Summary
Star Wars Outlawslooks to be one of the most ambitious titles in the IP’s history, marking the first truly open-world title. Set betweenThe Empire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi, the upcoming game will explore the Outer Rim through the eyes of thief Kay Vess. It will mix existing locales, characters, and lore with new creations, expanding on a rarely-explored part of the universe’s timeline.Screen Rantspoke withStar Wars Outlaws' game director Mathias Karlson and narrative director Navid Khavari to learn more.
Outlawseschews the typical grand hero storyline of good versus evil found in mostStar Warsstories,instead telling a more intimate, character-driven narrative focusing on the life of thief Kay Vess. The title aims to be a bit more grounded in its storytelling than other releases, exploring the gritty, difficult life of a criminal in the Outer Rim.Outlawswill take Kay to several planetsas she completes jobs for different syndicates on her quest to pull off a grand heist, with her adorable merqaal - an axolotl-like creature - Nix by her side.
Star Wars Outlaws' Real-World Ashiga Clan Influences Explained By Dev
At Summer Game Fest 2024, Star Wars Outlaws' developers discussed the real-world influences behind the game’s new crime syndicate, the Ashiga Clan.
Screen Rant Interviews Star Wars Outlaws' Game Director Mathias Karlson & Narrative Director Navid Khavari
The Timeline, Crafting New Characters & Planets & What Players Can Expect
We are visiting a point in theStar Warstimeline that hasn’t been visited that often, and in that, I’m sure comes some unique challenges, but also a lot of room for creativity to happen. What made this little chunk of time the perfect one for you guys?
Navid Khavari: I think that goes back to right at the start, where we knew that we wanted to do a scoundrel fantasy, right? We wanted players to experience that. When we met with Lucasfilm Games, they told us, “It just so happens there’s this perfect sliver of time, there’s a year between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi where this could fit, where the Rebellion is on the run. The Empire is as strong as it’s ever been, and the underworld is starting to thrive.”
When we realized we’re not necessarily telling a story about Jedi or Sith or Rebellion, but we’re going to tell a story about a character, Kay Vess, who really grew up as a street thief in the Workers' District of Canto Bight and isn’t part of that bigger picture, the possibilities just sort of exploded from there, right? Because she’s going to get to experience the underworld for the first time, just as players have. I think when you start going into the underworld, then all these new elements start to come into play.
Mathias Karlson: It’s so fun for us to be able to show that era and some of those so iconic locations and characters from a different perspective, where Kay is not a character who has traveled the galaxy and knows everything. You’ll actually go on a journey, where if you’re a fan of the original trilogy, you will know more most likely than she does. You might know Jabba the Hutt - she doesn’t, so that perspective is also really fun.
The last time this time period was really explored was in the Expanded Universe’sShadow of the Empire. Were there any storylines from that or ideas that you were excited to bring intoOutlaws?
Navid Khavari: The game is filled with Easter eggs. I can promise you the team has done their homework. Shadow of the Empire is one of my favorite Star Wars games of all time, but I think we’ll have to leave it for players to discover very soon, on August 30th.
Speaking of things that I’m sure you may’t talk about that much, but I’m going to ask about anyway: players now know from trailers that Crimson Dawn is included as a syndicate, but there are a few other ones, like Black Sun, that haven’t been confirmed yet. Are you able to give any window into if players will be seeing other syndicates they might be familiar with in this game?
Navid Khavari: I think this is such a unique period of time, where Crimson Dawn is also - if you’ve looked at the comics and the books - there’s some interesting things that Qi’ra is up to in this period, so that felt like a very natural fit for us going into this timeframe. Then of course we have the Hutts. We have Ashiga Clan, which we wanted to bring in as a brand new syndicate to Star Wars, and then of course Crimson Dawn.
I think the key thing for us was: how do these syndicates relate to Kay’s journey? Does it make sense for her on this path in these planets that we’re crafting, that she’s going to run into Crimson Dawn or the Hutts, for example. That was always our guiding principle. I think we were very lucky in that we were able to craft a new syndicate, like the Ashiga Clan, which is a Melitto, almost insect-like species, that has a very hierarchical structure that is a syndicate that no one’s ever seen before. I think that was really exciting for us to explore. Then also how that intersects with the reputation system, the fact that Kay is going to have to navigate between the three of them on her journey.
Mathias Karlson: It’s really at the heart of the experience, in the background, always looming is the Empire. This is the height of their power in many ways, and if you break their rules, you’ll feel it - trust me. But navigating the different syndicates, it’s really your journey. We’re not going to tell you when to be on the good or bad side with each one of them. I think as a player on Outlaws, you’re really going to have to think, “Okay, what am I after right now, and what’s the best course of action in this moment I’m finding myself in? What action should I take towards what consequence?” Which is also at the core of the experience.
It’s funny you mentioned places the Crimson Dawn could go if people have read the comics, because my next question was about if fans might be seeing any of the Crimson Reign storyline.
Mathias Karlson: I can’t answer that. [Laughs]
I didn’t think you’d be able to.
