"The underworld shows no mercy. But it's a big galaxy out there, and I'm going to risk it all."
— Kay Vess
Star Wars Outlaws is an Action-Adventure, open world game set in the Star Wars universe, developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft under license by Lucasfilm Games. Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, players take control of outlaw scoundrel Kay Vess (Humberly González) and her companion Nix (Dee Bradley Baker) as they "attempt one of the biggest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen".
The game was released on August 30, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on August 30, 2024. The game's first Story Pack expansion, Wild Card, featuring Kay teaming up with Lando Calrissian and taking part in a high-stakes Sabacc tournament, was released on November 21, 2024. The game's second Story Pack expansion, A Pirate's Fortune, featuring Kay joining forces with Hondo Ohnaka to infiltrate the Khepi Tomb, all the whilst facing off against Stinger Tash and her Rokana Raiders, was released on May 15, 2025. A Nintendo Switch 2 version was released on September 4, 2025.
A prequel novel to the game, Outlaws: Low Red Moon was released on February 3rd, 2026, which details ND-5 and Jaylen Vrax's adventures before they met Kay.
Star Wars Outlaws: World Premiere Trailer
, Official Gameplay Walkthrough, Official Story Trailer, Launch Trailer, Wild Card - Story Pack #1 Launch Trailer, A Pirate's Fortune - Story Pack #2 Reveal Trailer
Not to be confused by the similarly named 1997 First-Person Shooter by LucasArts, Outlaws.
Tropes present in this game:
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Base Game
- Ability Required to Proceed: Certain activities can only be performed once Kay has acquired certain tools/upgrades. That said, most of the plot-related ones are obtained by the time Kay is able to leave the Toshara system, which is fairly early in the game.
- Adaptation Deviation: The only thing that Sabacc as played in this game and Sabacc as described in thirty years of Star Wars novels have in common is that they're both card games. Sabacc as described in Star Wars Legends: Players have three cards, which can have positive, negative or zero value, and the goal is to get a hand with a total value of -23, 0, or 23 (or an Idiot's Array, which is a 0, a 2, and a 3). Sabacc in Outlaws: Players have two cards, plus tokens that can invoke various rule changes, and the goal is to get the best pair. This is justified by being a specific variant of the game called Kessel Sabacc. Regular Sabacc can be seen being played on Tatooine, with one pair of NPCs even discussing the 23 rule and lamenting that normal Sabacc has waned in popularity.
- And the Adventure Continues: Following the endgame Kay and ND-5 set out to go "wherever they want" without Jaylen's influence hanging over them. From there, Kay is allowed to return to the planets she visits on her adventure, completing any loose ends the player may still need to follow up on.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- You can immediately fast-travel anywhere in the galaxy once you've unlocked the fast travel location by visiting it, instead of having to manually fly from planet-to-planet (and thus sit through a few minutes worth of animations and loading screens) every time you want to visit a specific location.
- A number were added in patches after player complaints about the launch version of the game:
- Most mandatory stealth sections were reworked to allow combat.
- Kay no longer drops her secondary weapon when performing basic actions like climbing or melee attacking. A later patch allows Kay to permanently retain her secondary weapon until it runs out of ammo or is voluntarily discarded or swapped for another.
- Kay can now freely fire her blaster pistol while riding her speeder, eliminating the need to engage adenaline mode in order to fight while mounted.
- Prompts for actions that will draw the ire of nearby guards if witnessed have a special symbol next to them, meaning the player doesn't have to learn by trial and error and can instead immediately begin looking for alternative solutions. Additionally, many such alternatives, particularly those for simple acts like picking up an item, are easily accomplished without arousing suspicion, e.g. by having Nix pilfer said item for you.
- Air-Vent Passageway: You get into a lot of places you aren't meant to go by finding a secluded vent and sneaking in through its winding passages.
- Alliance Meter: Four of the major individual criminal factions (the Pykes, Crimson Dawn, the Hutts, and the Ashiga Clan) have alliance bars that raise and lower depending on Kay's actions for and against them. For example, doing jobs on their behalf will heighten the trust the faction has for Kay, while being caught stealing from them for another faction will negatively affect it.
- Appropriated Appellation: Kay's droid friend ND-5, who is mostly referred to as "ND" by his associates, her included.
- Arc Welding: The plot of the game takes place during the events of Star Wars: Crimson Reign, and there are occasional nods that tie the story into that one. In particular, after Kay meets Qi'ra on Kijimi, ND-5 mentions that he and Jaylan were present at the Crimson Dawn's auction of Han Solo, the underworld event that was central to the plot of Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters and which kicked off Crimson Reign.
- Armor Is Useless: Wearing helmets does not save Stormtroopers from getting knocked out by Kay's bare hands. However, this is not the case with Death Troopers and the armored Zerek Besh enforcers (Hunters), who are not affected by melee attacks without the shock prod upgrade.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The EML-850 freighter class is inarguably a Cool Ship - high speed, good cargo capacity for its size, low sensor profile, easily armed, virtually indestructible. However, it was also extremely expensive to build, so it was outsold by designs that were less impressive but more affordable. The Trailblazer is one of the few surviving ships of its class, which is part of why Sliro really wants the ship back after Kay stole it.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: You learn a few new techniques for cheating at Sabacc after helping Lando out. Beating him after repeatedly cheating during your game against him will net you an achievement.
- Betting Mini-Game: As befitting the underworld setting, various forms of gambling figure prominently. Some examples:
- Fathier races: Kay can bet on the outcome of these races. They are always rigged, however, so it's in her best interest to only place a bet when she's found some insider information.
- Wandering Sylop: An arcade version of three card monte, Kay can win a small jackpot by successfully completing all rounds.
- Kessel Sabacc: The most prominent of the games, with pots occasionally including some plot relevant item, upgrade, or collectible. Some of the cheating mechanics are involved enough to potentially be thought of as mini-mini-games.
- Bookends: The prologue and penultimate mission of the game both take place on Canto Bight, Kay's homeworld and the site of Sliro's impenetrable vault.
- Brick Joke:
- During "The Traitor" on Rimpali Station, Kay infiltrates a Crimson Dawn area by saying that she's there to "fix the pipes". If you manage to get through the section without alerting the guards, when Kay walks back past the guards she says "pipes are fixed!".
