10 Star Wars Outlaws tips we wish we'd known
These 10 tips for Star Wars Outlaws will take Kay from the gutter to the stars
My Star Wars Outlaws tips contains all the tricks and help I wish I'd known before I started playing. This can be a pretty tricky game early on, with tough stealth and gunplay for the unprepared. But any challenge you encounter initially is more likely due to all sorts of nuances to various system rather than straight up difficultly. you're yet to learn.
If you want some help, these Star Wars Outlaws tips will help smooth your way into the game and avoid many of the mistakes first time player can make.
1. There's always multiple routes to an objective
You'll often have to break into hideouts, enemy territory, bases and so on. When you do, there's nearly always more than one way in. Maybe it's climbing walls, going through vents, having Nix trigger devices, swinging in with your grappling hook or just going in blasting - if one way in is proving difficult, find an alternative and see if it works better for you. Even early missions, such as having to infiltrate Gorak's base, or break into either the Crimson Dawn Vault or the Pyke Vault, give you plenty of options to play with.
2. Stealing is free and easy, even in combat
One of Nix's primary abilities in Star Wars Outlaws is to steal things from certain NPCs when you complete a little timed button press. It's incredibly easy to do, and often very helpful. In towns it's a constant way to get more credits in Star Wars Outlaws, earning money along the way as you hoover up valuables to sell. While in combat and stealth you can use it to get Grenades, grab all the Star Wars Outlaws weapons and Bacta Vials lying around to keep you alive.
3. It's over if you get the high ground, in combat or stealth
Finding a rooftop, high ledge or wall is always a smart move with the high ground providing a canonically accurate advantage. Outlaws doesn't emphasise it much, but getting above everything makes it harder for enemies to shoot you if they're aggressive, and gives you an eagle-eye view of the terrain and nearby foes when you're in stealth.
4. You only upset factions if they catch you being bad
If Crimson Dawn are paying you to steal something from the Hutts, then obviously you might be a bit worries about having Jabba mad at you as a result - but he doesn't have to be. Part of the Star Wars Outlaws factions and reputation system means that you'll only get in trouble if they see you and you'll only change your reputation or standing if you get caught. Shooting and killing an enemy means you'll upset their faction, but if you can do the whole thing from stealth without ever alerting anyone, noone will know and you'll be OK.
5. Use Nix in combat to get help
It's easy to forget, but Nix is really helpful in combat and not just useful for stealing things. Having him attack an enemy effectively stops them from doing anything, giving you a great chance to deal with them. You can even unlock upgrades later that let you send him to trigger the grenades on enemy belts to blow them up. You can do this automatically when you're in combat by holding down the Nix button, then following the Protect Kay button prompt.
6. Don't try to please everybody - it's easier early on to please a few factions
While it is possible to please all the criminal factions in Star Wars Outlaws, it's difficult to have them all like you at once as it involves a lot of skill and investment in side content to raise your standing with everyone. It also gets harder when key campaign missions unavoidably put you in conflict between two factions and forces you to chose - the first example of this is when you're forced to choose between Gorak or Eleera in Star Wars Outlaws and will invariably gain favor with one side and lose it with the other depending on who chose. So instead, focus on making friends with one or two. You can always invest in others later when it's useful, but it's better to at least have some allies rather than trying to please everyone to no success.
7. Contracts are the way to go if you need to make friends with a faction
Contracts are special side quests that you can find via contract brokers around the galaxy. They're available for all factions, and are absolutely the best way to get into their good books - they come with significant reputation and credit rewards and are the best way to take control of your reputation with the various syndicates. There's usually a choice to betray someone for more cash at the end of a quest,but the important thing here is that this doesn't usually upset another faction if you turn it down so don't feel pressured.
8. Fast Talk is a great when spotted, but you'll need Adrenaline to handle groups
The Star Wars Outlaws Fast Talk ability you can unlock is a safety net for enemies spotting you in stealth, confusing them momentarily so you can grab your blaster or a smoke bomb. If you're caught by a group, however, you can still pacify them collectively with an upgraded Fast Talk - but dealing with them is a lot harder. If that happens and you're talking them all down, that's the best moment to trigger the bullet-time Adrenaline Rush skill and take them all out in one go.
9. You don't have to fly to fast travel between worlds
Once you've unlocked space travel and are done deciding which planet to go to first in Star Wars Outlaws, you'll start unlocking fast travel points on different planets. Outlaws doesn't tell you this but you don't have to be on a world to fast travel to it - just open your map and pick an unlocked fast travel point anywhere to get there instantly. It vastly speeds up your exploration and intergalactic commute.
10. Check your ship for free rewards regularly
Once the Trailblazer is fixed and active, you should go back to it frequently even if you're not planning on flying it anywhere. That's because rewards from factions that like you will be in the delivery box in the back, and at key moments in the story Kay's beneficiaries and teammates will leave other items and loot around the ship for you to find and use.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.