Star Wars Outlaws’ road to redemption has hit a major milestone today with the release of its first story pack, fourth major update, and long-awaited arrival on Steam. There will be a lot to unpack about the state of Ubisoft’s open-world stealth adventure in the days and weeks ahead but the most important thing to know right now is that the game is ditching its most annoying feature.
At launch there were many missions in Star Wars Outlaws, especially early on, where getting spotted by guards instantly resulted in failure. The word “caught” would flash in giant letters onscreen and you’d be started at the last checkpoint, which was sometimes surprisingly far back. No more. The latest developer diary explaining the game’s post-launch journey details why the developers nixed this feature and replaced it with the option to shoot your way out whenever the need arises.
“Our first step in expanding player choice is removing forced stealth from almost all quest objectives,” recently appointed creative director Drew Rechner wrote over on the game’s website. “This doesn’t mean that sneaking is no longer a viable or even preferable option in some cases. Rather, if you’re caught while sneaking, the objective won’t fail and reset you to the last checkpoint. Instead, you’ll seamlessly transition into combat.”
There are three other important changes that build on this more Deus Ex-style immersive sim gameplay. First, players can now shoot their way through unfriendly syndicate districts instead of being required to sneak through them. Second, weapons picked up and used in the field will remain accessible for a longer period of time. Third, headshots now do additional damage, and players will be able to target specific body parts for bonus damage on other weak points.
Combined, it should all help to grease the wheels for Star Wars Outlaws to feel a bit more natural and free-flowing than it did with its more punishing, stealth-centric framework from a few months ago. The changes are also coming alongside the new Wild Card story DLC that sees protagonist Kay Vess team up with Lando Calrissian to bluff her way through a sabacc tournament on the casino cruiser Morenia.
The new 1.4 title update, out November 21, also improves enemy AI behavior, facial expressions, animations, and more. It’s all part of Ubisoft’s attempt to salvage the game’s poor initial sales and turn it into a long-tail success. The game is currently 25 percent off on consoles through Black Friday as well. You can check out the full patch notes below:
General Gameplay
- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck by not being able to take off using the Trailblazer after certain missions
- Kay now holsters a two-handed weapon in more situations such as when climbing, grappling or using the speeder
- Improved AI speeder usage
- Improved enemy detection
- Improved enemy tactical decision-making in combat to encourage more active management of their positioning
- Decreased enemy damage per shot while increasing the damage cadence increase over time
- Improved detection signs and feedback of cameras
- Player state (crouched, standing) is now kept after traversal actions
- Fixed an issue where only one NPC would be alerted when whistling
- Fixed an issue where the player could remain undetected in high grass while performing aggressive actions
- Enabled the use of combat in parts of syndicate districts
- Added weak points to various enemies
- Adjusted weapon aiming (spread, recoil, etc.) to allow for more precision and management
- Updated weapon damage values for Kay for all weapons
- Increased headshot damage when hitting enemies
- Improved blaster module usage (Ion and Power)
- Removed player blast damage from the Power module
- Added enemy stagger to explosions
- Added body part-specific death animations to improve combat satisfaction
- Improved NPC cover usage during combat
- Fixed an issue where Kay would put away the holotracker when crouching
- Fixed an issue where hostile NPCs were sometimes marked as friendly and could not be damaged by blaster fire
- Adjusted jumping to give more control in the air of where you will land
UI, HUD and Settings
- Added visual indication of when an NPC starts detecting the player
- Added text highlighting which blaster module should be used when aiming at heavy guards, droids and cameras
- Prompt to ping the tracked objective is now more prominent and affected by HUD visibility settings
- Added icons to environmental objects that require unlockable abilities
- Improved Nix quick action icon by highlighting button when having an active target
- Made it clearer whether a takedown could trigger combat
- Added NPC tags above their heads (works with existing colorblindness settings)White – NeutralOrange – AwareRed – In Combat
- Adjusted Adrenaline Rush cost based on difficultyStory mode – 100% (unchanged)Normal – 110%Challenging/Hard -150%
- Improved wanted system messaging and display
- Fixed an issue where some gear effect icons were not showing correctly
Audio
- Improved enemy dialogue when they are going in and out of cover
- Fixed an issue where sound wouldn’t play through the DualSense controller on PS5
- Fixed an issue where arcade games would be missing music after starting a new game
Cinematics
- Added facial animations to gameplay dialogue scenes and vendors
- Improved animations and visuals of some dialogue scenes
- Fixed an issue where ND-5 would be missing from the passenger seat when landing/taking off from Renpalli or Achra stations
Camera
- Improved camera when shooting, aiming down sights, and moving aim
- Improved cover camera, including the ability to manually shoulder swap when aiming
- Improved the camera by showcasing a better view of each shop when interacting with a vendor
Worlds, Fauna and Flora
- Fixed an issue with destructible flora
- Fixed an issue where the visual effects created by waterfalls were broken
- Increased the distance at which lights can be seen in the world
- Improved the visuals of some grass textures and mud, especially at distance
Photo Mode
- A new clean lens has been added
Accessibility
- Added a Custom Controller Preset to allow remapping of individual buttons. You can choose separate sets of button swaps for Kay, the speeder, and the Trailblazer.
- Added a new ‘strong’ aim assist setting
- Added a new auto-transfer option for climbing, which lets you automatically hop between climbable objects by moving towards them instead of having to press a button
- Added setting to change how large and clear the effect showing the security camera detection area is
- Sound effects slider split into two separate sliders, for gameplay sounds and background sounds
- Faster menu narration, settings now go up to 400% speed.
- Menu narration now reads lockpicking and slicing minigames, objective hints, and which Sabacc card is currently highlighted in your hand and while drawing/discarding
- Option added to toggle the Cinematic Lens (distortion, fringing, and vignetting effects) off for gameplay
- ‘Fill screen’ is now the default screen ratio, meaning larger text size for the initial menus before you reach the ratio setting screen
- ‘Remove all’ hold input for map markers added to ‘change holds to presses’ setting
- Descriptions of accessibility settings reworded for improved clarity
Miscellaneous
- Fixed an issue where destroying a ship by ramming it would not count towards the ‘Never tell me the odds’ trophy/achievement
- Fixed an issue where the ‘Shoot First’ achievement/trophy and ‘The Better’ ability could not be unlocked at the same time
- Fixed an issue where defeating Death Troopers during certain missions would not count towards the ‘Defying Death’ Ubisoft Connect Challenge
MAIN & SIDE QUESTS (beware of spoilers)
Toshara
- RejectedFixed an issue where Kay can’t listen at the bar to progress the intel quest
Tatooine
- The VeteranFixed an issue where the quest line would not start if travelling to Akiva before the dialogue finishes
- PartnersFixed an issue where the cinematic would not trigger if using Adrenaline Rush as the Rancor hits the hangar doors
Akiva
- RevelatorFixed an issue where ND-5 could spot Kay when going from crouched to standing while on a steam vent