This $17 Open-World Star Wars Game in the Steam Summer Sale Makes the Hate Look Ridiculous

I initially told myself I wasn’t going to be buying anything in this year’s Steam Summer Sale because my backlog is already out of control, but a $17 open-world Star Wars game just changed my mind. That title is none other than Star Wars Outlaws, a game that I actually fell in love with when it originally launched in 2024 but never finished for a variety of reasons. When it finally made its way to Steam just a few months later, I considered buying it again just to experience it on the PC, but at $70, all of its issues were more noticeable—plus, there were just far too many other games at the time that I wanted to play. Now, at $17, it’s much easier to see Star Wars Outlaws for what it actually is: a flawed but genuinely compelling Star Wars adventure that arguably deserved much less hate than it originally received.

While I understand why Star Wars Outlaws was so hated at launch, I have still always viewed it as a criminally underrated Star Wars game that deserved better. For one thing, it had Ubisoft’s name attached to it, which, no matter how hard it tries to redeem itself from a lengthy history of empty, bloated open-world games, is somehow always relentlessly pummeled to death by the public as soon as its name is mentioned. I personally find it to be at an unfair disadvantage, especially when it’s backing what I believe is one of the more authentic takes on the Star Wars universe that gaming has ever seen. But Ubisoft’s name aside, I’ll admit that Star Wars Outlaws did have its fair share of bugs and performance issues at launch, and I understand why that can frustrate some players. Still, this is one of those Star Wars games that I feel everyone should at least try, and at $17 in the Steam Summer Sale, it’s basically a steal.

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Star Wars Outlaws Was Never the Disaster People Wanted It to Be

One thing I have a really difficult time understanding about the modern gaming world is why people seem to go to such great lengths to declare some games dead on arrival before they’ve even arrived. Despite Star Wars Outlaws getting decent reviews (even 7/10 is a good score for a game, regardless of what some might say), it felt like one of those games. Maybe it has something to do with a growing distrust of gaming journalists these days—assuming they get paid to say things that they almost never do—or maybe players are simply exhausted enough with big-budget releases that they’re ready to believe the worst before a game even gets a fair chance. Either way, Star Wars Outlaws very quickly became less of a great game with some obvious issues and more of a symbol for everything people already wanted to criticize.

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To be fair, some of that criticism made sense. Star Wars Outlaws was never perfect, and I’m not going to pretend every complaint came from people who simply wanted to hate it. Its stealth could feel inconsistent, its mission design could be rigid, and its open world still had some familiar Ubisoft tropes baked into it, despite being a massive improvement in many ways. However, I’m finding myself getting increasingly weary of having to say “this game isn’t perfect” in order to justify my stance to others, because there’s no such thing as a perfect game—only games with strengths strong enough to make the weaknesses a bit more forgivable. Star Wars Outlaws is one such game that is actually stronger than you, or the pessimists who swayed you, might think.

The part that feels so strange to me is how quickly so many people seemed to move from “this game has issues” to “this game is bad,” when Star Wars Outlaws always had so much more going for it than its issues. As far as Star Wars games go, it has the atmosphere, the environments, the tone, the feel—all of it, down to a tee. Not long into playing it, I was already telling people, “Star Wars Outlaws is the most Star Wars a Star Wars game has ever felt to me,” and I stand by that to this day. Even some of the best Star Wars games out there—like Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor, and Knights of the Old Republic—are incredible in their own right, but they focus on specific parts of the franchise. Outlaws, on the other hand, makes you feel like you’re playing a Star Wars movie by handing you the galaxy rather than a lightsaber and some Force powers.

Star Wars Outlaws is one such game that is actually stronger than you, or the pessimists who swayed you, might think.

The smartest thing Star Wars Outlaws did was avoid making Kay Vess another Jedi, soldier, or galaxy-saving chosen one. She’s a thief, a scoundrel, and someone trying to survive in the corners of the galaxy where everyone is either using her, chasing her, or waiting to see if she can be useful. That alone gives the game a very different flavor than most Star Wars stories, and it’s a flavor I still wish the franchise explored more often. It may not always execute its vision perfectly, but I would much rather play a messy Star Wars game that actually feels like Star Wars than a safer one that follows power fantasy tropes too closely and ultimately forsakes atmosphere and tone for gameplay.

I won’t go so far as to say that Star Wars Outlaws is a masterpiece. Of course, I have a hard time making that claim about any game. I do think, as cliche as it sounds, that it has been vastly misunderstood, unfairly perceived, and poorly judged, and is therefore highly underrated. Maybe it “failed” from a sales point of view, but how many genuinely great games haven’t met their sales goals? Commercial performance often comes down to timing, marketing, expectations, and the temperature of the audience at launch, but it’s not always indicative of whether a game is actually worth playing. I’m telling you right now: Star Wars Outlaws is and always has been worth playing, but at $17 in the Steam Summer Sale, it’s now that much easier to appreciate.

At $17, Star Wars Outlaws Is Easier to Appreciate for What It Does Well

Whether we like it or not, price changes everything about a game like Star Wars Outlaws. At $70, any issues at all start to make the game feel decreasingly worth the cost. But at $17, the question is as simple as, “Does this open-world Star Wars adventure feel worth what I would spend on a couple of Starbucks drinks?” For me, the answer is yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

There is a lot in Star Wars Outlaws that works extremely well, especially for anyone who just wants to exist in a bona fide iteration of the Star Wars universe. Walking through crowded settlements, riding across dusty landscapes on a speeder, breaking into restricted areas, sending Nix to cause trouble, and jumping from planet to planet all contribute to a fantasy that still feels strangely rare in Star Wars games. Outlaws may not be the deepest open-world game ever made, but it does understand the pleasure of being a small-time criminal in a galaxy that is much bigger than you.

At $17, the question is as simple as, “Does this open-world Star Wars adventure feel worth what I would spend on a couple of Starbucks drinks?” For me, the answer is yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

I also think Kay and Nix are better than they were often given credit for being. Kay isn’t some instantly iconic Star Wars protagonist, but she fits the context of the game well. She’s scrappy, impulsive, and constantly one bad decision away from making her life worse. Nix, meanwhile, gives the game a lot of its personality, both mechanically and emotionally.

star wars outlaws wild card story pack official art featuring Kay Vess, Lando, and ND-5

More importantly, Outlaws has the kind of Star Wars atmosphere I tend to value more as time goes on. It has the weird cantinas, the grimy cities, the desert hideouts, the criminal factions, the Imperial presence, and those small environmental details that make it feel like I’m legitimately living inside Star Wars. It’s not always elegant, but it frequently feels like Star Wars in the way I actually want an open-world Star Wars game to feel.

So yes, the Steam Summer Sale got me. I broke my own rule, added another game to my backlog, and bought Star Wars Outlaws again because $17 for an open-world Star Wars game is just too easy to justify. Maybe that says more about me than it does about the game, but after jumping back in, I’m comfortable saying the hate looks more ridiculous than ever. Star Wars Outlaws has issues, but it also has a version of the Star Wars fantasy that still feels worth experiencing, especially for such a low price.