Ubisoft’s new Star Wars game gives the galaxy its first Wind Planet

The Star Wars galaxy is famous for its planets with a single identifiable environmental characteristic. There’s Tatooine, the desert planet; Hoth, the snow planet; Kamino, the water planet; and Mustafar, the fire and lava planet. Thanks to Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s open-world scoundrel-adventure game, Star Wars now has a wind planet.

Toshara is an all-new location debuting in Star Wars Outlaws, designed in collaboration between Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment and Lucasfilm. Toshara is covered in windswept plains inspired by the African savannah, developers say in a new behind-the-scenes video, and the planet’s geography is literally molded by its ever-present blustery breezes. That includes its striking city of Murugana, a settlement built into a huge rock carved out by millennia of wind gusts.

Wind is the defining feature of Toshara, and Lucasfilm and Massive appear to be taking it very seriously. Developers are integrating the single-environment planetary rule that pervades much of the Star Wars galaxy into Toshara’s flora, fauna, and economy — it appears that Tosharans use kites as some sort of farming mechanism. One can only assume that the local windbreaker retailers of Murugana are doing gangbusters business.

Star Wars Outlaws protagonist Kay Vess will apparently spend a good amount of time on Toshara, her locks blowing in the breeze. The 10-minute gameplay preview that Massive showed at Ubisoft Forward in June was mostly set there; it’s where Kay runs afoul of Imperial officers after a run-in with a local crime syndicate.

If you prefer your Star Wars to stick to well-trodden territory, don’t worry: You can explore the sandy expanses of Tatooine in Star Wars Outlaws, too. Kay will apparently have a run-in with none other than local gangster Jabba the Hutt as she fraternizes with the scum and villainy of Star Wars’ underworld.

Star Wars Outlaws is slated for release on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X sometime in 2024.