- Early on in the game, Kay meets Jinnjo Blorgh, a Pyke Syndicate member sick of being continually stuck with menial tasks like guard duty, who intends to defect to the Hutts. Should Kay aid him in his defection, she will later encounter him at a Hutt compound... upset that he's stuck on guard duty.
- Bull Fight Boss: The rancor is immune to blaster fire and Kay is locked in with it, making defeating it traditionally impossible. Instead, Kay has to dodge it until an explosive barrel is in position to enrage it when it explodes, causing the rancor to charge. If it is pointed at a sealed door three times, the door will be bashed open and the rancor will knock itself out from headbutting steel one too many times.
- Bullet Time: Kay has an "adrenaline meter" which rises throughout fights and when she is performing risky stunts on her speeder. Fill it all the way and she can briefly slow down time, target up to three enemies, and blast them with perfect accuracy and heightened damage, very similar to the "Dead Eye" ability in the Red Dead Redemption games. A gunslinger on Tatooine can give you training that lets you target up to five enemies, and with upgrades you can target up to six.
- Bury Your Gays: Inverted; you'll meet several gay couples over the course of the story, while most characters who were in a heterosexual relationship will mention that their significant other was killed in the past.
- Cain and Abel:
- Sullustan arms dealer Surat Nuat became one of the most feared crime bosses on Akiva, but was eventually challenged by his own brother Rutar. Surat lost an eye to Rutar, but eventually defeated him and had him encased in carbonite as a warning to deter any henchmen from betraying him.
- Rival gangsters Sliro Barsha and Jaylen Vrax are revealed to be brothers. Specifically, sons of a wealthy Corellian shipping magnate that was going to manufacture thousands of Imperial Star Destroyers to help the Empire enforce the peace won after the Clone Wars. Jaylen was the legitimate heir, while Sliro was "one of the father's mistakes". While the family always ensured that Sliro "had a place at the table", they also never let him forget his illegitimate status, which caused Sliro to resent them and subsequently sell out his family to the Empire. Angered by this betrayal (and the loss of the family fortune he was set to inherit), Jaylen swore revenge on his brother.
- Call-Back:
- Asara Deyn is the brother of Calys Deyn, who perished while fighting at the Battle of Scarif.
- Kay uses Gedeek as a Trojan Prisoner while disguised as a Stromtrooper just like Han, Luke, and Chewbacca during A New Hope when infiltrating the Revelator. In addition, Kay threatening the female Imperial Officer with the ISB when she questions the unscheduled prisoner is similar to former Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart mentioning Tarkin's name to Lieutenant Holmes during Clone Force 99's infiltration of Imperial Station 003.
- In a booth in Chalmun's Cantina (second one on the left), one can see carbon scoring left by Greedo's last blaster shot.
- Call-Forward:
- The K79-H20 Imperial Troop Transports are used by the Empire on Tatoonie just like the one that would later be used by Moff Gideon's Imperial Remnant on Nevarro during The Mandalorian.
- A twofer to The Book of Boba Fett. During the game's intro, a Pyke at Zerek Besh's feast mentions he didn't want to hear Sliro talk about combining forces while his organization keep skimming of the Pyke Syndicate's spice lanes, which earns the ire of the Hutt Clan Enforcer, since the Hutts had those lanes first. Later during the game, one mission on Tatooine involves the Pykes researching the practicality of using a repulsor train to transport spice across the desert.
- The Cameo:
- The carbonite-frozen Han Solo can be seen when Kay visits Jabba's palace, indicating that this story is set after Qi'ra's failed attempt to recover him from Boba Fett.
- Likewise, while Kay is infiltrating the crawlspace of Jabba's palace in an attempt to rescue Nix, she looks out through a hole in a wall and sees Boba Fett talking to a hologram.
- Rooting around Akiva enough gives you access to a high-stakes sabaac parlor... where Kay will meet Lando Calrissian himself, who provides a sidequest involving the retrieval of his prized sabaac chip.
- Jabba the Hutt and Qi'ra are the leaders of their respective factions, but are only personally encountered by Kay in two consecutive scenes each.
- Vader briefly appears while infiltrating and Imperial base. And demonstrates why Kay is very lucky she's below his notice.
- Canon Immigrant:
- Freja Covell, who was one of Grand Admiral Thrawn's generals in the Legends continuity, is reintroduced to the canon here as an Imperial Marine Captain who gives Kay a sidequest.
- One of the bands included in the jukeboxes throughout the game is Billi B and the Paradise Gang, a group first introduced in the Legends short story "Slaying Dragons."
- Kay can discover transmissions from a Separatist base on Hakara, a location from The Clone Wars Comic magazine, now part of the Legends continuity.
- The Caper: A major part of the game is assembling a crew to raid Sliro's vault.
- Caper Crew: Roughly two-thirds of the story quests are tied to the recruitment of one:
- The Backer: Jaylen Wrax
- The Burglar: Kay Vess, who also doubles as the Hacker
- The Pickpocket: Nix
- The Driver: ND-5
- The Safecracker: Ank
- The Hacker: Two of these. Gedeek for hacking droids, and Riko for hacking computers.
- The Muscle: Hoss was tagged for the role, but was killed by Jabba, so Jaylen got Asara as a replacement.
- Card Sharp: Kay acquires a number of techniques for cheating at Sabacc over the course of the story. In particular for this trope, the "double draw" - secretly drawing two cards from a deck or discard pile instead of one - is pure sleight of hand, allowing her to both double her chances of hitting on a needed card and granting her the ability to palm a particularly valuable card for later use.
- The Cavalry: In the finale, just as the Trailblazer is about to be overwhelmed by the Revelator and her squadron of TIE Fighters, a squadron of Rebel fighters, and additional reinforcements from whichever faction Kay is friendliest with, arrive in time to turn the tide of battle.
- Chain of Deals: Acquiring the key items needed for some upgrades requires trading crafting materials to one merchant for a key item, then trading that key item to another merchant for another key item required for the upgrade.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
- Actively encouraged by the game. There is no way but to piss off certain syndicates in story missions even if Kay's on good terms with them. Most contracts offered by the syndicates involve hurting the others.
- Early on in the game, Kay encounters Jinnjo Blorgh, a member of the Pyke Syndicate who wants to defect to the Hutts. If Kay helps him defect, during a later confrontation, Kay has the option of convincing him to spy on the Hutts for Crimson Dawn.
