– Spoiler Review –
It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a full year since Star Wars Outlaws first launched, which lived up to my expectations even in its earlier versions as I spoke about in my review last November. Since my review, not only have there been numerous quality-of-life improvements to the game based on fan-feedback, but the two promised story DLCs released as well, “Wild Card” & “A Pirate’s Fortune,” offering fans even more content to return to Kay Vess’ story navigating the underworld. I’ll be reviewing the two DLCs, where I found pluses and minuses for both, as well as touching on the QOL improvements, below!
When it comes to Outlaws‘ story DLCs, understanding when they released helps explains some of the differences between them, as “Wild Card,” while an enjoyable experience and neat new addition, felt short and underbaked, and released only three months after Outlaws proper did. “A Pirate’s Fortune” didn’t arrive until May 2025, nine months after Outlaws, and it’s a much more fleshed out experience, with a whole new area to travel to, a new ship to fly, and even a new contract system. Together they are a great value-added package, pretty much worth the cost of paying beforehand like I did with the Gold Edition, but the detriments of “Wild Card” made the wait for “A Pirate’s Fortune” make one wonder if it would be worth it, while the second one’s expansiveness leaves one wondering why we couldn’t have had more with “Wild Card” too.
Playing Outlaws now is a much different experience overall due to many improvements since the initial release, though a lot of other things have happened since then too. The gaming industry has never been so fraught before, as layoffs continue at an unnerving and scary record pace due to many different factors, from the fallout of rising CEO salaries, expansion during the early COVID years biting companies in their wallets, to governments thinking about businesses first and people last, and since Outlaws’ release, it’s often been called a sales disappointment by Ubisoft. The company since adjusted how they release titles, pushing releases back more to make sure a game’s in better shape, and I wonder how much that would’ve helped Outlaws. In fact, given how it plays now with all the Quality-Of-Life (QOL) improvements and additional aspects the DLCs brought to the game, I believe many a player who initially had issues, and the not-totally-stellar-yet-not-bad reviews, would have their minds changed playing Outlaws now, and I feel like it’ll get its chance at a second wind with the Switch 2 release in September 2025. Given how much the QOL and DLCs bring to the experience, and how much I like the original game and its story and gameplay, I’m considering another full playthrough if I can find the time, though for now it’s much easier to jump back in and collect what I missed or wrap up a few lingering side missions/intel. Needless to say, if you waited out Outlaws or have been looking for a reason to dive back in, now is the time (especially since there have been some good sales on it!) and I’ll go over in a little more detail why in discussions regarding the DLCs and QOL stuff.
“Wild Card”
Playing Kessel Sabacc is one of Outlaws most addicting mini-games, to the point they could easily sell a game around it, especially if it meant playing locally or online against other players, and I’d happily lose some hours to it (I’ve been losing plenty of hours to Balatro lately!). It makes sense the first DLC, “Wild Card,” would center around the popular pastime, and making it a high-stakes game on a special gambling ship with Lando Calrissian involved is a recipe for a great time. It doesn’t quite hit all the highs one could hope for, however, but it’s a good continuation of the game’s narrative and I appreciated several of the new things it attempted.
While Toshara’s Imperial governor Thorden was a faceless presence in the main game, he makes his appearance here by blackmailing Kay into joining the high stakes poker game aboard the Morenia, as the ultimate prize is a hidden moon ripe for resource plundering that will help him secure his own little fiefdom if the Empire falls to the Rebellion, something he’s betting on. It’s an interesting idea, as the Empire thrived on those who took initiative in any way, shape, or form, so it’s no surprise there would be some planning for its fall and keeping their power rather than go down with the ship. As for how he blackmails Kay, he made a recording of her in an Imperial outfit and threatens to release it to the crime syndicates, who would turn on her in a heartbeat if they saw it. It’s a solid bit of blackmail, but it was confusing to me as a player, as Kay DID pretend to be an Imperial officer to release her mother from their custody in a post-credits scene for the original narrative, so her being surprised he had something like that when he easily could’ve taken real footage if he knew about her actions seemed off, and the fact they didn’t just have him use that footage against her to tie into that moment seems like a missed opportunity. It doesn’t matter to the overall story of the DLC, game, or character, but it was a moment of dissonance among a few others in “Wild Card” that did take away from the experience.
