Movies News Talk
Although Star Wars Outlaws might set in a familiar era, it appears set to present a very different kind of story away from the main conflicts of the Galactic Civil War, choosing to focus on an up-and-coming scoundrel instead of Jedi Knights or Rebel forces. Nevertheless, the team at Massive Entertainment's meticulous attention to detail is helping to ensure that it still feels like Star Wars at its core; the idea of recreating the exact same camera lenses that those earlier films were shot on in-game is a whole other level of detail most players wouldn't even acknowledge when playing, but subconsciously draws them back in time to make it all feel connected to the original trilogy in more than just its story.
Rebuilding famous sites like Mos Eisley and Jabba's Palace and allowing players to explore the locales they have seen on screen and discover details they never knew were there has been a topic of discussion in the studio before. While familiar planets like Tatooine had to be expanded, instead of just looking to create variants of the buildings that fans have seen on screen, Star Wars Outlaws' World Director, Cloé Hammoud, and Art Director, Marthe Jonkers turned to George Lucas's original inspirations from the 60s and 1970s, citing Western movies as a major one to further add to the Game's authenticity.
The meticulous approach of Massive Entertainment guarantees that Star Wars Outlaws resembles the first trilogy.
With a narrative set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi when the Outer Rim's criminal underworld is flourishing, Star Wars Outlaws is returning to the chronology of the original trilogy as the Empire is consumed with the mounting rebellion. This makes a great portion of Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment's objective seem to be properly replicating this era of Star Wars but also expanding upon it with a new protagonist, Kay Vess, and new sites to investigate over their vast open-world map.
Julian Gerfty: Since essentially that was our interaction with the truly deep emotions we had connected Star Wars to, I believe the Original Trilogy is where we found most inspiration. Apart from that, Rogue One takes the classic trilogy and employs all of these bundles of new technologies for its implementation; this was rather crucial for us also. We thus sought a lot of references and inspiration from the general visual execution of a modern film, but with a 1970s aesthetic, retro futurist look. The display is Ultra widescreen. There's a lens project; you can adjust it to the aspect ratio you choose, but by default it is that. With the lens flare, breathing, vignetting, all of these technical aspects that kind of subconsciously place you in the middle of a cinematic 1970s, futuristic, retro, Star Wars adventure that was very important. We have created a lens inside Snowdrop that allows us to replicate the lenses of the cameras of the 1970s.
Marthe Jonkers is Of course, camera effects, unique lengths, and we used all of these many elements that enable us to be as genuine as possible to the original trilogy movies. This ultra-wide setup is absolutely crucial for us to recreate this cinematic realism.
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 searching the galaxy for a better life. Kay will negotiate the several landscapes, towns, and planets around the galaxy, outwitting both Crime Syndicates and the Empire along with her animal friend Nix and new allies she encounters along the way.
With a new teaser that provided a better view of their Star Wars Outlaws game's scenario and characters, Ubisoft confirmed the release date for their forthcoming creation. The immersive environment the game has created and the characters it features have drawn a decent lot of interest for it.
Screen Rant conducted a series of interviews at Summer Game Fest 2024 with Julian Gerighty, Creative Director of Star Wars Outlaws, and Art Director Marthe Jonkers. One approach the directors said they tried to replicate this 1970s cinematic style was by duplicating the camera lenses used to film the original trilogy inside the Snowdrop engine of the game.
Fans of the original trilogy should definitely find Star Wars Outlaws to be a rich and fun experience since they can really feel as though they have traveled back in time to this legendary era. Pre-orders for Star Wars Outlaws are now available; it launches on August 31 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Ubisoft Connect and Epic Games Store.