsistent enemy detection, where sometimes enemies spot the player from a distance and at other times they fail to notice the player even when close, which affects the gameplay experience negatively.

💡Mission design

Mission design pertains to the structure and objectives of tasks or levels within a game. The script describes the mission design in 'Star Wars Outlaws' as being flawed, with many missions requiring the player to remain undetected, leading to a trial-and-error style of play that the reviewer finds boring and frustrating.

💡Open world

An open world in gaming refers to a virtual environment where players can roam freely without being constrained to a specific path or level. The reviewer finds the open world content in 'Star Wars Outlaws' to be lackluster, filled with generic collectibles, repetitive missions, and a lot of empty space.

💡Performance issues

Performance issues in video games relate to technical problems such as flickering, crashes, or slowdowns that affect gameplay. The script mentions that 'Star Wars Outlaws' has some performance issues, including hard crashes to the desktop, which detract from the overall gaming experience.

💡Weapon variety

Weapon variety refers to the range of different weapons available to a player in a game. The reviewer notes a lack of weapon variety in 'Star Wars Outlaws', with the protagonist primarily using a single blaster pistol throughout the game, which limits the combat options and makes the gameplay less engaging.

💡Progression system

A progression system in a game is the mechanism by which a player's character grows stronger or gains new abilities. The script criticizes the progression system in 'Star Wars Outlaws' for being underwhelming, with abilities that feel more like gear upgrades rather than meaningful advancements.

💡Syndicate reputation

Syndicate reputation in the context of 'Star Wars Outlaws' refers to the player's standing with different criminal factions within the game world. The reviewer mentions that completing contracts and quests can boost the player's reputation with these factions, unlocking new locations, merchants, and rewards.

💡Side quests

Side quests are optional missions or tasks in a game that are separate from the main storyline. The script describes most of the side quests in 'Star Wars Outlaws' as forgettable and procedurally generated fetch quests that are primarily used to farm reputation points with the game's factions.

💡Main story

The main story refers to the primary narrative or plotline of a game. The reviewer summarizes the main story of 'Star Wars Outlaws' as being about assembling a team for a heist, comparing it unfavorably to 'Mass Effect 2' in terms of charm and writing, and finding the protagonist and other characters to be forgettable.

💡Gameplay loop

A gameplay loop refers to the cycle of actions or activities that a player repeats in a game. The script criticizes the stealth gameplay loop in 'Star Wars Outlaws' as being horrendous, indicating that the core mechanics of sneaking and avoiding detection are not enjoyable and contribute to a negative gaming experience.

Highlights

Star Wars Outlaws is considered the worst game the reviewer has played in 2024.

The stealth mechanics and mission design are criticized as being terrible.

Open world content and story are described as extremely lackluster.

Character development is seen as bland and unlikable.

Limited weapon variety with a focus on one weapon throughout the game.

The percussion system is underwhelming.

Performance issues include flickering and hard crashes to desktop.

Game length is shorter than expected, with the main story around 15 hours.

Outlaws is not worth the $70 price tag, or $130 for the ultimate edition.

The game is 90% stealth and 10% action, which was a surprise to the reviewer.

Enemy detection is inconsistent, leading to frustrating gameplay.

Mission design requires not getting detected, leading to trial and error gameplay.

The game lacks the ability to shoot out alarms or cameras, which is a common feature in stealth games.

Unique stealth mechanic with the Pet Companion Nicks, but overall the stealth game isn't fun.

Action combat starts to get enjoyable but is overshadowed by the majority of the game being stealth.

The progression system is underwhelming with no character leveling up.

Open world exploration is disappointing with generic collectibles and puzzles.

Space exploration is lackluster with limited activities.

The main story is unmemorable and the protagonist is bland.

The final mission is over 2 hours long and a slog from a gameplay standpoint.

The game receives a 4.5 out of 10 rating from the reviewer.