After some dog-fighting above Toshara, ND-5 and Kay are able to unlock a signal to intercept and board the Morenia, sneaking around the ship both as a guest and trying to find your way into the tournament, which ends up being both a highlight and another source of dissonance. It’s up to Kay and ND-5 to find Kay a way into the tournament, and how you get Kay a spot comes with some player choice, which I thought was a great idea, but there are caveats. You can choose to use Nix to steal a list of players or talk your way into taking it, and later on the same with a security card, but the option you don’t take remains available even after you’ve secured the relevant intel, meaning you can get the card or list a second time, as if you never got it the first time/despite the game moving on, disrupting the illusion your choice mattered at all. This even applies when you’re trying to learn the description of one of the players so you can take their identity, as you can talk to all the available characters with information and several will tell you the same thing, and I feel like if the game could’ve adapted to not have the next character tell you the same useless thing, or remove those other options to steal a card or a list after getting it the first time, it would feel more like you’ve made the choices and the game is actively caring what you did, not like you’re interacting with a stagnant virtual world.
The tournament itself is a highlight, from the way it feels larger than your normal sabacc experiences, while all the ways you mess with and bring down other players are fun additions to the formula, though they also seem inevitable, but I haven’t replayed the game to replay this DLC yet so I don’t know how much it matters. It’s great this was both a bigger and more exciting take on sabacc, but it’s unfortunate it’s the one and only time we get to have something like it. I’m surprised they didn’t make this something you could revisit, which could’ve been a cool way to extend players’ time with the game, a big tournament to work their way up to again or something, though I appreciate how it shows the potential for an Outlaws sequel, which unfortunately seems unlikely at this point, and where this little game within the game could continue to grow.
Surprise, surprise, Governor Thorden played Kay and sent in mercenaries to grab the grand prize, disrupting the sabacc tournament, which leads to an exciting chase through the ship as Kay pursues them to try and get it back, a sequence with some good combat areas and fun running and jumping around to escape the ship. While Kay is done with the situation afterwards, Lando tries to convince her to follow-through and track down the raiders who took the special coordinates, as the moon is tied to the Rebellion and they can’t have the Empire sniffing around, hence why he was at the tournament to try and prevent the coordinates from falling into the wrong hands, but what catches her attention is getting revenge on Thorden for using her. The rest of “Wild Card,” minus taking you back to a spot players already visited on Toshara to deal with the raiders, is more about the combat and exploration side of things, with a cool sequence in a big wind tunnel like space being particularly memorable.
Overall, “Wild Card” is an enjoyable extension of the game, but it’s not overly memorable or too unique from the main game, making it feel more like content which was cut from the main game and repurposed for DLC.
“A Pirate’s Fortune”
On the flip side, there’s “A Pirate’s Fortune,” which is a bigger and heftier experience which ends up feeling like a true addition to the game, not just an extension. There’s a whole new space area to explore, with new wrinkles to space combat like dealing with swarms of MYNOCKS (!!! You know I was using the game’s photo mode A LOT, as you can see in the gallery below), new on-foot areas to explore within this new system, additional upgrades to the Trailblazer, a new ship to fly, and whole new set of contracts for smuggling! It adds further reasons to stick around and play Outlaws and really reinvigorates returning to the game. If “Wild Card” showed what an Outlaws 2 could do with sabacc, “A Pirate’s Fortune” shows what ways they could expand and build the already solid formula for a sequel.
