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Star Wars Outlaws features a GTA-like wanted system that we can "mess with" to increase the level of difficulty and give ourselves an additional challenge.
As part of our big behind-the-scenes look at Star Wars Outlaws at in the studio in Malmo, Sweden, lead systems designer Matthieu Delisle and lead gameplay designer Fredrick Thylander explained how you can "adjust the difficulty to your playstyle or your needs" and "mess with the emergence" of the wanted system "for the fun of it".
"It's definitely a lot of fun to kind of bring it [the wanted level] to level six," Delisle says, "and then see if you can survive it. And spoiler alert, it's very difficult, especially at the beginning of the game. But as kind of an end game challenge to yourself it works really well. Also, it's quite a different experience depending on which planet you're on. Because the Empire has a different presence on the different planets, and space. Same thing with the syndicates."
Article continues below"You can get into a state where the syndicates will be after you because you have a terrible reputation with them, but also the Empire," Delisle continues. "So you can be hunted by the Empire, and you can be on the bad side of the syndicates. And you can be on the bad side of several syndicates. So that's kind of like the ultimate open-world playground type of self-imposed challenge because if you push it that far, you are really looking for it. But yeah, we have mechanisms in place for you to get out of a bad spot, we have different tools for you to fix your reputation, getting contracts, there's data that the syndicates are interested in that you can trade against reputation. So there are many ways for you to get out of a tough spot. But if you want to challenge yourself [you can]."
As Thylander went on to explain, the wanted system is Massive's answer to "what about the Empire?". While the reputation system affects your standing with the crime syndicates in the Outer Rim, your wanted level reflects whether or not you've landed on the bad side of the Empire who "you're never gonna get in good with".
"We kind of had this hardline where we didn't want Kay to be a partner with the Empire," Delisle says. "So we wanted something that was a little bit more [reflective of the fact that] they are the rule, and you are, as a scoundrel and a thief, by definition, a rule breaker. They are trying to be the law and you're trying to be the element of chaos in there. So, we felt like matching them was a really fun way to play with a scoundrel archetype. And also it opened up to a lot of emergent types of moments."
"It [the wanted system] becomes a toy," Thylander adds.
"Exactly," Delisle agrees. "It's a toy that you can mess with. And you can push it as far as you want".