- Jaylen double-crosses everyone involved in the heist. He lies to everyone but Riko and Asara about what the treasure is (claiming it's a fortune in beskar bullion when it's actually a massive cache of classified ISB records), captures Asara to sell him to Vader when he sells back the data, and pays Riko in marked bills.
- Collectible Card Game: Shift tokens in Sabacc function like this, with each player choosing three tokens from their collection to use in a given game. Kay starts out with three not very powerful tokens, but can buy, win, and steal her way to a full set.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
- In the grand Ubisoft traditions, ledges and handholds are often flagged with yellow paint or bright indicators, showing where the player needs to go next. These visual aids can be turned off in the settings menu, however.
- Factions appear blue, yellow, or orange on the reputation screen depending on reputation level. These colors are also used to identify each faction's territories on the map, with the addition of red for Imperial sectors.
- A colored marker corresponding to the player's reputation level will appear over the compass in the HUD whenever the player enters a given faction's territory. Entering Imperial territory or a restricted area will cause a yellow-orange marker to appear instead. Additionally, the entire compass will turn red if the player is being actively engaged by enemies.
- Enemies are color-coded white, orange, or red depending on their suspicion/aggression level - white for enemies minding their own business, orange for enemies whose suspicions have been raised, and red for when they're in active combat. This system is used for the enemy markers on the compass, for enemies highlighted by Nix, in tags applied by the electrobinoculars, and in space. Space adds light blue tags for non-hostile ships.
- When using Nix to highlight nearby objects of interest, most will glow blue-green; however, objects which are mission objectives will glow a golden yellow.
- A white or red box will appear in the electrobinocular view, depending on whether the person under the reticle is a civilian or a potential enemy. If they are part of a faction, text color-coded to the player's reputation with said faction will say as much, along with a red text alert if they are in a restricted area.
- In the hyperspace jump menu, each planet is given a different color for its vector graphic.
- Continuity Nod: Plenty, befitting a title that is explictly an Interquel set between two of the Original Trilogy films (several more examples can be found here):
- The frozen-in-Carbonite Han Solo is very much still a fixture in Jabba's Palace, with Kay commenting on the smuggler just before encountering Jabba.
- The player can visit the trashed Lars Family Homestead, which is said to have been repeatedly raided by enterprising scavengers since the events of A New Hope. Despite this, Kay can find a scarf owned by the family, as well as a datapad giving a bit of detail on Lars' attempt to fix Luke's old skyhopper.
- While not completely identical,note the Sabacc cheat Kay learns from Lando is clearly derived from his "Sylop up the sleeve" move from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
- The Sixth Kin, the Canto Bight crime gang that menace Kay in the prologue of the game, first appeared in the second run of the Doctor Aphra comic series. The leader of the gang in the comics, Wen Delphis, is mentioned several times.
- Eleera, the Twi'lek who serves as Kay's first major Crimson Dawn contact, was first introduced in the novel Crimson Climb.
- The Empire is mentioned to be using leftover Viper Probe Droids from "Project Swarm," an operation where these droids were sent to locate Hoth. The name "Project Swarm" was first used by the first run of the Doctor Aphra comic series.
- On Tatooine, Kay meets a Jawa named Teeka, who first appeared trading with Obi-wan Kenobi in his eponymous television series.
- A datapad in Jabba's mentions Crakka in relation to something that happens to those who trifle with the Bo'Marr monks. This is a reference to a story from Star Wars Adventures, where Crakka the Hutt, a cousin of Jabba, was thwarted in his plan to overthrow the Hutt Cartel by Bo'Marr monks forcibly removing his brain and leaving it in a jar.
- The Empire's Tatooine base, Fort Sunfire, first appeared in the mobile game Star Wars Commander.
- Jet's journal entries mention Daystar Casino, a location mentioned by Bossk in Ezra's Gamble.
- The Hutt vault on Tatooine requires keycards from Dokk and Garfalaquox, two crime lords that appeared in The Book of Boba Fett.
- Cosmetic Award:
- The treasure reward for exploring most non-quest related points of interest are cosmetic items such as trinkets for your speeder.
- Completing main story missions will award the player with several pieces of clothing for Kay (particularly the "Outlaw" outfit, which offers gameplay benefits).
- Maxing reputation with any of the four Syndicates will net a set of cosmetic items to be delivered to the Supply Chest onboard the Trailblazer. You can potentially do this with all four Syndicates during a single playthrough.
- Completing portions of the Jet Kordo's Legacy sidequest results in a similar themed set of clothing (the "Scoundrel" outfit) for Kay.
- The various pieces of Nix-specifc trinkets that can be found on the various planets can be traded in to a specialty vendor on Toshara for accessories for the animal.
- Deadly Dodging: When Kay confronts a rancor after being caught infiltrating Jabba's palace, the only way to defeat it is to provoke it into charging at the boss arena's exit door; after three successive hits, the rancor will knock itself out and the door will have buckled sufficiently for Kay to slip through.
- Deflector Shields: Pike Syndicate enforcers can deploy stationary deflector shields as low cover, and enemies wielding the heavy repeater or rotary cannons are protected by a forward-facing shield projected by the weapon.
- Developer's Foresight:
- If the player points a blaster at Nix, Kay will pretend to shoot him, and Nix will roll onto his back and play dead.
- Kay has four unique animations for dismounting her speeder depending on which way the left thumbstick is pushed.
- A fair amount of alternate dialogue was recorded to account for players completing quests in different orders. For example, Kay and Waka have different conversations at the beginning of "The Wreck" depending on whether or not she's already completed the quest line "The Mechanic". Even more broadly, many side quests on Toshara have dialogue for either Waka or ND-5 serving as Kay's Voice with an Internet Connection, depending on when in the story she completes them.
- Dirty Cop: Dirty Imperial Officers show up on every world. Some are relatively benign and will accept bribes to reduce wanted levels, while others, such as Governor Thorden on Toshara is the head of a major spice smuggling ring in cahoots with the Pykes, which he keeps on the downlow from his superiors.
