Which clan is Ashiga?
Operating like an anthill due to being a hive of the insectoid Melitto species with a strong hierarchy and tradition of putting the hive above themselves - which makes them unique when compared to other syndicates where people have their own personal agendas - with a queen called Ashiga at the helm, the Ashiga Clan is highly visible on Kijimi, the frozen planet first introduced in The Rise of Skywalker.
Sarco Plank shown in The Force Awakens marked the first appearance of the Militto species. Kay must engage with several criminal syndicates and accept missions for them as part of her navigation of the criminal underground; occasionally helping one organization results in Kay's reputation suffering with another. Higher degrees of reputation allow access to different rewards unique to each faction, thus players must choose carefully which syndicate they side with. In the case of the Ashiga Clan, Kay siding with any other syndicate seems likely to cause a rift due of the group's hive-type mentality.
Aesthetic of the Ashiga Clan Rooted in Asian Culture
Deven McClure of Screen Rant spoke with World Director Cloé Hammoud of Star Wars Outlaws and Art Director Marthe Jonkers at Summer Game Fest 2024 about the design process for the Ashiga Clan and what inspirations the team drew from when building a totally new organization. The Ashiga Clan's appearance seems to be heavily influenced by Asian culture, especially Edo century Japan.
Designing the Ashiga clan was thus quite enjoyable. Given their basis in Kijimi, it was quite fascinating. We so had that basis in Kijimi, which the Star Wars films highlighted. We therefore know what it looks like, and naturally we developed on this in Star Wars Outlaws. But we aimed to establish this syndicate that would seem to have been there for a long time and had somewhat blended with Kijimi's culture. Many of Kijimi's architectural inspirations, for instance, are quite much Asian or Japanese-inspired, therefore this is also something we worked through into the Ashiga Clan's design. For many of their clothes, we thus looked at kimonos, for example, and Ukiyo-era woodblock prints for the color palettes, just to really embed that concept that they have been there for a long time, they are part of this location today.
Real-world Ashiga Clan Influences of Star Wars Outlaws Expounded by Developers
Developers of Star Wars Outlaws discussed the game's new crime syndicate, Ashiga Clan, and real-world inspirations at Summer Game Fest 2024.
Reiterating the year between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws offers an opportunity to investigate faithfully rebuilt locations like Tatooine and engage with personalities from that era, such Jabba the Hutt or Lando Calrissian. The trailer for Summer Game Fest 2024 featured the later momentarily. While Star Wars Outlaws's plot revolves mostly on expanding the Star Wars universe, its heroine, Kay Vess, negotiates the criminal underground rather than being part of the main struggle of the Galactic Civil War.
Part of Star Wars: Outlaws, the Ashiga Clan is
With a new teaser showing its environment and characters, Ubisoft revealed the date of release for their upcoming game, Star Wars Outlaws.
Working with Lucasfilm, the team at Mass Entertainment created entirely new planets and moons for Kay to visit on her trip, such Akiva, with a humid rainforest climate, or the new moon Toshara, with a biome modeled by East African savannas. Apart from building new worlds, Star Wars Outlaws features wholly fresh syndicates with the Ashiga Clan as the most prominent inclusion.
Another Perspective on the Force
The way the Ashiga Clan appears in Star Wars: Outlaws offers understanding of the criminal underworld of the galaxy. The creators have worked hard to incorporate fresh personalities and stories so as to offer a different viewpoint in this field.
With their inclusion, the development team has done a fantastic job of fleshing out the game's setting, the characters, and their plot. This may be a fascinating route the next game goes in.
One of the Key Learnings
Particularly the original trilogy, one of the main lessons learned from Screen Rant's time with Star Wars Outlaws has been how Mass Entertainment wants the game to feel extremely authentic to the Star Wars universe, especially going as far as to digitally recreate the kind of camera lenses the earlier films were shot on to further create the same kind of visuals in the Snowdrop engine. Even though Kijimi as a planet was introduced to Star Wars canon long after Disney bought the rights to the series from Lucas, by revisiting Japanese history with its creation of the Ashiga Clan, Massive Entertainment has further built upon the notion of having George Lucas' inspirations at its core to establish this authenticity in its newer creations, rather than just copying what came before in past Star Wars media.
Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure game whereby players enter the scoundrel boots of Kay Vess, a lady seeking a better life across the galaxy. Along with her animal friend Nix and fresh companions she finds along the way, Kay will negotiate the several worlds, cities, and planets around the galaxy while outwitting both Crime Syndicates and the Empire.
