Ubisoft has revealed a little more about what’s coming in the next big Star Wars Outlaws update, including combat changes so fundamental that it sounds like we’re basically getting a whole new open-world game. I was already starting to feel bad for enjoying Outlaws as much as I did at launch, and now it looks like Ubisoft is attempting to speedrun its own No Man’s Sky-style redemption tour.
You can read the full blog from creative director Drew Rechner if you want every detail, but here are some of the highlights for what’s coming in title update 1.4 on November 21.
- Headshots are now “more rewarding”
- Health and armor stats revamped to make various enemy types “more distinct”
- Enemies have new weak points
- Enemies have new defeat animations and hit reactions
- Every weapon has had recoil, fire rate, ammo, and accuracy stats tweak
- Some weapons, like the Ashiga ABR-2 Zato Blaster Rifle, have had their shooting patterns completely redesigned
- The Power module now lets you shoot through cover
- The Ion module now stuns enemies longer
- You no longer drop scavenged weapons while climbing
- You can now choose which shoulder the camera favors
“All in all, we believe and hope that this update to weapons, cover and damage stats will create a much deeper and more engaging combat loop with more variety, choice and satisfaction,” Rechner writes.
Those are much loftier promises than you’d typically expect from a post-launch update – these are the kinds of changes that typically wait for a full sequel. If Ubisoft can deliver on even half of its ambition with this update, it starts to look like Outlaws is moving past the flaws that held it back at launch. You could argue that this is the game we should’ve gotten at launch, but one way or another it’s good to see Outlaws taking an improved form.
Here are all the upcoming Ubisoft games you need to know about.