I’m tired of Ubisoft selling me the same game over and over

The first Far Cry game I played was the third installment, where I explored a mysterious island and tried to save my friends. The first Assassin’s Creed game I played was Black Flag, navigating land and sea in the Caribbean using a combination of stealth and attack prowess. Though not as iconic a franchise, I also jumped into Watch Dogs at what I think was its best iteration, with the London-based Legion entry from 2020. I’ve ended up playing most of the titles in these three popular Ubisoft franchises, while also dabbling with various Tom Clancy games and even playing a few hours on Pandora with the company’s Avatar game.

I’m not naive to the fact that companies churn out similar games in the hopes there is enough new and enough familiarity to get fans to enjoy them. But with Ubisoft’s latest offering, Star Wars: Outlaws , I’ve hit a breaking point. This uninspired, buggy, and indeed often fun game should be much more engaging and significantly better. It feels and looks like titles of Ubisoft past, and I’m tired of the company putting out the same game over and over again. Please give me something, anything, the least bit novel.

The Open World Problem

Much to do about nothing

The issue at the forefront of Ubisoft games is the promise and the curse that comes with an open world, the company’s signature framework for games. There’s a big expanse to explore, and it means you can go about tackling the game at your own pace, driven by your curiosity. While some open world games slowly reveal a map, only letting you get access to certain spots based on game progression, Ubisoft generally lets you explore at your will. But when you’re more or less granted a lot of space and plenty of missions to investigate from the start of the game, you automatically lower the stakes, and open the door for a tedious experience.

Storytelling is the first victim of Ubisoft’s open-world games. By allowing gamers to go about playing as they wish, you take away any coherency and flow to the narrative, and you lower the consequences of your actions. Despite the fact that in Outlaws, you can increase or decrease your favorability to particular factions, I was never struck by the fact that anything I was doing had any significant impact on the game. I understand my actions would alter access to people and places, but I never felt compelled to act in a specific way. I didn’t feel any stakes. Even the story arc and main villain give Far Cry vibes.

Another issue is that open world games by Ubisoft can become quickly repetitive, as you end up encountering a lot of the same situations. In Outlaws, you need to get something from inside a base or stronghold, and you can either sneak around or blast your way in. Retrieve and repeat. This has been a staple of AC and Far Cry, and this system needs to evolve. Early on in Outlaws, one job stood out for its sheer lack of importance or difficulty. I drove my speeder to a small, empty hut. I picked up an item. And I drove back to the person who wanted it. That was it. These are side quests for the sake of side quests, and somehow, in the imaginative world of Star Wars, they seem more lackluster than other Ubisoft games.

Familiar gameplay

Echoes of other franchises

I’m struck by how much the actual Outlaws gameplay borrows from other Ubisoft titles. I was scaling walls and hiding in tall grass, just like Assassin’s Creed. While staking out a location, I could analyze the environment, opening doors and creating distractions from a distance, just like Watch Dogs: Legion. There were also alarms to sabotage, just like Far Cry. And just like in all of these games, some areas are friendly, and some are hostile. And I understand these aren’t the most uncommon elements in modern games, but it feels so incredibly familiar; there’s a look and feel that can’t be escaped. It just seems like Ubisoft mastered a certain style of gameplay many years back, but are holding on to it without any innovation and change.

The issue isn’t the presence of the elements. It’s that they feel lifted from other Ubisoft titles, but somehow aren’t the best version of these elements. And when they form the main crux of the game, with nothing else really standing out, it’s hard not to be reminded of other titles that were better.

Decent fun to be had

Missed potential

Outlaws is indeed some fun. It is repetitive and not particularly attractive and quite flawed, but you can have some low-stakes, familiar enjoyment. Of course, like most Ubisoft games, it’s fun right up into the point where it instantly becomes repetitive and boring. I enjoyed sneaking around an Imperial base, avoiding capture. I enjoyed walking right up to a Pyke Syndicate stronghold with my blaster drawn. I enjoyed sitting down and playing a bunch of hands of Sabacc. But after a while, it’s empty gaming.

I appreciate attempts to add some customization to my speeder bike and outfit, while adding some some skills to my attacking prowess. It just seems with the world of Star Wars, there could have been a lot more inventive elements included. I want Outlaws to be more bold and daring. What’s disappointing is that Ubisoft has some they can do this, having invigorated iconic franchises. Legion added some inventive elements to Watch Dogs, and AC: Odyssey boasted an excellent fighting system and skill tree. Even Far Cry: Primal had an ambitious idea, if still familiar gameplay.

What’s funny is that a lot of Star Wars content is often weighed down by the weight of Star Wars, with too much lore and high expectations hounding efforts to make a story stand out. With Outlaws, it’s Ubisoft’s past that’s the limiting factor. It’s an Ubisoft game first, and a Star Wars game second, and all I want is for that formula to be switched around.

Related

What’s your favorite Star Wars game?

We’re on the cusp of the latest game set in a galaxy far, far away’s release in Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, and reviews have just dropped. So far, there is a wide range of opinions across the industry with some considering it one of the worst pieces of Star Wars media, while others praise it for being a fresh and unique take on tired tropes. At this point, Star Wars games have been around for almost as long as there’s been video games that explore all angles of this universe. There are the ones that follow the events of the core films, while others explore the time periods before, after, and even in between the films. There’s also almost no genre Star Wars hasn’t touched. There are first-person shooters, arcade games, flight simulators, racing games, action-adventure, RTS, and so many more. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a Star Wars dating sim out there, too. It’s much easier to narrow down which film is your favorite, but what about games? Of the dozens of Star Wars games release