- Double Meaning: During a conversation, Jaylen mentions how his entire family was wiped out by the Empire, and he "only has ND-5 to thank" for being the only survivor. Kay assumes he means the droid saved his life. Later context reveals ND was the assassin of his family, and succeeded in wiping them out except for Jaylen.
- Dressing as the Enemy:
- Kay disguises herself as a Stormtrooper to infiltrate a Star Destroyer. She later disguises as an officer to give her an in to the captured Riko's location.
- The Imperial Disguise Gear set you get as a reward for maxing out your Pyke Syndicate reputation is a Paper-Thin Disguise version of this. It's basically a white jacket and black pants that, at a distance, can be mistaken for an ISB uniform, but would never hold up to close scrutiny. This matches with its gameplay effect, which is to slow how quickly Imperials spot you rather than letting you simply walk past them 47 style.
- Elite Mooks:
- Death Troopers will start appearing in the reinforcement waves if the player reaches max wanted level, and the player can end the wanted alert by locating a specific squad of Death Troopers controlling the wanted alert. A handful also appear in the game's final missions. Death Troopers are very durable, having about 4 times the health of a standard Stormtrooper and requiring about two dozen blaster pistol shots or up to 8 headshots to kill (even able to survive multiple charged shot headshots). They also carry stronger burst-fire E-11D blasters, throw grenades, use smoke bombs to conceal themselves and bacta vials to heal, are more skilled and manueverable than regular Stormtroopers as well as being much faster and more aggressive, can throw off Nix if he tried to tackle them, and also are immune to standard takedowns and melee attacks as well as being unable to be insta-killed with adrenaline mode's mark-and-execute or the stun shot.
- Zerek Besh Hunters (the Zerek Besh agents wearing heavy armor) have comparable durability to Death Troopers, utilize nearly identical tactics (including speaking in encrypted electronic growls), and like them are immune to Nix tackles, standard takedowns, and melee attacks. They're also armed with more powerful rapid-fire ZB-3 Modulator green blasters which are almost twice as powerful as standard blasters. Given the reveal that Zerek Besh is actually an ISB front, the Hunters may very well be Death Troopers in disguise or at least given similar training and equipment.
- Jabba's Gamorrean Guards are limited to melee attacks with their axes, but they're very tough, requiring several blaster headshots to bring down while weaker blaster fire simply bounces off their torso armor. They also deal nearly 3 health bars worth of damage in a single strike, enough to critically injure you in one hit without health upgrades. Like Death Troopers, Hunters, and Enforcer Droids, they're also immune to standard takedowns and melee attacks, and the stun shot and adrenaline mark-and-execute will only stagger them instead of instantly taking them out.
- Each syndicate has one or two unique units with special abilities, such as the Pyke's Sentinels with double health and equipped with forward-facing forcefield shields on their force staffs, Crimson Dawn's smoke-bomb using Commandoes, or the Hutt's Massiff-controlling Beastmasters in addition to the Gamorrean Guards.
- The Enemy Weapons Are Better: Played with. Weapons that Kay loots from defeated enemies or weapon racks are generally harder hitting, faster firing, and/or more accurate than her blaster pistol, aren't subject to overheating, and may also come with special features such as a high magnification zoom or a deflector shield. However, Kay's own blaster is the only weapon in the game with unlimited ammonote and the only one capable of dispatching an enemy completely silently. Additionally, the blaster's ion module tends to be the most efficient way of taking down enemy droids, while the destructible rock features scattered throughout the environment are coded to react to hits from only the power module.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Kay's an anti-hero with no qualms about scamming her own neighbors, and makes a living stealing for credits and killing anyone who gets in her way (though "gets in her way" usually translates to shooting at her on sight), but even she draws a hard line at working for the Empire.
- Vail Tormin is likewise a ruthless bounty hunter, but she also draws the line at working with the Empire. Learning that Zerek Besh is actually an ISB front causes her to turn on them.
- Ank is a Mad Bomber perfectly happy to help Qi'ra blow up the Ashiga Queen, but even she thinks Qi'ra has crossed a line when she finds out her real plan is to steal the Ashiga's means of reproduction to effectively enslave them, insisting that Kay stop Crimson Dawn from doing so.
- Evil Versus Evil: All four of the rival crime syndicates you have an Alliance Meter with are pretty thoroughly awful — the Pykes, the Hutts, and the Crimson Dawn were all villains of other Star Wars stories, and the game-original Ashiga Clan are no better than their peers. Not only that, but they all have the monstrous Galactic Empire to contend with. It's why the game encourages you towards a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder attitude, without bothering too much about who you're screwing over because the odds are that they had it coming.
- Fixing the Game:
- Fathier races are one of the gambling pastimes Kay can partake in. Rather than make genuine gambles, she can pick up intel of ways local criminals or Syndicates have fixed the game to know the winner, steal the information from their base, and place big bets on a certain victory.
- Sabacc has several gameplay mechanics tied into this trope. At earlier levels, you can use Nix to see exactly what cards an opponent is holding, while higher-level abilities unlocked through Experts (or simply winning games) give Kay the ability to use Magnetic Dice or special cards that greatly improve her odds.
- Food Porn: Various shopkeepers in the world sell meals that Kay and Nix then eat together, with several up-close shots of the food both during and after preparation, as well as while Kay and Nix are eating. While the two eat, Kay also gives delicious descriptions of how great the food tastes.
- Forced Tutorial: Kay's first game of sabacc - where and whenever the player gets around to it - will always be a super easy onenote that first demonstrates the basic game mechanics of building a winning hand before explaining shift tokens, the two wild cards, and Nix's snooping ability.
- Gameplay and Story Integration:
- The cheating Quick Time Events in Sabacc vary in difficulty depending on a couple factors. It's easiest to cheat at one of the random tables scattered throughout the game world, harder at the syndicate controlled tables, and harder still when playing at a high roller's table; fittingly, Lando, from whom Kay learns one of her cheating techniques, is hardest of all to fool. In addition, the game dynamically adjusts the level of difficulty depending on Kay's actions - whether other players have already caught her trying to cheat, whether she's trying to cheat on back to back dice rolls, etc.
- The prerequisites for unlocking expert abilities fall into two distinct categories. Unlocking upgrades to Kay's equipment requires the player to gather certain crafting materials, while learning a new skill requires the player to complete certain tasks.