Transcripts

so I finally got to play the full

version of Star Wars Outlaws over the

weekend and my God where do I even begin

well you've seen the title so let's just

dive into it Star Wars Outlaws is the

worst game I've played so far in 2024

and maybe the worst stealth game I have

ever played the stealth mechanics and

Mission design are terrible the open

world content and story are extremely

lackluster the characters range from

Bland at best to completely unlikable at

work first you're basically locked to

one weapon for your whole playthrough

and the procussion system is totally

underwhelming the game runs mostly fine

but there are some performance issues

such as Poppin flickering and a few hard

crashes to desktop on top of this the

game is much shorter than I expected

with the main story clocking in around

15 hours I played through the entire

main story and most of the substantial

narrative driven side quest and I

finished all that in 22 hours Outlaws is

definitely not worth the $70 price tag

or $130 if you're going for the ultimate

cuck Edition in this video I'm going to

break down everything that's wrong with

Star Wars outlawed most of this review

will be spoiler-free but there are some

spoilers in the story section if you

care about that so without further Ado

let's buckle up grab some ice coffee and

dive into my review of Star Wars Outlaws

one of the things that surprised me most

about Star Wars Outlaws is that it's

about 90% a stealth game and 10% %

action before I got my Hands-On preview

last month I was expecting something

more akin to the Far Cry series with a

roughly 5050 split between action and

stealth and the freedom to choose your

own play style now I won't claim to be

the most well-versed stealth gamer but I

have played all the Assassin's Creed

games most of the Far Cry games the Adam

Jensen DSX games and most of the Hitman

franchise and out of all those games I

just mentioned Outlaws is easily at the

bottom of the list so let's dive into

the problems with this game's stealth

mechanics the first and by far most

frustrating issue with Outlaws is the

inconsistent enemy detection sometimes

enemies will just spot you from halfway

across the map when you're doing a

silent takedown and sometimes they'll

detect you with eyes in the back of

their heads but other times you can just

Sprint right near them and they won't

detect you at all also the moment that

one enemy detects you every single enemy

in the entire level is instantly alerted

and knows exactly where you are in most

cases they will also instantly trigger

an alarm which brings reinforcements and

sometimes downright causes you to fail

the mission but you know what will cause

you to succeed in your mission hitting

the like button on this video and

subscribing to Big Dan gaming on YouTube

I make RPG and action game content so

subscribe if you want to see more

appreciate you dude but anyhow here's

another big problem with the mission

design about half of the missions in the

main story require that you never get

detected by an enemy or trigger an alarm

this basically ends up funneling you

into a trial and error play style where

you keep redoing sections of the mission

until you find the optimal route to not

get spotted it's an incredibly boring

and frustrating way to play the game you

do have some options to go for a more

action-oriented play style but because

of this Mission design you won't get to

do this very often take this example

from one of the early game missions

where K has to steal a ship from an

imperial station you cannot trigger

alarms during the quest but there are

these explosive barrels scattered

throughout the level you can use your

Pet Companion Nicks to detonate the

barrels from stealth but if you do this

the guards will just automatically

trigger an alarm and cause you to

instantly fail the mission even if you

were undetected in the process on one

hand this makes sense if I were guarding

a military base and a barrel randomly

exploded and killed two soldiers I would

definitely found the alarm too but this

begs the question if using the tools

available to the player causes them to

fail the mission then why are these

barrels in the level at all it makes no

sense from a game design perspective

also for some of these missions the time

between being spotted and failing the

quest is like one frame in this Quest I

tried to lure a guard to my location but

he stopped just out of reach for my

melee takedown so I tried to pop out of

of cover and take him down but I just

immediately failed before I could even

attempt the attack and in this Mission I

failed the quest as I was taking down

the guard explain to me how did he

manage to kick me out of the district

after I knocked his ass

out

[Applause]

