Star Wars Outlaws aims to buck the trend of excessively long games, with Ubisoft developers promising to break the mould and create a game that’s actually finishable.
Speaking to PC Game Spotlight during a Star Wars Outlaws preview event, developers Julian Gerighty and Navid Khaveri explain why the Open-world game will avoid the pitfalls of games with excessively long playtimes.
“We’re really passionate about creating a dense, rich experience for players that they can enjoy at their own pace and finish,” Gerighty says. “I think it’s just a response to some of the criticisms you hear about our previous games like Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed. It’s like, ‘This is great, but I played this for 200 hours and I still haven’t finished it.’ It’s like, ‘Well, of course you haven’t finished it, it’s 200 hours!’”
The developer says that, while long games can be great, they can also become tedious and overwhelming. This can be true even for highly immersive and interactive games, and the trend towards shorter, more replayable games has already been embraced by RPG studio Obsidian.
“I think it’s just a response to the fatigue people have from bloated game sizes and just wanting something that’s more focused,” Gerighty continues. “I think you see it a lot in the indie space, and Obsidian are on the forefront of that with games like Tyranny and Pillars of Eternity II. It’s just a thing we’ve noticed, and we’re going to embrace it.”
With games like Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 potentially still quite a way off, Outlaws looks like a refreshing alternative for players craving a more manageable game length. When you consider how big these games are, with Starfield in particular requiring years of development and potentially hundreds of developers, it’s easy to see why Ubisoft is making this move.
Expect to hear a lot more about Outlaws during Star Wars Celebration, with the game’s release date also likely to be confirmed. In the meantime, check out the best space games on PC for a whole host of incredible experiences.
