The next update for Star Wars Outlaws should address one of the game's most criticised elements. We are, of course, referring to the title's lacking stealth mechanics, which have been highlighted by both critics and players over the last couple of weeks. In particular, a number of early-game missions enforce instant fail stealth sections, where being spotted results in a restart.
"You're probably thinking of one of the early missions in Mirogana, which is incredibly punishing," Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty told GamesRadar. "For me, that is a mistake, and this is something that we're going to work on improving," he added. Hurrah!
To be clear, though, it doesn't sound like the developer will be stripping the instant-fail system from the game. Gerighty continues: "I don't think it means removing the fail state completely, but I do think there are millions of low hanging fruits where we can make it so much more enjoyable and understandable." In other words, we're probably looking at mechanical adjustments that make the whole thing much more forgiving.
Still, that's a positive step forward for a title that's been struggling for positive headlines. Star Wars Outlaws was met with largely lukewarm reviews, and there have been early signs that, from a sales perspective, the game isn't the smash hit that Ubisoft would have envisioned.
Even here on Push Square, the title currently sits at a user rating of 6.3/10. 'Disappointing' is probably the most fitting description.
But if Massive Entertainment can polish the experience over the coming weeks and months, we could see something of a turnaround. Until then, though, try not to get caught in the comments section below.
[source gamesradar.com, via purexbox.com]
Comments 45
More like Star Wars Outflaws... amiright? 😉😓
Huh, that actually speaks well of them.. It was the main reason I held off on the game. I might pick it up
... Once it drops down to 30 euro's or lower, that is!
Remove ray tracing, up performance and resolution with the (potentially very big) savings. Might then take a proper look.
.. oh, and from what i read add in the ability to save anywhere.
"For me, that is a mistake, and this is something that we're going to work on improving"
Do or do not. There is no try.
My rule again applies - never day one buy, wait for sevceral months to have good experience.
P.S. - Astro Bot is the only one proving me worng so far.
the game is a little bit repetitive but it is a good game. i suggest most people to play it before hating it. If you don't like Star Wars you can probably skip it but otherwise it is a nice game to play
Good that they're looking to change it, but it's another example of why buying day one is generally* a bad idea.
*except in Astro Bot's case, what are you waiting for?!
Hopefully this upcoming patch also fixes one of the collectables needed for a trophy. So close to that platinum!
Hmmm... might get during the holiday sale if properly patched.
They let this stuff release and then struggle to understand why sales numbers and reception aren't what they expected.
Instant fail stealth in a 2024 action game? Years after Ubisoft releases have moved away from the mechanic? These companies are led by morons.
Imagine spending over £100 on this for 3 days early access, only to first have your save file wiped and now for certain game mechanics to be redesigned at a later date
You've got to be a mug to buy these big AAA games day one (day 4) these days
Didn't they learn from the early Assassins Creed titles that people hate instant fail stealth missions. They made a big song and dance at the time that they had listened and learnt. Genuinely surprised to see the mechanic return in a Ubisoft title
I have been concerned about the growing incorporation of rougelike and stealth in Ubisoft games. Starting with Valhalla and FarCry 6 DLCs. I kept bouncing off of Avatar because you are tasked with taking over large enemy bases throughout the campaign. You end up getting awesome weapons, bows and explosive guns, and come upon a base crawling with machines.
But the game wants you to tip toe in and disable all the (many) alarms. Tedious and not fun. Yes you can typically go in guns blazing, but if you do, it's a hard uphill battle with insta-fail restarts and your rewards when you actually do take the camp are cut in half because you did not use stealth like the game wanted you to.
I am a big Ubisoft fan, but once I heard of the stealth and insta-fail in SWO, I passed. I wish they would go back to "play your way" so all players could enjoy it. Devs talking about an early mission that is "incredibly punishing" is not getting me interested. Then they wonder why reviews were not higher.
I feel like Ubisoft is a leader in accessability and granular difficulty options, so hopefully they can add some tweaks to make it more enjoyable for a wider range of players.
