Star Wars Outlaws: Five Things We Might See
During the Xbox and Ubisoft Forward Showcases, Ubisoft and Lucasfilm Games dropped some surprising news: a title and new trailer for their Star Wars open-world game and gameplay.
Star Wars Outlaws occurs between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and follows aspiring outlaw Kay Vess as she tries to outrun various entities on her way to economic freedom.
Kay finds herself wanted (possibly from the interaction we saw during the gameplay preview) and must pull off a massive heist to escape the bounty placed on her head.
Bounties, heist, and the Outer Rim are all terms thrown out by Ubisoft Massive’s creative director, Julian Gerighty. And they imply some aspects of Star Wars canon might come into play. For this list, I want to focus on the information presented in the trailer; specifically Han frozen in carbonite. It was the primary marker for when Star Wars Outlaws takes place, so I believe it will hold some relevance to the story.
So with the information from the Ubisoft Forward presentation, let’s speculate on what we could see in Star Wars Outlaws.
1. Crimson Dawn and Its Affiliates
Gerighty mentioned that Kay and her fury companion Nix would encounter several criminal syndicates. During the gameplay preview, we already see the Pykes syndicate. The Pykes have become more embedded into canon since their introduction in The Clone Wars. The Pykes have since appeared in live-action post-Galactic Civil War in The Book of Boba Fett and based on The Clone Wars, Darth Maul (leader of the Crimson Dawn before his death) worked with the Pykes when he established the Shadow Collective, an alliance of the top syndicates.
Maul is dead by this time, but Crimson Dawn remains under the control of Lady Qi’ra. First introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story and played by Emilia Clarke, Qi’ra has become a fan favorite and significant in the timeline. Her story has been expanded upon in publishing, particularly the comics. After taking over Crimson Dawn, Qi’ra reshapes the organization to undermine the Empire and destroy the Sith.
As such, Crimson Dawn continues criminal activity while expanding their reach, infiltrating many organizations across the galaxy. We see Han frozen in carbonite in the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws, knowing that he will ultimately end up in Jabba’s Palace. However, while in transit on Nar Shaddaa, Crimson Dawn agents stole Han and delivered him to Qi’ra to sell Han to the highest bidder in an exclusive auction. The auction was bait to draw out factions that Han had slighted together in one room. Therefore, Qi’ra could appear, but that would require an Emilia Clarke mo-cap performance.
They can include Crimson Dawn without Qi’ra through new or familiar agents. One group that most people might be surprised to see that worked with Crimson Dawn are the Knights of Ren. The group aligned itself with Crimson Dawn against the Galactic Empire because Ren feared Palpatine would target the Knights eventually.
While it would be nice to have a game without Force-users, having some members of the Knights of Ren (or Ren himself) would make sense and give them the relevancy that the Sequel Trilogy did not.
Another former ally of Crimson Dawn that makes sense in this game is Black Sun. While Crimson Dawn is secretly undermining the Empire during this time, Black Sun is an Imperial partner, establishing a base of operation on Mustafar and keeping watch in the Outer Rim.
2. Boba Fett
Based on the synopsis, a bounty is put on Kay leading to her having to pull off a major heist. If the reward for Kay is large enough, that will attract the attention of Boba Fett. In the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws, we see Han frozen in carbonite, but Boba Fett has been working with the Empire before that. Boba is the one who discovers the identity of the rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star, Luke Skywalker. Fett reports this to Vader, leading the Sith Lord to realize he has a son before the events of The Empire Strikes Back. As I mentioned, Crimson Dawn intercepts Han from Boba on Nar Shaddaa. This leads to Jabba placing a bounty on Boba, which brings in other bounty hunters like 4-LOM and Zuckuss, so it is also possible that multiple bounty hunters could appear and fight each other.
Fett (and Temuera Morrison) have already appeared in Jedi: Survivor, and because Boba Fett doesn’t need to take his helmet off, there is already a model for him. And getting to fight the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy and walk away would be a great story.
3. Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca
I expect someone from the Original Trilogy to make an appearance. Boba Fett is one option since he is a part of the underworld, but another is Lando. After The Empire Strikes Back, Lando joins the Rebel Alliance but still maintains his connections within the underworld, mainly to try and track down Han. And we do not know much of Lando and Chewbacca’s time looking for Han in canon.
It depends on how integrated frozen Han is to the overall plot of Outlaws, but one of Kay’s missions could be from Lando. Or she could just run into him. And Billy Dee Williams seems open to providing his voice for Lando for as long as possible.
4. Nar Shaddaa
Tatooine being a playable world in Star Wars Outlaw, opens the door for a visit to Jabba’s Palace. Jabba is in the official trailer, and that may be all we see of the Hutt, but, like Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn, the Hutt’s reach is vast.
At some point in 3 ABY, Vader kills the Hutt Council, only sparing Jabba, so we are unlikely to see other Hutts, but we could see a planet in Hutts Space. Nar Shaddaa is a prominent criminal underworld location in Star Wars, and one of the locations we get a peak at in the trailer looks like it could take place there. It seems like many planets we have seen (especially Daiyu from Obi-Wan Kenobi), but sticking to the Outer Rim, there is a good chance it is Nar Shaddaa.
5. Doctor Aphra
What is a list without a wildcard pick? I honestly do not know why Doctor Aphra has yet to appear in any medium outside of publishing, but Aphra is around all of the people and entities above during this time. She is working for Vader before the events of The Empire Strikes Back and has a few encounters with Luke and Leia. Aphra is also around (along with Sana Starros) when Han is taken to auction by Crimson Dawn, although she stays clear of Fett and Vader, who believe her to be dead. Aphra would make a fun character interaction for Kay and, for the player, keep us guessing on which side she falls under.
We will get more information at San Diego Comic-Con in July (hopefully, this will include a release date), but we have a while for more speculation to arise on what Star Wars Outlaws has in store.
