When Star Wars Outlaws was released last year, I recall thinking that it looked stunning and technically demanding. It’s got a massive open world where you can ride your speeder bike across desert plains. It just looked like a majorly ambitious title – and frankly, Star Wars needed a game like that. Star Wars Outlaws really went there and demonstrated that Ubisoft could also change its formula, putting the way-too-common “Ubisoftisms” aside.
Star Wars Outlaws sparked considerable controversy when it was initially released. The people who loved it were really singing the game’s praises for its unique characters and world-building. The people who weren’t crazy about it had issues with the game’s focus on stealth and punishment for aggressive play. If you were spotted, you were basically guaranteed to be shot dead within seconds. It was shockingly difficult when the game was first released.
Now, after a year and some change, Ubisoft has released patches and hotfixes to address these issues. Star Wars Outlaws has been adjusted to bridge the divide, and in its current state, it really wants you to take it at face value as a video game. In this review, I want to focus on the port in particular. The game has been discussed extensively on the internet, and many of you have already played it. I really want to focus on how incredible this Switch 2 port is. I can confidently say that the Star Wars Outlaws Switch 2 port is nothing short of mystifying.
Star Wars Outlaws on the Nintendo Switch 2 runs at a stellar 30 frames per second. Normally, that is not a framerate I like to see on modern hardware, but given the scope of this game and its ambition, I am amazed it runs at all! All joking aside, this is a seriously impressive feat. Right from the jump, I noticed that the game looked and felt way better than I ever could have imagined. Ubisoft is really flexing on you right from the beginning of the experience. You spend a lot of time at the beginning of the game in seedy nightclubs and bars, and they are all covered in dim lighting that sets this “oh shit, I shouldn’t be here” vibe very effectively.
There’s dynamic lighting present in these crowded scenes that really impresses. Sure, it’s not as detailed as it is on the PC version or other console versions, but it IS there, and that’s really something to behold. Showers of light cascade through clouds of steam pouring out of the ventilation shafts, pulsing strobes in the nightclub, and various moons shining down from the sky. It all just looks so crazy good in a way that really surprised me. The performance never stumbles or falters, not even during the most intense shootouts. Oftentimes, during gunfights, you’ll see explosions all over the place, lasers flying around, and enemies bouncing from cover to cover. Even with all the visual commotion, the framerate remains constant and never drops. When in handheld mode, some visual noise is noticeable due to the game’s lower resolution and smaller screen, but it never becomes excessive. That’s only really noticeable in super busy gunfights, however. When docked, these visual blemishes are basically invisible.
Unfortunately, the Star Wars Outlaws textures are somewhat inconsistent. That’s not a major surprise because the Switch 2 is essentially a super-powered handheld. Thankfully, the vast majority of the textures you get a nice close look at are decent quality! Many times during cutscenes, you get close-up shots of various aliens with shiny scales or maybe aliens with furry bodies. It’s Star Wars; there are tons of different races and species. Most of the aliens range from “great looking” to “fine.” Very few of the NPCs you meet along the way look properly garish, but when they do, it’s often by design. Outdoor environments are where the game really sings, especially during the daytime. Zooming around on the speeder bike and through various gorgeous landscapes is such a cathartic and euphoric part of Star Wars Outlaws. Some of my favourite experiences were moments I stumbled upon in the open world. One of those moments was finding a lone tree flailing in the wind at sunrise. It was just a singular tree waving around and casting shadows on the ground. Next to it was a small pool of water reflecting all of this without flaw. I got off my bike and stood around for a little bit, and just kinda hung out. It was a pretty cool thing to find, and I never thought I’d get a moment like this in a game about bounty hunting in space. Graphically, Star Wars Outlaws shines on the Switch 2.
What truly amazes me is that Star Wars Outlaws still has its built-in ray tracing. Many games that feature this will only truly have it on “pro” versions of consoles or high-end PCs. I’ve played games on my PlayStation 5 that don’t have raytracing as good as Star Wars Outlaws has on the Switch 2. The resolution and overall graphical fidelity are lower on the Switch 2, but the ray tracing is there and the game still runs at a buttery smooth and consistent 30fps. This is crazy because the Switch 2 uses only 10 watts of power to run a game. To put that into comparison, the Steam Deck uses 15 watts on average, and the Xbox Series S (the least powerful of the home consoles) uses 77 watts on average. The only thing I can get from this information is that Ubisoft has a group of wizards who have used very powerful magic to make this game run as well as it does. I don’t think it’s insane to say that Star Wars Outlaws is easily the best-looking game on the Switch 2 right now, and it has me excited about what the future holds for the console.
There is no doubt in my mind that Star Wars Outlaws is totally worth your money on the Nintendo Switch 2. Over the past year, Ubisoft has deployed numerous updates to help stabilize performance across all platforms. They’ve also dropped DLC and free content and aren’t showing any signs of stopping their support for this game any time soon. In fact, as I’m writing this, they JUST dropped a new patch for the Switch 2 version to make it run even better. In my opinion, this is a prime example of learning for a company like Ubisoft. This game has taken a major left turn for them in more ways than one, and focusing on making the game better over time is another great move from the company. I firmly believe that this should be the definitive version of this game. Yes, it’s not the most powerful, and it isn’t the most polished version, but playing this adventure while lying in bed leaves me speechless. It’s hard to believe that something so ambitious and impressive just works this well on a handheld. Personally, I think Star Wars Outlaws is a must-have if you own a Switch 2.
