Star Wars Outlawshas just recently released, and it’s hitting the spot for many fans of the beloved sci-fi world. The latest game in theStar Warsuniverse follows the adventures of Kay Vess and her axolotl-like companion Nix.Star Wars Outlawsdoes a lot of things well, but it falls short in some regards. One fan video highlights one of the issues, revealing a major problem with the game world’s NPCs and enemies.
YouTuberNikTekhas uploaded a video where they tested various ways to interact with the NPCs and the video’s title says it all: “Star Wars: Outlawsbeing a ‘AAAA’ Game for 3 minutes.” Over the three minutes, NikTek shows the complete indifference of NPCs and enemies as they try very hard to provoke them.
In the video, NikTek tries to blow up several NPCs but receives no reaction from the characters or the environment. The video also shows Kay plowing her speeder right into a couple of enemies and characters with no reaction, an enemy NPC getting stuck trying to walk into a slightly-too-short door, armed enemies failing to shoot at Kay when she uses melee attacks on them, and other ways that the game’s environment fails to correctly respond to players actions.
Star Wars Outlaws Criticized For Unrealistic NPC Reactions
And Lack Of Reaction In General
The lack of repercussions from enemies and other characters in the world seems to go against the whole point of the game.Outlawsuses a Reputation systemto affect how factions and characters interact with Kay, but NikTek’s video shows that free-roam NPCs don’t quite follow the same design principle. It’s surprisingly difficult to commit a crime in the game all about outlaws, even when the crime involves literally blowing people up. One comment on the video by usersideswipeblsummarizes the issue: “NPCs in games are increasingly becoming window dressing instead of interactive, reactive observers.”
The video highlights several other non-NPC issues. Ladders seem to be Kay’s biggest nemesis, foiling her attempts to pick up and carry a weapon and completely confounding a Stormtrooper into inactivity when Kay stands at the top. Kay is also shown to glitch out when she tries to run up the side of a cliff or when she gets too close to a body of water, and actually entering the water immediately fades to black as she falls through it with no specialized animation.
Any large game on the scale ofOutlawsis expected to have a few glitches, but these issues extend past mere hiccups, affecting the game at a more fundamental level. The release ofStar Wars Outlawsis already mired in controversy. Ubisoft has come under fire for several bugs, including a pre-releasebug that forced many early access players to lose progressand a subsequentfailure to offer any form of proper compensationto those paying customers.
Source:NikTek/YouTube,sideswipebl/YouTube
Star Wars Outlaws
Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure game where players hop into the scoundrel boots of Kay Vess, a woman who travels the galaxy Looking for a better life. Together with her furry partner Nix and new allies she meets along the way, Kay will navigate the various landscapes, towns, and planets across the galaxy while outsmarting both Crime Syndicates and the Empire.
