Star Wars Outlaws will feature a massive open world of explorable planets, each with their own unique quirks, terrains, and citizens, according to developer Massive Entertainment. But while these worlds will be incredibly large, Massive also wanted to ensure they were ‘manageable’ for players.
‘It’s a crude analogy, but the size of one planet might be about [equivalent to] two of the zones in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, for example,’ Julian Gerighty, creative director recently told Edge magazine, per Eurogamer. ‘It could be two to three zones. But it’s not, you know, this sort of epic “the whole of England recreated” approach.’
While Gerighty admits the planetary comparison to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is fairly crude, it should give a sense of Massive’s size approach. Biomes in Odyssey are already fairly large, so having two-to-three explorable zones in each planet will provide a fair challenge for players, and ensure each explorable planet hides rewards or secrets of some sort.
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Speaking to Edge magazine, Gerighty also confirmed that Massive Entertainment is not leaning heavily into procedural generation. Instead, planets are being ‘handcrafted’ with their own sense of identity. While this means players won’t necessarily be able to explore endlessly – the world of Star Wars Outlaws will be finite – it will mean more to discover on individual planets.
This approach to exploration may also contribute to the game’s open world being more manageable. In recent years, open worlds have blown up to massive proportions, with individual quests, items, and collectibles scattered across giant, unfathomable spaces.
In reeling in this vision to create an open world with segmented and unique planets, there is hope Star Wars Outlaws is a game that balances a sense of freedom with achievable and realistic exploration-based goals.
We’ll likely learn more about Massive Entertainment’s approach as the curtain is pulled back on Star Wars Outlaws. Currently, the game is targeting a 2024 release.
