The much anticipated release of Star Wars Outlaws is just over a month away, and as a Star Wars fan, I am apprehensively excited.
New stories in the Star Wars universe are always exciting and with the quality of the EA Jedi series, Ubisoft has a lot to live up to.
Ubisoft has developed beloved franchises such as Assassin’s Creed (AC) and Far Cry (FC), these series combined open world with phenomenal storytelling; however after 29 of these games, the style is getting a bit repetitive. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, while a nice step away from the developers norm, felt a lot like Far Cry with a blue skin, lacking anything new from Ubisoft.
The last game I truly enjoyed from Ubisoft was Immortals Fenyx Rising (IFR). Sadly its sequel was canned in favor of more profitable AC and FC clones. The second IFR was taking inspiration from Elden Ring, which would have been something fresh for the team. It is not often we get to see a new IP from Ubisoft and I was really disheartened to see something new with such potential shut down.
Upon discovering that a new Star Wars game was being developed by Ubisoft, I initially sighed at the idea of an IP I love being made into another clone trooper.
When Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was announced back in 2016, I saw that it was being produced by EA and immediately assumed the worst. I was expecting a game full of DLCs and micro-transactions and instead found myself delighted by the lack of these things and in its place, a phenomenal game, with a brilliant story. Jedi: Survivor continued this with an even bigger game, with so much more to offer and still no micro-transactions. I was practically begging EA to make DLC, I never thought I would see the day.
Maybe there is hope for story driven games without anti-consumer pay walls?
Unfortunately, Ubisoft renewed my skepticism following the announcement of a season pass. Holding back features behind a pay wall doesn’t look good, especially when the game on its own is $69.99. If you want the additional withheld content, it is $109.99 for Gold and $129.99 for Ultimate. Locking content behind a paywall before the game has even released is quite worrying.
With the clone fatigue, the prices and holding back of features behind a paywall, my skepticism will persist. I will be holding back until the final reviews are in.
Please prove me wrong Ubisoft.
