‘Star Wars Outlaws’ is inspired by movie-making tricks of the 1970s

The aesthetic of Star Wars Outlaws is largely influenced by the practicalities of movie-making in the 1970s, as well as the series’ iconic “visual language of reduction”.

Revealed in the Xbox Games Showcase last month, Star Wars Outlaws is “set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi”. Not only are the narrative and characters rooted in the original movie trilogy, but the creative director Julian Gerighty has said that everything that the player sees in the game will feel like it’s been lifted from one of the sets.

In an interview with EDGE Magazine, Gerighty shared that Ubisoft Massive took the time to develop technology that “emulates some of the lenses of the ’70s” to create a grainy and gritty Star Wars game.

“So you have the vignetting, film grain, lens breathing, the curvature of a thicker lens, the slight lens flares – all of these things that are very subtle, but come together to give you a more cinematic experience,” explained Gerighty.

Expectedly, these effects are likely to be optional so that players are able to switch settings. However, the ’70s inspiration has saturated into the items and aesthetics that the player will find on their journey with protagonist Kay Vess.

“What really defines Star Wars’ visual language is a process of reduction. There’s this design lens that you apply, where everything has to be reduced to its essential properties,” expounded the creative director, using Kay’s “industrial” pair of binoculars as an example.

While Ubisoft Massive had a lot of room to experiment in this era of Star Wars, the anchor to the movies assisted the art team in understanding the lore of the series. “There’s a shape language there that is inspired by the ’70s or ’80s but is fundamentally almost timeless,” continued Gerighty.

In other gaming news, Overwatch 2 is the first of a selection of Blizzard Entertainment games that are to be brought to Steam.