@Yagami first, this is a nice looking Star wars open world. It is rather well done and seems alive even thought the amount of interactions is limited
Then it is better than traditional ubisoft open worlds with tower maps and plenty of icons to clean on your map (even if this is exactly like this that I'm playing it )
Finally, the stealth is a bit repetitive imo, and sometimes frustrating but I played far worst games and I dont like the hate about this game. I have the same feeling I had with Hogwarts Legacy which was a gam I expected a lot and was not disappointed. I understand online critics but i think not everybody has to agree on what is a good game
But if even the game's creative director thinks these section were a mistake, why did you ship the game with them included? Especially when they are apparently mostly in the early parts of the game, e.g. exactly the part where you don't want to frustrate people into dropping the game. Are these people for real?
EDIT; "But if Massive Entertainment can polish the experience over the coming weeks and months, we could see something of a turnaround."
This stupid game launched nearly two weeks ago, why are we talking about polish in the coming weeks and months? What happened to shipping a polished game on day 1? I know this is Ubisoft and thus the bar is very, very low, but this goes to show how clownish the industry is currently. Can people please stop buying this kinda slop so Ubi and friends can finally learn their lesson?
@doctommaso the summer sale has been and gone. Unless you don't go on holiday in the summer. When do you take your holidays?
@Golem25 for some people it's easier to release a game with errors and ask for forgiveness than delay the game and cost the company money.
yet again do not buy a game on launch if you wait you get to play a better version of the game and usually for cheaper as well.
Im going to play it at some point as its my kind of game but not till its finished
I’ll be honest not only do I normally avoid stealth in games but I’m rubbish at it , let’s just say get a bit further in the game unlock some charms - now I’m running through imperial bases just knocking everyone out with my fists , when I get desperate a quick tap of R1 and get Nix on another one then clean up ! If the stealth was any more forgiving it would be a comedy !
Another scenario of play the game or at least more than 5 minutes first before commenting
It just need more frequent Check Points, just to make sure you do not have to redo 15 min of stealth just because of a glitch...
Modern gamers in a nutshell. The game is pretty easy.
@Sergo I hate that this is so true, I am a huge star wars fan but I know that buying it in 6 months will be the best version of the game (and probably cheaper).
I feel like im one of the few that enjoy Ubisoft games, but I also know to never buy them on release and wait for patches and sales
Good change. I love to TRY to escape rather than be put back at the start.
Hopefully they also add the option to mute the nauseating Imperial dispatcher who blares commands every two minutes while you're wanted. And the ability to carry another weapon with you would be nice, or at least let you hold onto it while climbing.
@fleenerstrunk yes, me too. It even kills the day one buy excitement not only for Star wars, but everywhere. cough cyperpunk cough. I played it 1 year later and i got the best of it and as you said - cheaper.
@Lup Don't think anyone is claiming these sections are difficult. They are just garbage.
@Jey887
I've read various comments of people complaining about the difficulty, so yeah, there's definitely some people claiming exactly that.
I've just landed on Tatooine and the old school Star Wars nerd in me is buzzing. Gazing at those binary suns above a moisture farm just makes me smile. Love the atmosphere in this game.
@KillerIsD34D That actually would go a long way to helping make those sections less frustrating. I have found certain ones of them annoying and others just fine, but more frequent checkpoints would be nice.
That and the ability to save more often. I can just be walking around looking for somebody and I still won't be able to save, which makes no sense. Or autosaves taking up more slots, as there's basically just one save slot that continues to override itself most of the time, so you can lose quite a bit of progress if you want to backtrack.
I'm still highly enjoying the game as a whole though. I'd say a decent amount of the hate is from people that didn't even play the game yet and just want to give negative comments on it.
I can't wait to play the game next year when it's fully patched and $20!
I bought the game at launch and the stealth and two lockpicking/hacking minigames are the worst parts of the game. If they took out those elements (and they COULD just take them out) then the game would gain one full review point at least.
I actually think people would react much more favorably to the game if they didn't have those negative points to latch onto.
Don't bother. The whole game is an instant fail.
Will they also fix the transmission keeping people from that one trophy?
I was mad yesterday because I lost 2 hours of progress (because the game failed to auto save and wouldn’t allow me to manual save). I’ve fell through the ground a couple of times too, annoyingly.
I’ve caught up now and progressed to a point where the game is letting me manual save. It’s a good game but things like this shouldn’t make it to launch.
The stealth mechanics are one of the things I’m enjoying the most tbh.
