I’ve chosen togaslight myselfinto thinking theKnights of the Old Republic Remakedoesn’t exist, despite reports that it’sstill in the works at Saber Interactive. Disneywon’t talk about it, PlayStationwants nothing to do with it, and though it might still exist in theory, it’s better for my mental health that I just give up hope now, rather than pine for another five years for a game that will never come. It’s fine, I’m fine! I’m totally not crying thinking about it right now.
Look, I Just Really Love Star Wars Games
It’s definitely helping that other Star Wars games are still getting released, even if they’re not the exact one I’ve been wanting for the last decade. Last year’sStar Wars Jedi: Survivorwas on myGOTY list, andStar Wars Outlawsarrived last week.I’m surviving on scraps, but the scraps are at least coming fairly regularly. I’ll do whatever is necessary to get my Star Wars video game fix.
Most people got into the Star Wars universe through the movies, but my entry into the fandom was more unconventional – the first real exposure I had to the galaxy far, far away was through KOTOR. I’ve replayed it more times than I can count, and the further we get away from that game’s original launch, the more dated it feels. I’ve been searching for something to scratch that itch ever since, something that feels more modern and doesn’t have that awful, pointless, no good combat system.
Do you even know how many articles I’ve written about non-Star Wars games that reminded me vaguely of KOTOR?I even compared it to StarfieldandBaldur’s Gate 3. I’mdesperate.
It’s A Scoundrel’s Life For Me
To my great surprise, I’ve finally found something that reallyfeelsfaithful to my memory of KOTOR in Star Wars Outlaws, a game that’s received middling reviews. Hear me out. I’ve always played the iconic 2003 RPG as a scoundrel, and I probably always will. I don’t really care to play as a scout, and the soldier playstyle of storming every level and blasting all my enemies down felt boring and obvious.
I’ve always found it far more fun to turn on my stealth belt and sneak past enemies instead of fighting. I upped my computer skills and sliced every terminal so I could use turrets to take down entire rooms of my enemies before ever getting close to them. I talked my way out of absolutely anything I could. I always worked smarter, not harder, and avoided a lot of the janky combat.
Sound familiar?This is Kay Vess to a tee. Her entire thing is sneaking and slicing! Much has been made of how the stealth mechanics are…not very well implemented, to put it mildly, but I do believe that the core concept works and thatwith some fixes, we could have a really great game on our hands. In my mind’s eye, Kay Vess is exactly the character I would have been playing in a KOTOR remake with revamped combat – sneaking past enemies, disabling their tech, learning things off datapads carelessly left lying around, the works.
This is the modern scoundrel experience I’ve always wanted, and Kay Vess is the scoundrel I’ve always wanted to play. It’s a shame that this experience is hidden in a game so full of bugs, but I can’t help but play Outlaws with starry eyes – after all, it undoubtedly nails the Star Wars vibes, and that’s really the most important thing. The kid inside me who played KOTOR too many times to count is finally getting to experience something like it all over again.
Star Wars Outlaws
WHERE TO PLAY
Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess as she bids to out manoeuver the galaxy’s deadliest criminals. An open-world action-adventure game from Ubisoft, it also features grand space battles and a deep story.