- Kay is fluent in Huttese, so anything spoken in that language is translated in the game's captions. She doesn't however understand several other languages in the game, such as Toshari, Jawaese, and Droidspeak, and captions for those languages are untranslated.
- Kay's reputation meter with the Hutts takes a big hit after she's caught sneaking into Jabba's palace. It also goes back up a bit after Jabba admits he was amused by Kay and Vail's near-escape.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- If you wait until after the endgame to complete a quest which features Gedeek and/or Ank commenting on what Kay needs to do, they still will even though they are no longer present to be able to do so.
- The main quest always plays out in the same way (barring minor decisions like whether to kill the Ashiga Queen or reject her daughter's rebellion). As such, Syndicate leaders will always act the same way in cutscenes, even if you've made decisions that are counter to the way they've treated you so far. Jabba the Hutt is fully willing to dump Kay into a Rancor Pit the first time she gets to the Throne Room, even if the player had already maxed their rep with the Hutt Syndicate prior to this and received special gifts from them (though to be fair, Kay did just break into his palace, and Jabba's had people killed for less). Conversely, Q'ira is always friendly with the player on Kijimi, even if the player has thoroughly tanked their Reputation with Crimson Dawn so badly that the latter is sending out death squads to hunt down Kay and Nix.
- Sabacc opponents will only become suspicious of you cheating if you flub the associated Quick Time Event. They will otherwise be perfectly accepting of what should be eyebrow raising aspects of your play, from the merely improbablenote to the blatantly impossible.note
- If you manage to take down an Imperial Death Trooper Kay can attach their helmet to her speeder as a trophy. There's two elements of segregation here; first, this can be done even if there was no chance to take said helmet (quite likely, given the fraught nature of confrontations with Death Troopers, particularly early on) and second, Kay can then drive around with this trophy in front of other Imperials without any of them being concerned.
- Sometimes Kay with use reputation with a syndicate even though there's no realistic reason why they'd even know it was her, such as deleting the Pyke's debts to the governor to frame them. They'd know it happened but, as no Pyke people were present for the infiltration, there'd have no idea Kay was even involved.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: While all the syndicates other than Zerek Besh make use of hired guns from all species, the Pyke Syndicate is predominantly Pyke while the Ashiga Clan is predominantly Melitto. Zerek Besh, meanwhile, seems to be exclusively human which is an early foreshadowing of the fact that they're actually an Imperial front.
- Global Currency Exception: Most merchants are perfectly willing to accept credits as payment for needed items. However, some merchants will also have a "Request" mechanic for certain items that can only be obtained via trade; for some merchants such as Jawas, this is the only way to obtain items from them.
- Hacking Minigame: Slicing into various computer systems involves figuring out a 3-5 symbol sequence within a set number of guesses. Kay can upgrade her slicing equipment over the course of the game to provide her with various forms of assistance while slicing, from gaining an extra guess, to eliminating a certain number of unused symbols, to placing previously guessed but incorrectly ordered symbols in the right place.
- Hard-Coded Hostility: Pirates roam the open world and also have some outposts in it; they're hostile to you regardless of your faction standing with the crime syndicates, and serve to have somebody around who will always attack you on sight even if you somehow manage to befriend all 4 syndicates. Surprisingly averted with the Empire; while they're the Card Carry Villains they've always been, someone like Kay is beneath their notice and they won't bother you unless you're trespassing in a restricted area or already have wanted status.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Kay's able to do stealth takedowns on guards while sneaking around their facilities. One of her methods involves tapping a guard on the shoulder before punching them out.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Vail Tormin is one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy, and has been contracted to hunt down Kay. Yet, she eventually turns on her employer(s) several times throughout the story, helping Kay out at several points (particularly on Tatooine) before finally flipping on Sliro and helping Kay during the final heist. The duo eventually part on good terms at the end of the main campaign.
- Hope Spot: After all the trouble she went through to organize the heist on Canto Bight, the mission itself goes almost flawlessly and the entire team makes a clean getaway... Only for the haul to be revealed to be not credits at all, and a confrontation on the ship leads to Jaylen backstabbing everyone, leaving Kay trapped and Asara captured.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: A fight such as this serves as the last one-on-one battle of the story campaign. Jaylen Vrax has ordered ND-5 to eliminate Kay. Though he doesn't want to do it, he cannot resist the programming of his Restraining Bolt. ND stalks Kay through the bowels of the Revelator with Kay attempting to restore his sanity.ND-5: Kay, you shouldn't have come. You know I can't fight Jaylen's orders.
Kay: Come on, ND, I had to try.
ND-5: Now your death will be on my conscience. This only ends one way. Jaylen has won.
Kay: ND, I know you don't want to do this.
ND-5: What I want has not mattered for a long time.
Kay: You're still talking to me, that means you can fight it. - Instant Expert: Downplayed to near aversion via the expert system. While Kay does typically unlock a new skill or two upon meeting a new expert, most skills require either the completion of a list of tasks - typically requiring skills adjacent to the one she's trying to learn - or the collection of crafting materials to make an upgrade for her tools. Her skills at piloting the Trailblazer are a case in point: she is terrible at it when she first gets behind the controls, and is lucky to manage to crash land on a different planet than the one she was fleeing. While she is much improved in her second go around, she still only knows basic maneuvers; she must still learn advanced flying techniques from experts.
- King Mook: Towards the end of the Akiva missions, you fight a Super Viper Droid (aka a Probe Droid) that has much more health than a regular Viper Droid as well as a forward-facing deflector shield. It's an enhanced droid that Gedeek created by augmenting a Viper Droid with Clone Wars era battle droid parts.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Justified considering Kay's you know, a thief. The game world is littered with objects to pick up and crates to loot. Unlike most games this can actually have consequences but only if you're in Syndicate territory (getting caught stealing from a Syndicate results in a drop in reputation with that Syndicate and every nearby thug trying to kill you). Otherwise, feel free to steal and loot to your heart's content. You can even do it in front of Stormtroopers, if you want, presuming you're not in Imperial Territory or wanted, in which case they'll shoot you on sight regardless.
- Little Hero, Big War: Kay is very much to the side of the titanic battle against the Empire and in no mood to join it. While several of her actions do end up undermining the Empire some she's ultimately just doing her own thing and only briefly crossing paths with big, important events. The closest she gets to the main story of the Original Trilogy is striking up a friendly relationship with Lando.
