Steam Summer Sale: $17 Star Wars Outlaws Is Too Good to Skip
I told myself I wouldn’t spend a cent during this year’s Steam Summer Sale because my backlog is already out of control. Then I saw a $17 open-world Star Wars release—Star Wars Outlaws—and it pulled me right back in. I first got attached to this game when it launched in 2024, but I never managed to finish it at the time for a mix of reasons. When it later arrived on Steam a few months afterward, I seriously considered replaying it on PC to finally see it through. Still, at a $70 price point, its problems felt more obvious, and I was also juggling too many other games I wanted to play more immediately. Now that it’s sitting at $17, it’s easier to judge Star Wars Outlaws for what it is: a flawed but genuinely engaging Star Wars adventure that, in my view, drew far more backlash than it deserved.
Why the Launch Backlash Felt Overblown
I get why Star Wars Outlaws was disliked at launch, but I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that it’s a criminally underrated Star Wars entry—one that deserved a fairer hearing. For starters, the game carries Ubisoft’s name, and no matter how hard the studio tries to step away from a long track record of open-world titles that can feel padded and bloated, players still seem eager to pile on the moment that name appears. That bias puts the game at an unfair disadvantage, especially because I genuinely believe it offers one of the more authentic interpretations of the Star Wars setting that gaming has delivered in a long time. That said, I won’t pretend the launch was spotless. There were bugs and performance problems, and I understand why that would sour some players’ experiences. Even so, I think this is one of those Star Wars games everyone should at least try—particularly at $17 during the Steam Summer Sale, where it’s hard not to call it a bargain.
Hasbro has revealed its Halloween-themed edition Star Wars: The Black Series figures, and they’re built around classic monster references.
Not a “Dead on Arrival” Disaster—Just a Game People Misread
One thing that’s been difficult for me to understand lately is why modern audiences sometimes declare certain games “doomed” before they’ve even had a chance to land. Star Wars Outlaws did earn respectable reviews—getting around a 7/10, which is a solid score regardless of internet hot takes—and yet it still developed that “wait, this is already bad” aura quickly. Maybe it’s a growing lack of trust toward gaming coverage, or maybe players are simply exhausted by big-budget releases and are prepared to believe the worst immediately. Whatever the reason, the conversation moved quickly: it stopped being “a promising game with problems” and started becoming a stand-in for whatever people already wanted to criticize.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
To be fair, there were legitimate issues. Star Wars Outlaws isn’t flawless. Stealth can feel inconsistent, mission structure can come off as rigid, and even though the world is a major improvement in several ways, it still includes some familiar Ubisoft-style open-world habits. Still, I’m getting tired of the same argument loop where you have to say, “It’s not perfect,” just to defend the idea that it’s worth playing. There’s no such thing as a perfect game—only titles whose strengths are strong enough to make their weaknesses easier to forgive. In that sense, Star Wars Outlaws feels stronger than the harshest critics and the pessimists who helped steer the narrative.
The strange part is how quickly people seemed to jump from “it has issues” to “it’s bad,” even though the game always had more to offer than that. In terms of Star Wars identity, it nails the atmosphere, the environments, the overall tone, and the way everything feels moment-to-moment. Pretty early on, I was already telling people, “Star Wars Outlaws is the most Star Wars-feeling Star Wars game I’ve experienced,” and I still believe that. Even standout games like Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor, and Knights of the Old Republic each capture important parts of the franchise, but they tend to focus on specific corners of the lore. Outlaws goes for a broader feeling—like you’re stepping into a Star Wars movie—by letting you roam the galaxy rather than spending the whole time as if you’re destined to wield a lightsaber and master Force powers.
Star Wars Outlaws is one of those games that’s stronger than you—and stronger than the pessimists who tried to convince you otherwise.
The smartest creative decision Star Wars Outlaws makes is refusing to turn Kay Vess into another Jedi, soldier, or galaxy-saving chosen one. Kay is a thief and a scoundrel—someone trying to survive in the less glamorous parts of the galaxy where everyone is either exploiting her, hunting her, or watching to see whether she’ll ever become useful. That shift gives the story a distinct taste compared to most Star Wars narratives, and it’s a flavor I still wish the franchise leaned into more often. It doesn’t always land every beat perfectly, but I’d rather play a messy Star Wars game that actually feels like Star Wars than a safer power-fantasy that sacrifices atmosphere and tone just to chase familiar gameplay beats.
I’m not going to claim Star Wars Outlaws is a masterpiece—because it’s hard for me to label any game that way. What I can say is that it seems vastly misunderstood, unfairly judged, and unfairly perceived, which is exactly why it feels so underrated. Maybe it “failed” commercially, but plenty of genuinely great games miss sales targets. Sales outcomes are often tied to timing, marketing, expectations, and how the audience feels at launch—none of which automatically reflects whether a game is actually worth your time. If you want my straight answer: Star Wars Outlaws has always been worth playing. At $17 on Steam Summer Sale, it’s just easier than ever to appreciate.
What the $17 Price Changes (And Why It Matters)
Love it or hate it, price reshapes how people judge a game—especially one like Star Wars Outlaws. At $70, even small flaws can feel like they’re dragging down the overall value. At $17, the question becomes refreshingly straightforward: does this open-world Star Wars experience feel worth the money you’d spend on a couple of coffees? For me, the answer is yes—yes a thousand times yes.
There’s a lot in Star Wars Outlaws that clicks, particularly if you simply want to live in a Star Wars version of the world. Walking through crowded settlements, cruising across dusty stretches on a speeder, breaking into restricted areas, sending Nix to stir up trouble, and hopping between planets all add up to a fantasy that feels oddly rare in the genre. It may not be the deepest open-world game ever made, but it understands what it’s doing when it comes to being a small-time criminal in a galaxy that’s much bigger than you.
At $17, the question is as simple as, “Does this open-world Star Wars adventure feel worth what I would spend on a couple of coffees?” For me, the answer is yes—yes a thousand times yes.
I also think Kay and Nix are better than they were often given credit for. Kay might not be an instant iconic Star Wars hero, but she fits the context of the game well. She’s scrappy, impulsive, and constantly just one bad choice away from making everything worse. Nix, meanwhile, brings personality in a way that’s both mechanical and emotional, helping the game feel more alive than it would with a more generic companion.
More importantly, Outlaws delivers the kind of Star Wars atmosphere I tend to appreciate more the longer I play these games. You get strange cantina vibes, grimy cities, desert hideouts, criminal power groups, an Imperial presence, and small environmental touches that make it feel like you’re actually living inside Star Wars. It isn’t always polished to perfection, but it often feels like Star Wars in the way I want an open-world Star Wars game to feel.
So yes, the Steam Summer Sale got me. I broke my own rule, added another title to my backlog, and bought Star Wars Outlaws again because $17 for an open-world Star Wars game is too easy to justify. Maybe that says more about me than the product, but after jumping back in, I feel even more confident that the hate looks more ridiculous now than it did before. The game has issues, but it also offers a Star Wars fantasy that’s still worth experiencing—especially at this low price.
