Star Wars Outlaws is dropping 'forced stealth,' so instead of being reset when you get caught sneaking around, you can just start blasting

The protagonist from Star Wars Outlaws, a scruffy scoundrel, looks determined with her cute axolotl-like alien pet on her shoulder.

(Image credit: Ubisoft Paris)

As part of the ongoing overhaul of Star Wars Outlaws that Ubisoft hopes will turn it into the must-play Star Wars game it should've been right from the start, new creative director Drew Rechner has announced that "forced stealth" is being removed from the game almost entirely.

The extent to which Star Wars Outlaws is a stealth game came as something of a surprise, given how much the pre-release promo materials (and Star Wars itself) focused on the joys of blasting stuff. But in an update posted today, Rechner acknowledged that some people just don't dig it, and that missions requiring players to avoid detection "could feel frustrating or unfair." Those feelings were exacerbated by the game's sometimes "unpredictable and inconsistent" stealth mechanics.

"We know many of you enjoy the stealth approach, so it was important to us to preserve that playstyle while also giving you the freedom to decide how to tackle each mission," he wrote. "Ultimately, you'll have the choice to sneak, go in combat-first, or—my personal favorite—sneak until you're caught and then blast your way out."

Personally, I like stealth in videogames: If I have the option to sneak through quietly and drop no bodies as I go, that's the path I'm going to take. Any beefy clown can hose down a room with a portable autocannon, after all, but getting through with nothing but a pistol, a silencer, and some cool sunglasses takes a professional. But good detection systems are an essential part of that, and mandatory stealth bits in games that really don't have it nailed down are indeed incredibly frustrating.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.