Storywise, “A Pirate’s Fortune” sees a rift forming between the recently freed ND-5 and Kay Vess, with Hondo Ohnaka’s inclusion in events spreading it further, which allows the two to deal with and overcome the whole part where ND almost killed her per Jaylen’s orders. It’s a big moment in the main game, and a scary one at that to play through, and while they made nice afterwards, the games didn’t linger on it too long so I’m glad this DLC had them sort of work it all out. Outside of ND and Kay at odds for portions of “Fortune,” Hondo is a fun injection into the story, as his usual sense of chaos and disloyalty usually are, which leads to more unique situations, like a funny run-in with one of Hondo’s old crew he left behind on Tatooine. Likewise, the Rokana Raiders who threw Hondo in a brig and are trying to crack into an ancient civilization’s vault are an intriguing new group, including their voting system on decisions besides when their leader wants things to go her way, and talking with the group at one point to gather information helps give them more of a presence than just another set of people to shoot at. It’s a fun and engaging story, constantly throwing new things at players, and is worth the price of admission alone.
Whereas I felt like “Wild Card” didn’t match up with its ambitions with player freedom, “Fortune” actually does, even it’s not as clear about it as it could be. At the end of “Fortune,” I found myself with a surprising moment: being presented with options on how to resolve the climatic scene but being unable to select some of them. There were moments earlier in the story which sort of hinted at a multi-choice possibility, as it’s up to the player if they want to talk with the Rokana Raiders to learn everything they can about them in hopes of resolving disputes with and within the group and come away with a payday, but it wasn’t clear we were finally going to have a multiple choice ending until one gets there. Even trying to talk to the group and gather as much information as possible could’ve been clearer, as I think it even sort of glitched where I couldn’t talk to some of them, but it was a fun objective and added a lot to the setting and the story so they didn’t feel just like another group to shoot and kill. Once “Fortune” wrapped up based on my decision, it felt like I missed a little something with the ending I got and I realized I didn’t get to see the ancient civilization’s cool guardians come to life, but the idea I could play it again and get a new ending was an exciting possibility for replays. The game matched its ambition to give players more freedom and if this is just the beginning of ideas in place for a potential sequel, it left me even more hopeful for what the developers might have in store.
And that goes for the decision with the Trailblazer upgrades, more unique space environments, and the smuggling contract system! When it comes to the Trailblazer, something I maxed out rather quickly in the main game, the new upgrades are a variety of passive abilities to vary up its capabilities, so gaining as many as possible to put together the best fit for any situation, including the new contracts, adds more life and focus on the ship than the main game provided; it’s a system I’d like to see implemented from the start in any potential sequel. The fact you get to fly a Rokana Raider ship, not only during the main mission but afterwards, brings a new variety to space combat and movement, and even though it’s locked to the new area only, it’s a nice touch that could have big implications for the future, like maybe you can steal ships now or will be forced to fly a greater variety? Sounds like a win-win to me. The mynock swarms, electrical interference, and well-hidden turrets give the space area in Khepi space bring freshness to the game, as it’s close to the Kijimi area with lots of clouded space but it’s different enough it feels new. The smuggling contracts with the Miyuki Trading Group are an interesting new wrinkle, as you have to stacks the odds against yourself to even do them, selecting different types of cargo (volatile, ion, suspicious, or timed) and how much of it you’re carrying, with increased risks and increased rewards the more you carry. There are not only passive upgrades to the Trailblazer which help mitigate some of the cargo, but specific upgrades from successful contract rewards that help make these smoother. It’s a fun new system that would be neat to have from the start in a sequel.
“A Pirate’s Fortune” is the better of the two DLCs, with all its new additions and some actual player choice, and is a must play for any Outlaws fan.