Navid Khavari: I tried to say it dramatically so maybe it’d be something.
With the mic whisper, yeah, I think that really, it sells it.
Navid Khavari: Yeah. Players will have to find out soon enough.
A lot of theStar Warsstories that have been told in the past are very grand scale, good-versus-evil type things, whereas this is very A, morally ambiguous, and B, much more singular character-focused, more so than what’s going on in the entire galaxy. When you’re making a character where so much is hinging on them to carry the player’s investment in that way, what kind of challenges come with that, and where do you even start making Kay from the ground up?
Navid Khavari: That’s a great question. I think for us, it really came back to what are we bringing that’s new to this period of time? Especially the fact that Kay is self-aligned. We knew very early on that this is a character we don’t necessarily see of as part of the rebellion. This is a character that isn’t tied to the Jedi, for example, so suddenly you see someone, she’s one of us. She’s someone that I would hang out with and see in a cantina.
From there everything kind of flowed organically. Suddenly, while all this stuff is happening around her, she brings a different sort of unique perspective and goal. I think, like you said, that sort of morally gray area was so fun to play with, and especially the fact that this is someone who finds herself unexpectedly with a bounty on her back, and she’s embarking on this heist across the Outer Rim.
She’s not concerned about whether the rebels are going to win or not. She’s got bigger things on her mind. Everything really, honestly - I keep going back to the word organic, it just sort of flowed organically from her character. Again, it’s her, but also Nix, who is a bit of the heart and soul of Kay, and then ND-5. If you were able to get a chance to play the demo, this is a droid from the Clone Wars that has been an enforcer within the underworld. Again, not part of that necessarily larger picture, but who is working with Kay, whether he likes it or not, then isn’t necessarily happy about it. That provides his own perspective as well, so I think that’s been really exciting.
When you’re also creating, like you mentioned, the Ashiga Clan and there’s also entirely new planets in this game also that you’ve created from the ground up, when you’re creating new cultures and hierarchies in that way and trying to fit them into existing lore, what is that process like for you guys to make it feel like it does fit within everything that’s been established?
Mathias Karlson: I think at the heart of everything we’ve done in this game, both bringing the already known into our experience, but also creating new things, it’s a really healthy collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, genuinely critical to us being able to create that authentic Star Wars feel. We often joke internally, we thought we knew Star Wars when we started, and we quickly realized that we didn’t.
Of course we did, but the point being that there’s so much depth and nuance to this IP and to this world, and having them as not people who put up walls and no gos, but really the helping hand to think about, “Okay, that sounds great. How do we get there?” Combined with, of course, a lot of very, very thorough research and thinking on our end. What would the local inhabitants of Toshara be like? What’s the nature of this place, ranging all the way from nature to what type of planet is it in this era in terms of which syndicates are there, et cetera.
Navid Khavari: I think, as well, the fact that we got to craft our own new contribution in Toshara, but we were also able to bring to life planets that, for example, Kijimi was in Rise of Skywalker, but we didn’t see a very large facet of the planet, and being able to flesh that out more. Or Akiva, which only exists in the books, but now we get to craft this whole planet with that as an inspiration, but obviously bringing all sorts of new elements to this lush rainforest jungle that Kay gets to experience. To Mathias' point, breaking it down in terms of demographics, history, war, character, all those things, it was a joy to do. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.
In exploring in this game a world that’s very much the criminal underbelly side that we don’t often get to see in theStar Warsproperties, what sort of fun, unique, creative opportunities has that given you guys in terms of crafting this story and world?
Navid Khavari: Yeah, I’ve talked about this a lot with the team, a lot of the fun and even the lighthearted side of Star Wars comes from the situations you find yourself in. It doesn’t come from necessarily characters trying to be funny or that kind of thing, so it was always really fun for us to throw Kay into situations that she wouldn’t expect to be in. I think Java’s a perfect example. I still remember the story room where we were talking about, “Well, what does that conversation go like?”
Mathias Karlson: “What would I do?”
Navid Khavari: Yeah, “What would I do in that situation?” I think it’s a great example, because it speaks to how Kay is so unique. We’ve not really seen that kind of interaction before. We wanted to verify if you’re exploring a city like Mirogana, as dense as Mirogana, within Toshara, that because we’re leaning into the open world aspect of Star Wars, that the people you might run into on the street might have a fun storyline that you could go off to, or they might have something to say about Nix that Kay might not expect. I think all of those elements were super, super fun to explore.
Mathias Karlson: I think also it maps perfectly to - an open-world game is so much about feeling as a player that I have freedom and agency, and pursuing things not because I’m being told to do so, but because I want to. And having the syndicates and the underworld to play with and the ebb and flow of what they think of you, depending on what choices you made towards certain opportunities that also come with threats, because you siding with the Ashiga over here might not be something that the Hutts are thrilled about. I think it really becomes the fabric of your experience, and not just the story we’re telling you, but the story that you’re creating by playing through the game and making your own journey and your own adventure.