- Lockpicking Minigame: Using Kay's data spike to open locked doors and chests involves a rhythm game type mechanic, requiring button presses in time with a blinking light and audible tone.
- MacGuffin: Contracts to steal, recover or deliver something just name the object in question "Contract Item", on the grounds that it really doesn't matter what Kay is after from a story perspective, whatever it was will never be mentioned again after Kay gets paid. Kay is simply the thief, muscle, or mule hired to do the job.
- The Man Behind the Man: Darth Vader has propped up ISB Director Sliro Barsha as an underworld kingpin, with the understanding that Sliro would use his newfound resources to help the Empire track down particularly elusive Rebel cells. He appears in two scenes, first to warn Sliro that his job is on the line unless he produces substantial results, and again near the end to punish Sliro for one failure too many.
- Mecha-Mook: Every enemy faction makes use of "security" droids to serve as additional obedient muscle around their facilities, and even pirates and bandits have the occasional droid as muscle. In terms of gameplay, they can survive more blaster fire than standard thugs and weaker blaster shots like Kay's blaster pistol's standard mode will outright bounce off their armor unless you shoot them in the head, but they are especially weak to ion shots.
- Mini-Game: In addition to games of the racing, slicing, lockpicking, and (of course) gambling variety, each planet has a food stand at which Kay and Nix can share a meal by completing a series of quick time events. Said QTEs are quite forgiving compared to the rest of the game, and completing them will grant Nix a swappable buff to his abilities.
- Mistaken for Terrorist: The second quest has Kay breaking into Sliro's vault thinking it was for a heist, only for it to turn out to be an impromptu holding cell for a captured Rebel, something Kay's employers knew but hadn't told her. Sliro comes to the conclusion that she's a Rebel herself rather than just a two-bit thief who had been unknowingly hired (and cheated out of payment) by the Rebels.
- Mondegreen Gag: Kay receives a request at one point to bring a shipment of ice from Kijimi to Tatooine, as the rich like to use it as a Mundane Luxury. When she tells ND this, he will adamantly refuse to bring spice onboard until Kay clarifies she means frozen water.ND-5: (Extended beat) ...I'll get the cargo hold ready.
- Mythology Gag: There are numerous references to past Star Wars works, including Legends. Several more examples can be found here.
- One of Kay's go-to exclamations is "Dank ferrik!"
- Once again, an ISB officer is not as deferential to Darth Vader as he should be. Vader uses the Dark Side of the Force to remind the officer where he stands on the food chain.
- Kay is a little short for a Stormtrooper.
- A visit to Jabba's palace leads to a Boss Battle with a rancor.
- Jabba surprises Kay in his palace with the same "sitting in darkness" move he will later use (chronologically) to catch Leia by surprise.
- Kay can encounter a number of NPCs playing versions of sabacc drastically different from the one the player can partake in, a nod to the numerous variations of the game in Star Wars lore, as well as the changes made to make sabacc a both accessible and engaging mini-game.
- Two of the abilities unlocked when Kay acquires the Mercenary expert are "Can I try that?" and "I like this thing!" both of which were uttered by Han Solo when he borrows Chewie's bowcaster. Fittingly, both abilities relate to Kay's use of heavy weapons.
- Kay can visit Tosche Station, mentioned by Luke in A New Hope and setting of a deleted scene. Datapads referencing some of Luke's friends who appeared in said deleted scene can be found there. She can also find the burned out remains of Owen and Beru's farm, with some locals discussing how the former residents were killed by the Empire, and the abandoned Darklighter farm where Luke's late friend Biggs lived.
- When parting ways with Qi’ra on Kijimi, Kay will express her distaste at how the job went. Qi’ra will tell her that she once felt similarly, but that her eyes were opened and that once people “break their cages, they will know true freedom”. Sound familiar?
- Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: The crime syndicates smuggle contraband, steal from other syndicates (or the Empire), and... that's about it. Several of them mistreat or double-cross Kay, but cold-blooded murder, sapient trafficking, stealing from civilians, or actually selling the drugs they smuggle are noticeably absent from the syndicates' criminal portfolios.
- No One Gets Left Behind: After Jaylen's betrayal, Gedeek and Ank are willing to cut their losses and run, but Kay goes back to free ND-5, saying that he deserves the right to choose to do the same thing. She also saves Asara while she's there, because he happens to be present.
- Averted in the heist of Sliro's vault early on; when Kay, understandibly angry about being tricked and used by them, causes too much of a delay, the Rebels just stun her and abandon her there, leading to her getting caught and ending up with a death mark.
- No-Sell: Death Troopers and other "Elite" enemies (Zerek Besh Hunters, Enforcer Droids, and Gamorrean Guards) are immune to stealth takedowns* and melee attacks. They can also throw Nix off instantly and will only be staggered by stun shots or adrenaline mode's mark-and-execute# rather than put down immediately.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Kay's Ridiculously Cute Critter Nix is a fairly useful support for her. He can steal for her, hold down switches, attack and/or distract enemies, and is ridiculously loyal to his master.
- Only One Save File: Averted; unlike almost all other Ubisoft open world games, Outlaws lets you make manual saves; up to a maximum of 27. Upon loading you're teleported to the last valid spawn point rather than resuming exactly where you left off, but it's still a lot more than most other open world games.
- Optional Stealth: Most confrontations, in story and side missions, have a few ways to handle them. While Kay can start a Blast Out with guards and enemy criminals at any point, she can also carefully navigate their base to sneak out undetected, allowing her reputation with the criminals she stole from to go untarnished. The game typically encourages stealth, as shootouts outside of story quests will usually result in reputation loss with the syndicates or an escalating wanted level with the Empire.
- Outside-Context Problem: Late in the game, Kay witnesses Darth Vader intimidating Sliro using the Force, and is terrified by it, unable to even describe what she saw afterwards.
- Playing Both Sides: Kay can rob the Pykes to sell their stuff to the Crimson Dawn, and then turn around and do the opposite. With proper managing of the optional contracts, it's possible to be on excellent terms with all four gangs simultaneously, which is generally a good idea as it grants Kay additional collectibles, discounts, sidequests and freedom of movement (pulling it off with at least three gangs is also one of the ability challenges).