you another thing that annoyed me is

that you cannot shoot out the alarms or

cameras I'm used to the hit Man games

where you can knock out cameras with a

silenced pistol but in this game

shooting a camera will often cause you

to immediately fail the mission so you

have to find a security terminal or an

off switch getting spotted by a camera

will also immediately alert every enemy

to your location and often triggers

reinforcements or a mission failure K's

takedown animations are completely

ridiculous too she just koos enemies

with her bare hands even if they are in

complete armor how does she not break

every bone in her hands man even Agent

47 had to hit people with a hammer or

put them in a sleeper hold the one

stealth mechanic that I found somewhat

unique Was Your Pet Companion Nicks you

can send him out to fetch items get into

places you cannot reach detect enemies

disable alarms detonate barrels set

traps distract enemies or even attack

them to set up a takedown for K but

overall I got to say Outlaws just isn't

a very fun stealth game in the few areas

where Star Wars Outlaws doesn't force

you into a stealth play style I actually

started to enjoy the action combat but

there are some issues the biggest one

for me is a lack of weapon variety K

really only has one weapon the Blaster

pistol there are three different Blaster

modes plasma for straight DPS ion for

Shields and droids and charge for

explosive shots you also get a one hit

stun shot which has like a 45 second

cool down you can also pick up weapons

dropped from enemies but you only get

one clip per gun and frustratingly if

you interact with the environment and

basically any way Kay will just drop the

gun pick a lock K drops the gun climb a

ledge she drops the gun check your phone

to see ubisoft's stock price she drops

the gun it's like we're going into

a heavily guarded gang stronghold right

now why you dropping that AK we're going

to need that that being said there are

some cool heavy weapons Blaster rifle

and snipers but I just wish that we

could create actual loadouts for our

character but instead we're relegated to

the Blaster pistol for most of the game

I did start to enjoy the combat a bit

more as the game went on but

unfortunately the vast majority of the

game is stealth and not very good

stealth mind you if you are caught

inside an Imperial base you will gain

wanted levels Ona GTA and at the highest

level you'll be hunted down by Death

Squad Troopers this was actually pretty

fun in order to clear your Bounty you'll

either need to pay off a corrupt

Imperial officer or locate a nearby

death squad camp and hack the computer

to delete your Bounty from their system

the progression system in Outlaws was

pretty underwhelming too there is no

leveling up your character instead you

have to unlock experts and complete

challenges to unlock new abilities but

calling most of these abilities is kind

of a stretch because a lot of them are

just slight gear upgrades like better

smoke grenades more HP and defense for K

stuff like that it's also worth pointing

out that K's outfits don't have any

armor rating though some of them do have

passive stats like increased grenade

capacity more adrenaline on takedowns

Etc in order to recruit experts you'll

first have to complete a personal quest

for them there are two to three experts

per Planet some of whom you'll unlock

through the main story then to unlock

new abilities you'll need to complete

challenges like scoring 15 head shot

with a marksman rifle you also often

need crafting materials and rare

components that you'll have to scatter

inide quests in the open world and now

it's time to get into one of the big

selling points for this game the open

world as Ubisoft said in their marketing

experiened the first ever open World

Star Wars game now I am a big fan of

open world games I'm kind of an open

world game junkie I even enjoy a lot of

the mediocre and bad open world games

but Star Wars Outlaws didn't really

scratch the itch for me it's got

everything we've come to expect from

Ubisoft games generic Collectibles and

puzzles boring copy pasted missions and

a whole lot of empty space there are

four main locations you'll visit

throughout the game Tashara is a green

moon with a lot of space to explore

outside the main Hub tne is the famous

desert planet where Jaba the Hut lives

most of this planet is just empty desert

with a few assorted locations kajimi is

a snow Planet but you can really only

explore the main town here and finally

AKA is a jungle planet and definitely

the most beautiful location to explore

space exploration was pretty lackluster

as well pretty much all you'll find is

pirate ships to fight and floating cargo

to loot I forgot to mention the space

combat earlier too it's marginally

better than Starfield in that the

controls are more fluid but that's a

