Star Wars Outlaws May Be in Position to Succeed Where Starfield Stumbled

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Star Wars Outlaws May Be in Position to Succeed Where Starfield Stumbled

Highlights

  • Star Wars Outlaws challenges Starfield in innovative ways, with seamless travel and manageable planet sizes.
  • Starfield’s vast planets feel empty and underwhelming, while Outlaws promises a more engaging experience.
  • Outlaws’ open world may be smaller, but without loading screens, players can stay immersed in the game world.

As a long-time gamer with hundreds of hours spent exploring open worlds in various games, I have grown tired of traversing seemingly endless, empty spaces that offer little to no engagement or interaction. The promise of exploration in Starfield, with its claimed 1,700 planets, initially had me excited. However, my experience with similar games has left me skeptical and longing for a more manageable and immersive open world.

The upcoming open-world game, Star Wars Outlaws, is generating buzz as the first authentic open-world experience set in the Star Wars universe. However, it has faced considerable criticism from fans before its release. Despite this, the game seems poised to excel in certain areas where other games have faltered based on information provided by developer Massive Entertainment. Notably, Star Wars Outlaws appears to surpass Bethesda’s sci-fi adventure, Starfield, in a significant aspect.

Though distinct games, Star Wars Outlaws and Starfield have been viewed as rivals since the past year. They share a commonality in their emphasis on space exploration, albeit with differing approaches. At the time of Starfield‘s launch, discussions about Star Wars Outlaws were already underway. While the latter isn’t attempting to be a large-scale RPG like Starfield, certain comparisons are justified. For instance, Star Wars Outlaws offers uninterrupted travel from land to space, whereas Starfield requires numerous loading screens between zones. Star Wars Outlaws may excel in an area where Starfield significantly underperformed based on recent gameplay revelations by Massive.

Star Wars Outlaws Planets May Have a Big One-Up on Starfield’s

Starfield’s Planets Often Feel Empty and Overwhelming

Bethesda deliberately promoted “Starfield” as an immersive adventure, boasting approximately 1,700 planets for exploration, each sporting exclusive ecosystems with distinctive plant and animal life. Yet, the experience of “No Man’s Sky” has taught us a valuable lesson: quality surpasses quantity. While “Starfield” offers a vast universe brimming with unique planets, they often fail to deliver a satisfying or rewarding experience.

Using advanced mathematical calculations, the creators of Starfield have estimated that each in-game planet is approximately 5% the size of a real-life counterpart. This may seem insignificant when considering the vastness of actual planets, but 5% of their surface area translates to a considerable amount of virtual terrain for players to explore. However, many disappointments await those who embark on this journey as most Starfield planets consist predominantly of empty space between sparse outposts and settlements. Consequently, the majority of these planets’ surface areas remain underutilized, allowing players to travel swiftly from one point of interest to another, often finding those points lackluster and unengaging.

Star Wars Outlaws Planets Are Large But Manageable

In simpler terms, the game “Star Wars Outlaws” advertises a vast open world, but it seems that its scope is not as extensive as initially suggested. Instead of following “Starfield’s” model with numerous large planets, this game offers only a few planets, each roughly equivalent to two or three map zones in “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,” making them easily traversable within five minutes using a speeder. Consequently, even if “Star Wars Outlaws'” planets turn out to be empty like those in “Starfield,” their smaller size may help mitigate the feeling of emptiness.

It is uncertain if the smaller-sized planets in “Star Wars Outlaws” will positively impact the game as a whole, but the potential drawbacks may not feel as significant if it falls short. On the bright side, the absence of loading screens ensures uninterrupted exploration within the game’s universe.

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2024-07-29 19:05