- Post-End Game Content: Once the main story is completed and the player goes into space above Akiva, the wreckage from the destruction of the Revelator is still present after its destruction in the final battle. Despite still being guarded by Imperial fighters, the player can loot the wreckage for a boatload of rare ship parts and 5,000 Credits.
- Press X to Not Die:
- A nonlethal variant - a "Press X to eat," in this case - pops up whenever Kay orders food for herself and Nix. Once the food is prepared, the player will be prompted through a series of button presses and mouse movements in order to eat the food and unlock a bonus ability for Nix. Unusually for this trope, missing a button press seems to have no consequences other than having to repeat a given sub-sequence.
- Attempting to cheat at sabacc triggers one of three flavors of quick time event, simulating Kay's (or Nix's) chances of being caught in the act.
- Racing Minigame: Kay can accept speeder bike racing challenges, earning a few hundred credits in prize money if she wins.
- The Remnant: The hidden Expert "The Veteran" is a crippled Separatist Commando Droid from the Clone Wars unaware that the war ended twenty-five years ago.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kay Vess' companion Nix, is a cute... something resembling a cross between a dog and a scaled axolotl. Kay calls him a Merqaal, and doesn't actually know much about his race, having stolen him from a smuggler trafficking in exotic wildlife.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A good reputation with a specific Syndicate can come in handy while on their turf. Other than deals from the merchants and better jobs from the brokers, some quests unlock alternate methods of completion by Kay being able to call upon a specific higher-up's influence.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: If you don't have the right connections you can usually throw around some money and get similar results. You can also pay off corrupt Imperial officers to get your wanted status wiped.
- Secondary Fire: Kay's blaster has three modules unlocked over the course of the game, each with various firing modes to unlock and choose from: a standard blaster mode, ion shots for dealing with shields and machinery (including droids), and the especially heavy-hitting Power module that can destroy some obstacles, as well as stun mode.
- Serial Escalation: The game's producers compared the Empire to police in Grand Theft Auto. There is a 6-level Wanted/Notoriety system. Stormtroopers will turn hostile if they see Kay do anything illegal, and killing them will cause the Wanted level to go up. High notoriety will prompt the Empire to deploy Death Troopers, AT-STs, and even TIE Fighters. In space, the scale runs from TIE Fighters to medium Cruisers.
- Set Bonus: Wearing all three items in a clothing set grants Kay an additional bonus beyond those given by the individual pieces. If the umbrella charm is equipped, the requirement drops to two items, allowing for some added flexibility and customization.
- Shields Are Useless: Mooks occasionally come equipped with shields which can block blaster shots. Swapping to a Charged Attack or the ion fire mode allows her to punch through their defenses just as easily as an unguarded henchman.
- Shout-Out: The main Imperial II-class Star Destroyer is called the Revelator, a likely nod to "John the Revelator", an old blues standard originally recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930, but famously covered by bands such as Depeche Mode and The White Stripes.
- Single-Biome Planet: Customary for Star Wars, most of the explorable planets are fully realized single biome ecospheres. They include the ice planet Kijimi, the desert planet Tatooine, jungle planet Akiva, and Toshara, a moon that's mostly a rocky temperate plain. Canto Bight is also entirely a desert, but the fact its only significant landmark is a giant artificial city makes this less clear.
- So Last Season:
- Like Orson Krennic before him, Sliro Barsha foolishly Bullies the Dragon when confronted by an impatient Darth Vader. Does Vader warn Sliro not to choke on his ambitions? No, that's been done. He uses shards of broken glass as a metaphor to remind Sliro just how fragile his standing in the Empire actually is.
- Like Cassian Andor and Han Solo before her, Kay is an outlaw who crosses paths with the Rebellion and eventually helps them. So does her Character Development involve officially joining the Rebel Alliance and embracing a cause greater than herself? No.Asara: We could use you, Kay.
Kay: I think I'm done being used. Just be careful out there, Asara.
- Spotting the Thread: In Lando's sidequest on Akiva, after defeating the "high-stakes" player on Kijimi who was holding his prized token, Kay comments that the game felt intentionally easy. It's revealed soon after that this is the method which Lando and the Rebels use to smuggle information to each other, via having a "mark" play Lando's contact for the token, which is filled with sensitive data.
- Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: While it's fully possible to get in and out of an Imperial Base or Syndicate Hideout without being noticed during regular gameplay, for some reason story missions almost always seem to end with you blasting your way out, no matter how stealthy you were getting in. It's only Kay's fault half the time.
- The Stinger: A mid-credits scene shows Kay dressing as an Imperial officer to infiltrate a Star Destroyer and slip a lockpick to her mother, who was imprisoned by Jaylen just prior to the final main story mission.
- Sudden Contest Format Change: In Sabacc, some of the shift tokens have this effect — changing the rank order of winning hands, assigning specific face values to joker-type cards, etc. Other tokens allow players to do such things as steal chips from their opponents,note bypass an opponent's turn, or force an opponent to start over mid-round with a new hand.
- Super Drowning Skills: In most cases, falling into water results in instant death.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kay escapes from Sliro's palace by stealing a spaceship. Since she'd never flown anything bigger than a speederbike before, she does a lot of fumbling with the controls, just barely makes it off the planet and to lightspeed, and ends up crashing after it comes out of the jump.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Kay's blaster has 3 different firing modes (regular, ion (EMP), and explosive) that can be cycled through by attaching a different barrel to it in the middle of combat. Also, each firing mode has 3 variants that been reassigned outside of combat.
- Uncertain Doom: The end of the Jet Kordo's Legacy sidequest. Kordo is nowhere to be found, despite the messages he left behind after a major heist went south. Kay and ND-5 muse aloud regarding whether he survived or died, but no confirmation is given either way.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Midway through the quest chain on Tatooine. Nix is captured and imprisoned by Jabba's goons after Hoss throws the pet to them in an attempt to pay off his gambling debt. Kay is then forced to infiltrate Jabba's Palace alone, depriving her of all of Nix's abilities until she successfully rescues him.
- Unseen No More: We finally see what Akiva, a planet first seen in Aftermath, looks like and it is a gorgeous, lush jungle planet, aside from the Empire and the crime syndicates making it hell for the residents.