pretty low bar to be honest as I

mentioned earlier the main quest is only

about 15 hours so if you want to play

longer you'll be doing a whole lot of

side content there are a few substantial

side quests with more indepth storylines

but the vast majority of the content are

simple procedurally generated fetch

quests that you'll complete to farm

Syndicate reputation points I'm not 100%

sure if these contracts are infinite but

they certainly seem a lot like the

radiant faction quests and Fallout 4

there are four main criminal syndicates

or factions in Star Wars Outlaws the

Pikes the Huts Crimson Dawn and the

ashika clan taking on contracts from the

Star Wars equivalent of fixers is the

fastest way to farm reputation points

boosting your Syndicate reputation

allows you to access gang controlled

locations Merchants unlocks new outfits

Blaster skins and other rewards in many

faction contracts and quests you'll have

an opportunity to betray one gang in

favor of another which will impact your

reputation score but I didn't find it

too difficult to reach at least a good

reputation with each gang in the game

and I probably could have maxed all of

them out if I spent another 10 hours

doing repeatable contracts you can also

pick up side quests by talking to NPCs

or eavesdropping on conversations to

pick up new Intel most of this content

was completely forgettable though kind

of like the main story the main story of

Star Wars Outlaws revolves around

assembling a team of crack experts to

pull off a major Heist at a Crim Lord's

estate it's kind of like a discount

version of Mass Effect 2 without any of

the charm or good writing the

protagonist K VES is complet completely

forgettable and Bland it feels like her

personality was crowdsourced in a

corporate boardroom she lacks humor

emotional depth or strong motivations

she's basically in survival mode the

whole game and lacks a sense of

direction her two biggest attachments in

the story are her pet Nicks and your

newfound Droid companion nd5 translated

into our world Kay would be a crazy cat

lady with an AI chatbot as her best

friend Kay's mother is a complete

scumbag who abandoned Kay when she was a

teenager to pursue a life of crime she

thought it would work out best for Kay

but Kay ended up becoming a criminal too

just like her mom the rest of the

characters you recruit for the heist

were completely forgettable I just

finished the main story less than 12

hours ago at the time of writing this

and I literally can't remember most of

their names to be fair they don't really

get a whole lot of screen time and there

are no loyalty missions for your

companions like we had in Mass Effect 2

by the of the game I was actually

rooting for the villain SLO the dude was

just trying to chill and run his

criminal Empire we were the ones who

stole from him he didn't do anything to

us except in retaliation plus the big

plot twist spoiler alert by the way is

that the guy who hired us for the heist

was actually sl's estranged brother so

this job was personal and at the end of

the day the dude ends up betraying us

and we don't get any of the money anyway

so I guess the real Heist was the

friends we made along Ong the way

speaking of which the final mission had

this awful part where we had to sneak

around and hack a bunch of panels while

nd5 tried to kill us I ended up having

to redo this whole part because nd5

despawned during the chase sequence and

bugged out a scripted event that was

supposed to trigger the final mission is

also well over 2 hours long and a lot of

it is a complete slog from a gameplay

standpoint by the end of it I was just

begging for this game to be over you can

continue to mop on up side content after

the ending if you choose to but at this

point I think I'm done with Star Wars

Outlaws so at the end of the day I'd

give Star Wars Outlaws a 4.5 out of 10

the Stealth gameplay Loop and Mission

design are horrendous the story and

characters are forgettable 90% of the

open world content isn't worth doing and

the fun parts of the game are shoved

Under the Staircase like Harry freaking

Potter I really didn't have high

expectations coming into this game I was

expecting like a six or seven out of 10

experience with decently fun gameplay

but Ubisoft failed to deliver even on

that so unfortunately I cannot recommend

Star Wars Outlaws even on a discount

really maybe if you're a big Star Wars

fan and you buy the game like two or

three years from now when it comes on to

steam for like $10 on a sale then maybe

it's worth it but I think this one is an

easy skip for a lot of you so there you

have it my final review of Star Wars

Outlaws if you like this video be sure

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to all the channel members for

supporting my content until next time

this has been big Dan I should go