Star Wars Outlaws gets many things right, such as going above and beyond Ubisoft’s open-world formula to chart its own more organic jaunt across the Star Wars galaxy. By and large, I also enjoyed its main narrative, but we need to discuss how similar its failings feel to those that ended up sinking The Acolyte on Disney Plus.
I’m not gonna lie: I didn’t fully vibe with Outlaws during its early hours. Kay Vess felt like too much of a blank-slate protagonist despite her seemingly difficult upbringing on the not-so-fancy streets of Canto Bight. She bumbled from one good bit of trouble to the next shady gig without clear intent. I knew from the get-go she wanted to live a better life away from Cantonica and the underworld, yet the story gave her plenty of openings to at least try to run away, which she ignored only to get mad a few minutes (in-game hours) later about getting tricked again.
Sure, Zerek Besh would still be on Kay’s tail regardless of her actions after leaving Cantonica, but it’s not like Kay was chained to someone or something that kept her locked into the scoundrel life. Solo: A Star Wars Story, the other on-screen big trip into the Star Wars galaxy’s criminal underbelly, handled this same dilemma much better, as A New Hope had already figured it out back in 1977: Just lock your rogue into a really bad situation they can’t walk away from. In Solo, Han can’t ignore his shared past with Qi’ra (who, by the way, leads Crimson Dawn by the time Outlaws happens). Sometime later, he has a target on his back because he owes Jabba a large sum of money. Sounds simple, right?
Kay’s whole character arc in Outlaws directly deals with either running away from her problems or facing them head-on and maybe standing up for something beyond Credits in the process (this even bleeds into the gameplay design, nice!). Not having her try to straight-up nope the hell away from the crime syndicates after getting her hands on the Trailblazer — only to be irrevocably hunted down and forcibly brought back into the criminal game — felt like a big missed first-act opportunity.
Similarly, for every big, refreshing swing that was taken in The Acolyte, we also had to endure some awkward pacing and scattered character motivations that hurt the season’s first half pretty badly. No wonder viewership ratings fell off a cliff after the double-episode premiere; Mae and Osha Aniseya’s impulses were wobbly at best until trouble truly hit the fan when The Stranger showed up and destroyed a pack of Jedi, forcing the plot into a direction that was far more compelling and focused.
The biggest problem with doing a lot of setups early on is that you might bore the most impatient viewers and players if the main hook isn’t there right from the beginning. The characters can help alleviate that sensation if they’re unique and likable enough, but in both of the cases I’m briefly commenting on, it’s hard to grab onto the protagonists and their shaky actions. Kay Vess doesn’t become more than a receptacle for the player’s desires until Nix is stolen and the larger hidden plot begins to unfold. Mae and Osha don’t start making sense until they swap places and their past is properly revealed. Those aren’t ways to create suspense, they’re just writing that feels off when dealing with classical narratives.
There’s a reason why even some of the most dedicated Star Wars haters admit that a good Rey Skywalker-centric movie could be a good thing. Likewise, everyone wants John Boyega to get another shot as Finn so the character can have a cohesive arc. The Force Awakens did a fantastic job of instantly making us care about its characters with clear emotional beats, ambitions, and fears that made sense as they tried to navigate larger events that absorbed them. In both Outlaws and The Acolyte, there’s none of that natural charm (nor tricks to box the protagonists in) for a while; I was pretending to care about the leads and their actions because that’s how mainstream stories should work.
As I said before, Star Wars Outlaws eventually finds its narrative footing and proposes a clearer direction for both Kay and her allies and foes. Until then, all we get are vague flashbacks about a lost mother figure and the fact she’s been doing the scoundrel thing for as long as she can remember. None of it has paid off for her, and she gets betrayed time and again, so where’s that internal conflict during the early hours? Why am I helping Kay continue to wade deeper into shady deals? You can infer she can’t see beyond the world she’s been raised in, yet the opportunity to better verbalize that is missing for a surprising amount of time, which is the exact opposite of the Jedi games painting a crystal-clear picture of Cal Kestis and his fears as soon as they can.
The Acolyte’s journey has ended just as it was getting started. Star Wars Outlaws, due to the medium it belongs to, gets more time to spread its wings and deliver nice thrills with a big heart during its back half. Maybe that’s enough to get Kay Vess a second game in which she can connect with players and grow from the onset.