Star Wars Outlaws Designers Tease Cameo Characters

Star Wars Outlaws is based off of new characters, but given that it’s a Star Wars adaptation, there’s no way we’ll go through the whole game without seeing some surprise characters. We already know that Jabba the Hutt will be in the game, for example, and we’ve seen some major appearances in other games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, though those were expectedly kept secret to as not to spoil anything for players.

It makes sense then that the Star Wars Outlaws developers are being cagey about who might appear in the game. We spoke to some of the game’s creators recently during a hands-on trip to learn more about Star Wars Outlaws, and considering how it’s a game about smugglers and outlaws and also features a reputation system and factions, it begged the question as to whether or not we’d be seeing a certain bounty hunter coming after Kay Vess and her team. Lead systems designer Matthieu Delisle suggested that Boba Fett might be a bit preoccupied given the game’s place in the Star Wars timeline between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so don’t expect to see him, but players can still look forward to other cameos.

“So, Boba is kind of busy at that time of the year, so Jabba is not going to send him after you,” Delisle joked. “But you’ll run into other characters. Don’t want to spoil the story. Some of them might not be on the wall in carbonite.”

Carbonite, as Star Wars fans will remember, is the metal substance used to preserve people in the Star Wars universe. It’s what Han Solo was encased in with other Star Wars characters also trapped in carbonite throughout different stories in the franchise. Delisle’s comments suggest that we may see some carbonite enclosures featuring characters that we’re familiar with, though it’s even more likely that we’ll see cameos outside of carbonite as well.

The reputation system and the factions at play in Star Wars Outlaws referenced previously also sound like the perfect way to incorporate some of these cameos. During the same trip, we spoke to lead gameplay designer Fredrick Thylander who talked about those systems and the chaos that emerges from them. One of the factions is brand new like others such as the Hutts are established, so it’s difficult to imagine cameos not showing up via the faction system.

“I do think that causing chaos, getting into even factions fighting other factions and then going ‘Ohh, whose side do I pick in this encounter? I’m just going to start blasting these guys, and maybe those guys will like me better.’ That type of engagement, even when you’re not involving the wanted system but just the reputation system, that emergent gameplay and being able to see the chaos of the different planets emerge is fun. It is fun. It is a toy at the end of the day.”

Star Wars Outlaws is scheduled to release on August 30th.