It is funny how things work out sometimes. When Star Wars Outlaws was first announced for Nintendo Switch 2, it looked and seemingly ran quite badly. I had no faith in the port, not only because of that reveal, but also because of how demanding the game is on PS5 and Xbox Series X. It is also unplayable on Steam Deck. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t curious about it, though, and having spent a lot of time with it over the last week, I can safely say that Ubisoft has delivered the most impressive Switch 2 port yet, but it is a lot more than that.
As someone who played multiple hundreds of multi-platform games on the original Switch, many of them were impressive, but there were big caveats, ranging from “good for portable play” or “worth buying if you don’t have another platform to play it on.” Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition has none of those caveats on Switch 2. I played it on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam last year. While the Nintendo Switch 2 release has cutbacks, this isn’t like those Switch ports where there were major concessions you tolerated to play something on the go. Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition is a great way to play the game. Period.
If you haven’t played Star Wars Outlaws before, it is not your usual Ubisoft open-world game. It has elements of that, but this is easily the best Star Wars game I played on PS5 and Xbox Series X. I liked it a lot more than Star Wars Jedi: Survivor despite its issues. You play as Kay Vess, an outlaw in a world filled with four main factions. Star Wars Outlaws felt like a grittier story set in the universe where Kay’s decisions and gameplay affect how each of these factions sees you, and in turn, will result in where you can go and also how the others look at you. The core gameplay loop features a mix of story missions that have combat, stealth, exploration, and even some very light puzzle-solving.
Since launching last week, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition has already gotten a big update with various fixes and improvements. While not everything is mentioned, I noticed even more LOD improvements and visual bugs that had been addressed. I already thought Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition was in a great place last week, but it looks like Ubisoft isn’t done with it, and that’s a great sign.
As for content, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition, the only version of the game for sale on the Nintendo eShop and physically as a Game Key Card, includes the base game and the Season Pass. The Season Pass includes two story packs and a few more DLC items. While there is no Star Wars Outlaws Ultimate Edition on the eShop, you can upgrade to it for $19.99. Since I owned it on PS5 and Xbox Series X, I upgraded here. Note that none of this is essential to buy, and the base purchase, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition, is all you really need. I would also argue that the Season Pass content isn’t really worth much, but since this whole bundle costs a lot less than Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition does digitally elsewhere, it is good value.
While a lot has been said about how impressive Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition is visually on Switch 2, I also want to highlight three notable things that really elevate it above most ports we’ve seen on the console and its predecessor. Before those, I thought Star Wars Outlaws looked great both docked and handheld in the opening moments. I started a new game file before loading my older saves just to see how the game intro felt again. While I still have issues with that opening for its gameplay, it looked and played like the actual Star Wars Outlaws game. This isn’t like DOOM Eternal or Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus on Switch, which often looked like blurry messes.
It wasn’t until I finally arrived in the open world sections that I was actually wowed by how Star Wars Outlaws felt on Switch 2. Not only did the developer retain the core visual identity with the demanding lighting, but they went above and beyond to add the same 21:9 mode on other platforms, touchscreen support for the interface, and also dedicated docked and handheld mode settings for visuals. This is not just a visually impressive port, but one that has seen a lot of care put into making it fit on the Switch 2 platform. It even has gyro aiming and great HD Rumble 2 for cut-scenes, gameplay, and the interface.
Star Wars Outlaws, even with all its patches and updates, has some annoying design decisions with its stealth and some of the quests. I despise getting a warning about leaving a quest area in an open-world game. The stealth has been made less annoying, but it still isn’t fun. Barring those two issues I have, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition is in a much better place and an easy recommendation for Star Wars fans.
The Switch 2 version has cutbacks, but the only real issue I have with it is the load time compared to PS5, and how it renders hair. Yes, this is with the latest update that went live on September 9. I would love to get a potential 40 frames-per-second mode for handheld play if it is feasible, but right now, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition feels like the Switch 2’s first miracle port.
If you plan on buying it on Switch 2 or any platform, I recommend using custom controller mapping so you don’t have to press the right stick to interact. I can’t believe that it is still used with the default control scheme. When playing docked, I used the Switch 2 Pro Controller back buttons to deal with this, but I immediately remapped them when playing handheld since I hate pressing the sticks.
Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition is an interesting release right now. With all its patches and updates later, Star Wars Outlaws itself is a much better game, but it still has some issues. If you haven’t played it before, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 is a great package. If you already own it elsewhere, cross progression makes this an easy double or triple dip with how well it works. I can definitely see myself dipping into it on and off over the coming months to not only check out the updates coming, but also explore the world with such a fantastic portable version.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review copy provided by Ubisoft
