Star Wars Outlaws is beautifully realised on PS5 and Series X/S, bar a few rogue issues
Reuniting developer Massive Entertainment and its Snowdrop Engine technology, Star Wars Outlaws is a sprawling, bounty-hunting, TIE-fighter-battling adventure across a galaxy far, far away. It’s built just for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S and PC – a true next-gen effort – and all of the highlights of this particular engine return.
Today I’m focusing on the console editions as ever, where PS5 and Series X each offer up a choice of three modes: a 30fps quality mode, a 40fps balanced mode (for 120Hz displays) and a 60fps performance mode. Much like Massive’s work on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, there’s a real luxury of choice for the two premium machines here – even extending to a toggle for two seperate aspect ratio modes. However, the curveball is the Series S version, which is fixed at 30fps with no other modes on offer. Between all of these consoles and modes then, which is ultimately the best way to play? Are there any visual differences of note between the three? And is it possible to get a solid 60fps out of the game on PS5 or Series X?
Of course, this pairing of developer and technology is already a proven success. Only nine months ago, the team at Massive served up Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, using the Snowdrop Engine to realise another sci-fi world. Its open environments were richly detailed, filled with flora and fauna that reacted to the player, plus weather physics like wind and rain. It pushed for ray-traced global illumination and reflections, even on console, and again with PS5 and Series X able to the game with a 60fps target.
Turning to Star Wars Outlaws today, the environments are no less impressive than Avatar’s; each planet sports a beautifully-realised open environment filled with animated foliage, imaginative creatures and speeder pilots. Volumetrics and rising dust fill the air – and gelling this together is a dynamic time of day setup, weather simulation and volumetric clouds that cast shadows to the terrain below. All of these elements combine to create a convincing lived-in energy to each planet.
