Starfield players jealous as Star Wars Outlaws nails space travel
UbisoftStarfield was criticized by many for how it handled planet landings, a system that some users online feel is being executed better by Ubisoft Massive’s Star Wars Outlaws.
Star Wars Outlaws received a strong showing at Ubisoft Forward 2024, as the devs showed off the title’s combat, world design, and space travel. The gameplay walkthrough also showcased how traveling between different planets works, and it didn’t take long for fans online to draw comparisons with Starfield.
In the Bethesda RPG, space landings are done through a loading screen as players select a landing spot and take a back seat while a repetitive cutscene plays out. Many found this to be immersion-breaking as sitting through constant loading screens in a game about planetary exploration can get pretty tedious.
Star Wars Outlaws follows a similar approach but with some tweaks that keep the immersion intact. Instead of cutting to black, the camera follows the ship as it descends into a planet’s atmosphere. They get to see the Trailblazer (Kay’s ship) dart past the clouds and glide across the planet before arriving at the landing spot, providing a scenic view of the location.
While the landing sequence is still a cutscene, it lets players follow along on the pre-determined path instead of fading to black like in Starfield.
Following the showcase, users on X flocked under a popular post and praised this system while stating that Starfield could’ve done with something similar.
The post itself was captioned, “This is exactly how landing on planets in Starfield should’ve been, really wish Bethesda figured out how to do it like this rather than black screens,” and there were plenty in the comments section who seemed to agree.
One user said, “This is so good! Love how seamless this is,” while another stated, “Absolutely. I’m back playing Starfield again, and while it has improved, the traveling is such an immersion breaker.”
Some users also came to Starfield’s defense and argued that the games vary vastly in scope. They mentioned that you can land anywhere in the RPG instead of picking between a few spots, making such a system for the RPG unfeasible.
The discourse surrounding this topic will likely rage on for months, but it’s clear that fans are impressed by Star Wars Outlaws’ approach.
Perhaps a mod for Starfield could attempt to bring something similar to the game, or maybe it’s something Bethesda could consider for the Shattered Space DLC. As for Outlaws, it’ll be interesting to see how the game fits into the Star Wars timeline.