Star Wars Outlaws Director Says The Game’s Setting Is A Dream Playground

In a new interview with Game Informer, Star Wars Outlaws narrative director Navid Khavari revealed that the game’s setting is a dream playground for him. While talking to the publication, Khavari said that the RPG takes place in the perfect era between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which is a writer’s dream just because the stakes are the highest they have ever been. 

The director went on to explain his decision to set Star Wars Outlaws during this time saying that there is just so much to discover from both the galactic and the character’s perspective. Furthermore, Khavari told Game Informer that another Star Wars product taking place in the gap between the second and third movie in the original trilogy just further showcases the power of this era.

Q: Can you explain the decision behind placing the game between Empire and Return of the Jedi?

NK: I’m not gonna lie, it’s a writer’s dream to have that playground between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. For me, it’s such a perfect era where the stakes are so unbelievably high from both a character and a galactic perspective. But placing our game during this time, I mean, that speaks to the power of that era, but also to the fact that there’s so much to explore in the underworld from a scoundrel perspective in that time period.”

As tenured fans may already know, countless movies, shows, games, and books based on Star Wars have extensively covered this period of the original trilogy. Therefore, Navid Khavari says in the interview that the team asked themself at the start of production what they could add to this era that the fans hadn’t seen before. What they came up with was a Star Wars game from the perspective of a scoundrel living in the underworld.

Related Content

• Star Wars Outlaws Creative Director Reveals Game’s Massive Planet Sizes, Says All Locations Are “Handcrafted”
• A Star Wars: Republic Commando Remake Could Be The Perfect Halo Clone

The director expanded on his answer saying that taking Star Wars Outlaws away from the wider galactic storyline to someone who had no idea about the universe but an intent to discover it, felt refreshing. He based the game on Kay Vess’ underworld POV where she is just a nobody trying to get by every day by stealing, conning, and outwitting people in her bubble but the period’s demands take her on another adventure.

When we looked at the time between Empire and Jedi, we asked ourselves, ‘What can we add that hasn’t been said?’ And for us, it was that combination of Kay’s rookie scoundrel perspective with her inherent wonder of the wider galaxy. That this is someone who has no kind of experience with the galactic civil war. This is a character who is just trying to get by stealing, outwitting, conning folks, and then you follow her as she enters into the underworld. Taking that character and placing them in that period felt like a really strong anchor for the rest of the narrative.”

With such a compelling narrative to support the story, it’s not hard to see why the upcoming Ubisoft title developed by Massive Entertainment is so hotly anticipated. Star Wars Outlaws will launch on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC sometime in 2024.