@tselliot Have you even played it or are you just jumping on the hate bandwagon?
@gipsojo if you don’t like those turn them off in setting , you can also turn of the nix mini games but still enjoy the movie ? Changed the game for me
I'm only about 4 hours in, but having entered with tempered expectations, I'm actually really enjoying myself. I'm not very big on the two Jedi games, even got bored with the second one and stopped playing. This one feels more like inhabiting one of my favorite franchises. That said, I don't hate Ubisoft games as much as some. I only play one every few years, so I'm not as bored with the formula as someone would be who plays a lot of them.
To me playing Splintercell and other stealth games it's just basic stealth and I'm not even playing Outlaws, that was from watching another play it in person not online even if footage was clear then too and why I questioned the reputation of the factions.
How some kicked up dust/gas particles got more attention in the world design too is just baffling. Makes the game look worse besides ok art style, no gameplay benefit, only fluff to the world, why?
There is a reason I question empty/modern feeling game movesets besides skill trees as menu excuses to not touch the world. It's just annoying. Where are the more options to utilise regardless of easy/hard difficulty players & so both can use them & feeling less empty?
Nix is great but they have their limits at times too (settings to tweak as fair so accessibility/QOL is really good I like that attention to detail Massive/Ubisoft, I respect it) & QTEs for the food is really annoying & his/Kay's upgrades take time to explore/acquire.
AI are hit & miss regardless of location & developers forget audiences like run & gun/guns blazing sometimes especially for their wide audience sales products they want them to be (then a stealth game) that isn't marketed as such to make people change their mind besides gameplay footage.
Ubisoft wants their wide audience money yet Massive whichever staff in focus of design on mechanics or level design or AI or whatever didn't think very far about some details or how audiences think do they? This is why I find some modern games too empty/prioritize other things to fill in world/focus instead of on the movesets/general gameplay flow. Sigh.
Or were the publisher demands too much? Or whichever staff weren't able to get it going.
I can understand the Divsion 2/Avatar busyness compared to Outlaws in terms of dev time but whether a B team or just staff change ups or skills or time to spend or whatever I still question it. Especially the collision detection being pretty rough at times but understandable with the rest of the game's state of things as fair but has rough edges to sometimes bad.
Whether intended to be different, whether to tease/ease into SC or not even. I think Massive just didn't make a that great core gameplay loop at times. I mean guns as power ups to throw away was enough of a warning there. It's different so I respect that but it just doesn't suit the stealth gameplay, guns aren't throwable knifes/grenades/diguises. Why not lean into THAT for stealth gameplay.
Do these staff not have time? Or do they not have a broad enough imagination (besides prototyping with for programmers) is why I question this.
If time, sure, if imagination, why can't they think outside the box more?
Part 2:
What meetings didn't cover this enough or staff getting enough ideas out there/direction or skills/talent & whatever else.
The world is fine but some parts of engagement with some timed faction missions aren't great & the game is possible to get through but just not that polished enough or many opportunities for stealth then the bare minimum most games offer.
Why no Storm Trooper disguise either? If Luke/Han can do it in A New Hope why not in this game? It's a fair reference, it's a fair oh we can't do it because the armor doesn't fit, something fun & practical. Why no throwable rocks or something.
If I can think it up right now without prototyping it, it can't be that hard to think about it besides the other requirements for the project. Sigh.
Too much about their average world & bad writing where even the backstory to her being older she still seems like a really bad smuggler & her stealth sucks in gameplay as it does story wise.
Outlaws is an average game, rough at times & lacks fun ideas/flexibility or some gaps to fill of gameplay while other parts are fair. No RPG elements is different/fine, but exploring better execution of ideas needed still.
Charms & upgrades to collect was better than cosmetics in Jedi duology.
When it goes on sale I will probably try it, but than again I haven’t even played that Avatar game they made ⚰️🤔
@riceNpea The Holidays to me are from Thanksgiving through New Year's.
@doctommaso oh, Christmas. Don't know why the article, written by an Englishman, in England, on a UK based website, said Holidays.
People should just git gud.
My ESO Bosmer says "hi!'.
However, this is exactly why I rarely buy a new game from day 1 as you have to wait months for it to be patched to an acceptable level.
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