How Star Wars Outlaws Redefined Scoundrel Fantasies: A Look Back at Its Creative Vision

Ever since its explosive arrival in late 2024, Star Wars Outlaws has stood as a bold experiment in galactic storytelling—a title that dared to hand the keys of the Millennium Falcon’s shadowy underworld directly to players. Massive Entertainment’s open-world debut for the franchise didn’t just add another notch to Ubisoft’s belt; it reshaped what a Star Wars game could feel like. Looking back at a 2024 interview with creative director Julian Gerighty, the design philosophies that shaped the game remain as fascinating today as they were during its blockbuster launch. Every choice, from the scoundrel protagonist to the dust on a distant moon, was built to make stepping into that galaxy feel personal, messy, and utterly thrilling.

The Open-World Promise

From the very first reveal, Gerighty emphasized that Outlaws was not about being the Jedi hero or the ace pilot but about letting players inhabit a world on their own terms. He described the experience as a chance to “step into those locations both new and iconic, and really discover and direct the experience that they want.” That meant the dusty plains of Tatooine, the neon-soaked streets of a new underworld hub, or the claustrophobic innards of an Imperial cruiser were never just backdrops—they were invitations. The game never demanded a rigid path. A player could binge the main storyline, chasing down a syndicate boss with linear urgency, or they could vanish into the desert for hours after noticing a flicker of movement on the horizon. Curiosity was a compass as valid as any quest marker. This philosophy, Gerighty noted, turned every planet into a living stage where the script was co-written by the player and the chaos of the galaxy itself.

Kay Vess and Nix: A Duo Built on Trust

At the heart of that chaos was Kay Vess, a character engineered to be profoundly out of her depth. Gerighty called her “a rookie thief, just starting in the scoundrel lifestyle,” but one with eyes set on the whole galaxy. He placed her squarely in a “hive of scum and villainy,” a fish out of water whose growth depended entirely on how the player navigated betrayals and alliances. That vulnerability made her feel less like a predefined hero and more like a reflection of the player’s own street-smart evolution.

But Kay was never truly alone. The developers thought of her and Nix as “a whole,” a dynamic duo where the fuzzy merqaal was far more than a cute sidekick. “This is the only person that you really trust as Kay Vess,” Gerighty stated, underlining that their bond was the emotional anchor in a galaxy of backstabbers. Nix was an original creation, a creature stitched together from earthly references—a bit of monkey agility, a dash of ferret cunning, a sprinkle of protective canine loyalty—resulting in what the team affectionately called a “beautiful, lovable, but incredibly aggressive” companion. In 2026, Nix plushies still fly off shelves, a testament to how that design captured something instantly iconic.

ND-5: The BX Commando with a Coat

A scoundrel’s journey needs a shadow, and ND-5 filled that role with a brooding, metal-clad intensity. Introduced as a minder and bodyguard, he was also an observer with a history Gerighty described as “very complicated.” The BX commando droid was a familiar silhouette from the Clone Wars era, but the team draped him in a heavy coat, gave him a weariness in his posture, and layered his voice with the gravel of a thousand regrets. That simple addition of fabric and body language transformed a mass-produced killing machine into “a huge fan favorite,” as Gerighty predicted. Even now, ND-5’s presence in Outlaws discussion boards rivals the most charismatic organic characters, proving that a droid doesn’t need blinking lights to have a soul—just the right tailor and a lot of pain.

Crafting Worlds Both Familiar and Fresh

Planet design was another pillar where Star Wars Outlaws refused to coast on nostalgia. Gerighty explained that every location, even undiscovered ones, needed to feel relatable before it could feel alien. “I’m in something that is undiscovered, that feels relatable because it has elements that you know, but really takes you out of the familiarity with that little twist,” he said. Think of a savannah where the grass hums with energy instead of insects, or a city built into the ribs of a colossal fallen creature—there’s an echo of Earth, then a sharp left turn into the fantastic. This approach demanded immense craftsmanship. Gerighty pointed to small, refined details—the way a cantina door seals with a hiss, how a dust devil swirls around a broken droid—that accumulate into a world that is “completely fresh, but still relatable.” The result was a galaxy that felt coherent, never a random theme park.

The Perfect Time Period for Chaos

Placing the story between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi was a decision Gerighty called outright “perfect.” The developers pitched that one-year window to LucaFilm and received immediate approval. “The criminal syndicates are so active, because there’s so much chaos out there in the universe,” he said. With the Empire reeling after Hoth but before Endor, power vacuums erupted everywhere. Crimson Dawn, the Hutts, the Pykes—all scrambled for influence while the Rebellion was a distant rumor to most. That backdrop turned Kay’s zero-to-scoundrel arc into a pressure cooker of opportunity. Every choice to work with or betray a syndicate felt weighty because the galaxy’s power structure was as fragile as a sabacc deck in a windstorm.

Scoundrel’s Choice: Player Agency Redefined

Ultimately, Gerighty stressed that the entire experience boiled down to one promise: “You are going to decide where you go, how you get there, who you’re going to work with, who you’re not going to work with, how you’re going to make those credits, and how you’re going to get away from the bounty on your head.” That mantra remains the lifeblood of the game two years after launch. It’s why no two playthroughs feel identical. One player’s Kay might be a lightning-fast speeder thief who befriends the Ashiga Clan; another’s might be a silver-tongued infiltrator who leaves a trail of betrayed Crimson Dawn operatives in her wake. The freedom wasn’t just marketing flair—it was the engine under the hood, and it still hums beautifully in 2026.

Star Wars Outlaws didn’t just deliver an open world; it delivered a world that remembers your footprints. Gerighty’s 2024 insights reveal a team that obsessed over the texture of freedom—the trust between a thief and her creature, the menace of a coat draped on a war droid, the strange familiarity of an alien sunset. In an era crowded with space operas, this scoundrel’s tale endures because it asks one simple question: in a galaxy of chaos, who will you become?