Star Wars Outlaws
I recently downloaded Star Wars Outlaws from the PlayStation Plus catalog and dove straight in. After spending more than 13 hours with the game, I feel it’s time to share the aspects that frustrated me the most. To be clear, pointing out flaws doesn’t mean the game is bad, it has plenty of strengths worth celebrating, which I’ll cover in a separate post. But for now, let’s focus on the issues that stood out.
1. Too Much Forced Stealth
Stealth mechanics can add depth, but here they often feel mandatory rather than optional. Missions technically allow you to rush in guns blazing, yet the design constantly nudges you back into stealth. Instead of feeling like a choice, it becomes a chore, similar to the MJ missions in Spider‑Man. After a while, this forced approach creates burnout and leaves you wondering why you’re playing this way at all.
2. Weak Enemy AI
The AI logic is inconsistent. On a hover bike, enemies spot you from hundreds of meters away, but on foot you can stand just 10 meters away without being noticed. Once you engage and then hide, enemies give up searching after 20 seconds and return to their posts as if nothing happened. This lack of responsiveness makes encounters feel hollow and unchallenging.
3. Poor Mission Design
Open-world games usually guide players with clear objectives and markers. Star Wars Outlaws, however, often doesn’t. At times, you’re left wandering without direction, which is both time-consuming and frustrating. While hardcore RPG fans might enjoy figuring things out, casual players will likely struggle. Even as an experienced RPG player, I found myself turning to YouTube for help. Combined with repetitive mission structures, mandatory stealth, and hacking, the overall design quickly feels stale.
4. Generic Gameplay Animations
Despite being a next‑gen title released in 2024, the animations feel recycled from older Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs or Assassin’s Creed. Movements often look buggy, incomplete, or simply reused. It’s disappointing that indie titles now deliver smoother animations while a major publisher still relies on dated mechanics. This lack of polish makes the game feel cheaper than it should.
5. Limited Combat
When you think of Star Wars, you imagine lightsabers, special abilities, and epic battles. Instead, Outlaws restricts you to a blaster for most of the game. Other weapons are temporary and can’t be upgraded, leaving combat feeling generic and stuck in the past. The feedback from hits lacks satisfaction, and overall mechanics resemble Ubisoft’s other third‑person titles, familiar, predictable, and uninspired.
Final Thoughts
These frustrations don’t erase the fact that Star Wars Outlaws also has impressive qualities, which I’ll highlight in another article. But after 13 hours, these five issues, forced stealth, weak AI, poor mission design, generic animations, and limited combat, stood out as the biggest drawbacks.
Have you played Outlaws? Share what annoyed you most in the comments, I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts.
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