I have two galleries from this DLC, first being all the mynock photography I took! Don’t they look so cute?! And just really well rendered?! The swarms were fascinating because at one point, it seemed to break the photo mode, as while I put all the UI away to take a photo, you can still see it in some shots, while the swarm would still move as well. Didn’t happen all the time, but I figured the mynocks just really wanted to show off for me:
And the second gallery is full of my remaining shots from “Fortune”:
QOL
As I said in my original review, I wasn’t bothered by the necessary stealth moments at all, but those were quickly updated and tweaked and made it easier for most players, which I’m glad they were willing to do if it affected so many. The next big changes included how Kay’s speeder reacted when you called for it, which would result in some hilarious speeder animations at times, and while it still has its issues, it’s not as insane anymore, while it was less touchy about what you hit and didn’t throw you off all the time, which I found to necessitate being a better driver until the update happened. While these initial changes were rather important, and came within the first few months, the additions of being able to hold onto power weapons you pick up, free shooting from the speeder, and the passive upgrades to the Trailblazer really felt like big, important changes. Free shooting from the speeder is a blast, but I hadn’t got to try it until playing “A Pirate’s Fortune,” and it made one of the Expert’s (the game’s upgrade paths) requirements to get headshots while shooting from the speeder something I was finally able to get, and I feel like replaying the game with this will make the speeder seem even more important. And while it might be small, being able to pick up, hold onto to, and eventually swap between the various power weapons enemies drop was a huge change to combat, as while the main blaster has its various modes and changes, being able to keep these weapons changes up how I approach certain districts, hideouts, and Imperial bases, and it feels like it gives players more agency in combat situations. And I already went over the passive upgrades to the Trailblazer, as I had to read the patch notes to realize they were accessible for everyone, right away, and seeing how handy it was for the smuggling contracts, they’ve made space combat more dynamic and risky. These really do all add up to a changed experience which will change many a player’s mind about some perceived issues with Outlaws.
Here are a few other things:
- While I keep hoping for and theorizing how the developers could expand upon the Outlaws formula for a second game, while I was working on this review the rumor appeared from a rather respectable source that the in-development sequel has since been cancelled by Ubisoft, who have been rather negative towards the game’s sales and Star Wars in general, unfortunately, though I imagine the developers didn’t feel the same way. Let’s hope this rumor isn’t true or that Lucasfilm Games does something here to make sure a sequel happens, as the recipe for success has been found.
- It seems even more surprising a sequel was cancelled given Outlaws launches on Switch 2 on September 4, because wouldn’t you want to wait and see how the sales do with the hot new game system?! Maybe the sales bump could be enough to convince them to change their minds?
- Thankfully, there is more Outlaws related goodness on its way, starting with the Art of Star Wars: Outlaws, out August 19,
and we should have a review on or around that dateUPDATE: Review is in! Not only is there an Art book, but at SDCC 2025, a prequel novel by Mike Chen was announced: Outlaws: Low Red Moon! It covers ND-5 and Jaylen Vrax’s stories leading up to the events in the game and Chen offered a deep-dive thread on Bluesky revealing new details and teases of a wide variety of characters we might already know and love appearing, which has left me very excited for its release on February 3, 2026! UPDATE 1/20/26: Here’s my review of Outlaws: Low Red Moon! - Ever wanted a plushie of Nix but weren’t an influencer/didn’t get one in a giveaway? Well, the Disney Store now has its very own Nix toy, with sounds and head movements! It looks creepy compared to the one Ubisoft was giving away, but a Nix toy is a Nix toy, amiright? And whatever you do, don’t go to the “Star Wars Nix Plush” website, it’s a scam!!
- I’m hoping we’ll get some Black Series or Vintage Collection toy announcements of Kay Vess, ND-5, and Nix soon from Hasbro!
- Wilbert Roget II, who has been no stranger to Star Wars game music, was nominated for an Emmy with his work on the game (though he didn’t win)!
- Over on the game’s official site, it was revealed back in December 2024 that no one had yet to gain their own fathier in the fathier racing mini-game and the collective question of fandom was surprise over this even being possible. The blog post about it outlines how to do so, but I’ve not had any luck in the few times I’ve attempted since, so if you’ve made it happen, please share, I’d love to see!
Star Wars Outlaws had a rocky launch, made for a solid and enjoyable game overall, and has spent most of its time since launch fixing and improving the experience for players. With these adjustments and the one-two punch of “Wild Card” and “A Pirate’s Fortune,” now is the best time to check out Kay Vess, Nix, and ND-5’s story!
+ “A Pirate’s Fortune” big new area, new ship, new contracts, and overall story focusing on Kay and ND-5
+ Sabacc fun in “Wild Card”
+ Trying to give more player choice…
– …though it could still use some work
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky and Instagram @mynockmanor.