Outlaws,
Today, we’d like to talk about the enemies you face in Star Wars Outlaws. On Kay’s journey, she encounters a variety of foes, from the dangerous Pyke sentinels or intimidating Gamorrean guards to the bog-standard stormtrooper. We’d like to discuss how we’ve expressed these threats in-game and some recent updates to them.
To speak more on this topic is Fredrik Thylander, Game Director of the Star Wars Outlaws team.
Combat was the primary focus of Title Update 1.4, and a key piece of that was to get the enemy AI and behaviors right to balance the improvements we’ve made to Kay’s blaster and capabilities in addition to the weapons you find in the field.
A key part of fun and engaging combat is to constantly have to adapt and make decisions on the fly, reacting to what happens on the battlefield. To increase strategic and active combat, we enabled all enemy archetypes to use cover - with a few key exceptions like the Gamorrean guards. This means you must use positioning and reactions to get the drop on enemies to keep or regain the upper hand.
We improved the enemy’s awareness of where the player is focusing so they can take their shots when you are engaging a different target. This means you now have to think on your feet and be much more aware of your surroundings in combat.
Enemies are now more capable in using their grenades. While before it could feel quite sporadic and surprising, it’s now a more integrated part of the combat loop on a regular basis. This means having to reposition or react when a grenade lands near you or shoot it out of the enemy's hand when it's about to be thrown.
We also updated how enemies react to blaster bolts flying near them, causing them to be supressed. This makes them less accurate and temporarily favor taking cover rather than directly pursuing Kay. This makes running while using your blaster when repositioning to a new location an effective tool to manage the battlefield, even if you have less chance of hitting enemies than when aiming down sight.
Your opponents now also have improved aim – yes, even stormtroopers – to hit you more frequently when exposed, but with less damage per shot. This makes it easier to understand where the danger is and makes it easier to react quickly to incoming fire. It also makes it clearer when you are making the right decision in a fight and when you are in trouble.
Last but not least, it’s important to point out that stealth also got a major set of improvements. We managed to remove some moments of unintended detection – making the enemies more consistent and fair when sneaking. We added a new UI element to show you when an enemy is detecting you, allowing you to play at the edge of getting caught with full control. With this also came a general tuning pass on how quickly enemies detect and investigate, how they react to distractions such as whistle and how consistent they are in talking to each other in a way that lets you know when they are suspicious or giving up the hunt.
As a result of all these improvements combined, fights now have more depth, decision making, relocation and action than before. The enemies are more capable – but so are you! And when sneaking, you should now feel in full control and have more fun expertly avoiding getting caught. This is all in the pursuit of making the best possible Star Wars Outlaws combat experience we can.
As always, keep an eye on our socials for more from us, and be sure to give us your thoughts on Twitter, Instagram and start a conversation with us in our Official Discord.
Thank you again for your feedback and excitement!
The Star Wars Outlaws Team