There was some debate raised over Star Wars Outlaws‘ claim that it was the franchise’s first open-world game but speaking to Screen Rant, Wilbert Roget, the game’s composer, thinks the comparison to other titles doesn’t make sense. The video game industry has long struggled with the idea of genre, with some experiences overlapping across multiple styles and tropes. “Open-world” has become more of a mechanical description than any kind of had-and-fast genre, but that hasn’t stopped some fans from bringing up Star Wars: The Old Republic, which also featured an expansive world for players to explore.

Speaking to Screen Rant, Roget explained that Outlaws and The Old Republic are fundamentally different games that take a different approach to open-world design:

” I don’t really understand exactly where that criticism is coming from. Obviously, the team at BioWare EA did such an incredible job with The Old Republic, so I’m sure that they’re not in any way trying to diminish that. But, I mean, there’s a world of difference between a massive MMO title and an open-world title in the style of Outlaws . I never would’ve considered them to be anywhere near the same genre. So, I’m not really sure where exactly the criticism is coming from, but that’s just me.”

Roget’s point is salient as the style of open-world offered in The Old Republic is less of a sandbox experience than what’s seen in Star Wars Outlaws. Both encourage players to make their own path and adventure across the map, but one is more geared to responsive, emergent gameplay while the other wants to present a solid framework littered with micro-stories and mini-narratives.

The Old Republic And Outlaws Are Worlds Apart

Different Takes, Neither Is Wrong

Roget continued on to say that the kind of open-world gameplay seen in Outlaws is much closer to the likes of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, so while The Old Republic may have also been classified as “open-world,” it’s a fundamentally different experience:
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” I play a lot of open-world titles. One of my favorites was Ghost of Tsushima or the Infamous series, and you can see a lot more in common with those than you can see with the Old Republic, which is a totally different style of gameplay. I mean, there are open-world aspects to it just due to the nature of the game, but it’s one of those cases where you only have so many words in an article or a soundbite , and you choose your words as carefully as you can, but inevitably someone is going to misinterpret that in certain ways.”

In the video game industry, genre is a constantly evolving idea that’s continually breaking down barriers and morphing into new concepts. While both Outlaws and The High Republic are open-world games, the quality is used to substantiate the genre; The former is an open-world action-adventure game while the latter is an open-world MMO.

Star Wars Outlaws is much more in line with the kind of modern open-world game developed by Ubisoft, leaning heavily on the tropes of the formula. The massive map is littered with markers for quests and collectibles, and there’s an emphasis on stealth bleeding into all-out combat once the players’ cover is blown. It’s a far more cinematic take on the system, one that would prove much too ambitious for a sprawling MMO like The Old Republic.

Whatever one’s take on the nature of Star Wars Outlaws, the game is certainly making waves. The adventure of Kay Vess and her adorable companion Nix has taken the community by storm with many still enjoying the experience. While some critics have lamented the game’s lack of original ideas, most agree that it’s a decent take on the classic Ubisoft formula that’s worked for years.