Now that Summer Game Fest season has come to an end, fans can finally take a moment to look back on all the incredible announcements delivered by each showcase, and though not all of them were equal, it was pretty great showing overall. Geoff Keighley’s opening night livestream was surprisingly strong, featuring a ton of exciting reveals likePrince of Persia: The Lost CrownandMortal Kombat 1.TheXbox Showcase was the win that Microsoft needed, and the Ubisoft Forward presentation, while feeling fairly outdated, did have a few exciting announcements, with the biggest highlight beingStar Wars: Outlaws.
First revealed at the Xbox Showcase a day earlier,Star Wars: Outlawsreceived its first gameplay trailer at the Ubisoft Forward presentation. Touted as the first truly open-world game in the IP,Star Wars: Outlawssees players step into the space-faring boots ofKay Vess, a new smuggler in theStar Warsgalaxy. Along with plenty of gunfights and nail-biting chases and escapes,Star Wars: Outlawswill also deliver some suitablyStar Wars-y ship battles, though they might not hold a candle toStarfield’s own ship combat.
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Starfield’s Ship Combat Seems to Offer More Than Star Wars: Outlaws
From the gameplay released so far,Star Wars: Outlaws' ship combat looks extremely simple. After attracting the unforgiving eye of the Empire, Kay Vess escapes the planet in her trusty ship, the Trailblazer, seamlessly transitioning from the ground to the stars with no visible loading screen. Once up in space, a few TIE-Fighters lock on to the Trailblazer, and a quick dogfight begins.
The action here is pretty simple. The Trailblazer shoots a TIE-Fighter ahead of it with its primary laser cannons, then it boosts through some space debris, shoots another TIE, and jumps to Hyperspace to escape an ambush. Based on the HUD shown, it seems as though the player will have access to a handful of abilities to use during ship combat, like the boost seen in the trailer. These images imply the existence of some kind of emergency repair ability, and missiles. But aside from that little extra wrinkle, that seems to be all there is toStar Wars: Outlaws' ship combatfor now.
Just a day beforeStar Wars: Outlawsreceived its first gameplay trailer,Bethesda’sStarfieldhad its own 45-minute gameplay deep-dive, exploring all of the game’s core systems and mechanics; ship combat got its own lengthy breakdown. Even at its most basic level,Starfield’s ship combat looks more complex thanStar Wars: Outlaws'. When engaging in ship combat inStarfield, players will be tasked with managing all of their ship’s subsystems, including their weapons, shields, engines, and gravity drive. Increasing power in one subsystem will make it more efficient, such as increasing the damage of the lasers, or reducing the time it takes to reach max speed.
On top of that core subsystem management mechanic,Starfieldhas plenty of additional complexities players can dive into with its ship combat. By unlocking a specific Targeting System skill, players will be able to use a V.A.T.S.-like system to directly target an enemy ship’s subsystems, adding much more strategy to ship combat. And that’s all not even mentioningStarfield’s extensive ship customization system, letting players swap out and upgrade every individual module of their ship with ease, presumably adding even more depth toStarfield’s ship combat. ThoughStar Wars: Outlawswill hopefully have some kind of ship customization feature, it probably won’t be nearly as involved asStarfield’s, and thus probably won’t affect ship combat too much.
Star Wars Outlawsreleases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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