Star Wars Outlaws is an upcoming open-world game set in a galaxy far, far away. After recent previews, developer Massive Entertainment has shared some insights.
Speaking to IGN, Julian Gerighty, creative director at Massive Entertainment, explained some of the philosophy behind taking on a game of this scale. “I think this is maybe just my approach, but even if it’s scary, you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to lean into it. What’s the downside to pitching a Star Wars game in San Francisco at LucasFilm Games in George Lucas’ old office?
“It’s the outlaw player fantasy and it’s open world, those were the two main pillars that we pitched,” Gerighty continued. “Why open world? Because the outlaw fantasy really needs that to live and breathe.”
Massive Entertainment has a solid pedigree in the open-world genre, having developed The Division and The Division 2, as well as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, so we know it can deliver when it comes to established sci-fi film IPs.
Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess, a scoundrel planning a massive heist. It’s a third-person action-adventure game and will have blasters and gadgets rather than lightsabers and Force powers.
“For us, the sort of cinematic ambition that we had was in presentation,” says Gerighty. But that doesn’t just mean cutscenes. “What I care the most about is the interactive part,” he adds.
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“One of our intentions for the beginning of the game was to make it feel very small and then [get] bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,” explains Gerighty. “So,beginning of the game, you start off in one room and it’s claustrophobic and it’s meant to make you feel a little bit trapped. You open up and it’s city streets, but it’s contained. And then you get into some narrative stuff and you steal a ship and you explode into the galaxy and all of a sudden you crash land on this planet, which is a wide open world.”
Star Wars Outlaws launches August 30, 2024.
In other news, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 could be coming to Game Pass later this month.