- Virtual Paper Doll: Not to the extent of Cal Kestis in Jedi Survivor, but Kay can find, buy, and steal new jackets, pants, and holsters scattered throughout the galaxy to wear for herself (though unlike Survivor, many of these outfits have gameplay impacts rather than just being cosmetic). Nix can also be equipped with accessories, and her vehicles with different paint jobs.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: A variety of characters serve this role for Kay, however it's ND-5 who's most frequently giving Kay advice over her comlink. Other members of Kay's crew will sometimes chime in as well, particularly during the missions to recruit them.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Towards the end of the prologue in Canto Bight, Bram makes it clear to Kay that, even though she may still yet establish herself as an expert thief or outlaw, she is no longer welcome to live on the top floor of his Broken Hoof, and he orders her to never come back. Of course he welcomes her back at the end of the game and tells Kay that he'll keep the lights on for her whenever she wants to return.
- You Have Failed Me: After Sliro's vault is raided of all its classified data, Vader strips him of his ISB directorship and gives him, it and his crime syndicate to Jaylen, who just "happened" to have recovered the stolen data, along with capturing the Rebel thief Asara and obtaining the location of his base.
Wild Card DLC
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: The main event sabacc game on the Morenia has the coordinates of a hidden moon as the 1st place prize.
- Advertised Extra: EY-E9 is featured in the trailer and official art for the DLC, but appears only in the Sabacc tournament, which lasts just a few minutes.
- Art Shift: The Sabacc decks used in the tournament are far more vibrantly colored than those seen anywhere in the base game, as befitting the Morenia's status as a luxurious casino ship for the ultra-rich of the underworld.
- Ascended Extra: Lando and Governor Thorden take on main roles after being a secondary and tertiary presence in the base game, respectively.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: While the Morenia's casino officially has no dress code, it's generally expected that its high rollers will be dressed up. As such, a fancy new wardrobe set is provided for Kay which gives additional buffs to her gambling prowess.
- Bullfight Boss: The final battle sees Kay face off against an AT-ST, drawing its fire in order to expose a set of power couplings that will open the hangar bay doors and allow her to escape in Thorden's shuttle.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Thorden hires Kay to infiltrate the Morenia and win the coordinates to Okala V in a Sabacc tournament, only to have the Starfallers swoop in and steal them mid-game, leaving Kay for dead. He then betrays the Starfallers in turn by sending an Imperial assault force to the location where they were supposed to hand over the coordinates to him.
- Closed Circle: The Morenia keeps itself in hyperspace for as long as it can before it has to refuel to avoid pirates and the law alike. This means Kay is stuck on the ship once they infiltrate the tournament, though Kay manages to forcibly stop the hyperdrive once she needs to make an escape from the vessel.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- As ND-5 notes, Kay finds a shuttle bound for the Morenia on the same space station she got the job to find the casino cruiser on. She brushes it off as a string of good luck. It turns out this was a purposeful set-up by Thorden, who needed Kay on the vessel immediately for his true plan to work.
- Kay needs to take the place of a sabacc player to complete the heist. It just so happens one of them, Zana Gatta, has a habit of changing her hair and clothes on the regular and has no loyalties to the underworld or other sponsors. She acts as the perfect candidate for Kay to replace.
- Deadly Gas: Okala V is rich in an extremely rare mineral that, when combined with a far more abundant gas, forms a deadly toxin. Governor Thorden intends to make mass quantities of said toxin as his own personal superweapon.
- Developer's Foresight: If Kay uses both methods to get a master keycard, she will call ND-5 to tell him... and be promptly stumped when he asks why she did something so redundant.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Both Zana Gatta and the Starfallers can be encountered on the Morenia before they become important to the plot. The Starfallers' ships can also be seen entering the Morenia's hangar along with the Trailblazer.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Kay was never going to get a fair shake from the job. Thorden expected her to fail the tournament, and only wanted her as a decoy for his hidden bomb to detonate and cover the true thieves' escape. Her only consolation is that she eventually gets a payday from the Rebellion from her efforts.
- Frame-Up:
- Thorden has a fake data leak prepared "revealing" Kay to be an Imperial mole, which would tank her galactic reputation, to strong arm her into helping him.
- Kay can use Nix to plant palmed cards on other players, which causes EY-E9 to eject them from the game for cheating.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: EY-E9 will force any player to leave the tournament on the merest suspicion of them cheating... except Kay, who as per usual can be caught cheating multiple times before being ejected.
- Gone Horribly Right: The Morenia's previous captain ordered EY-E9 to find ways to maximize the ship's profits. He probably didn't intend for that to include cutting expenditures by spacing him and most of the ship's other organic crewmembers.
- Interface Spoiler: Kay's chip count is nowhere to be seen during the Sabacc tournament, a hint that the outcome of the game doesn't matter.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: In a twist, the protagonist is involved in the minor crime, as Governor Thorden blackmails Kay to sneak into an exclusive Sabacc tournament and win the grand prize on his behalf. It's ultimately revealed Thorden is preparing to carve out his own piece of the galaxy should the Empire fall, and the grand prize - coordinates to a moon rich in a rare mineral - is key to producing a superweapon that will help him secure power.
- Motor Mouth: Should Kay summon room service to clean her suite on the Morenia (and gain an opportunity to pickpocket their master keycard) the staff member who shows up will be incredibly chatty, though if she sticks around to listen, she'll learn much of the Morenia's backstory, including how the ship came to be run by droids and some of the famous people who've been aboard.
- Mundane Luxury: Kay has a very impressed reaction to the standard hotel room on the Morenia, enjoying the bed, provided clothes, and room service features immensely. She even promises Nix to be able to live in a place like this like its the height of luxury. Bear in mind the Morenia, while a luxury gambling cruiser, is several decades old and hasn't been able to drydock for many of those decades due to being a rogue vessel, and has clearly seen better days, with the general state being much more Circus Circus rather than the Bellagio.
- Mythology Gag:
- This isn't the first time ownership of a world has been up for grabs in a game of Sabacc.
- Once again, a young, reluctant (anti-)heroine finds herself breaking into an Imperial database tower for crucial information related to an Imperial official's pet superweapon project.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Nix gains the ability to plant cards on other Sabacc players, thereby framing them for cheating and getting them ejected from the tournament.
- No-Gear Level: The Sabacc Tournament is played without Shift Tokens, and Kay can't send Nix to look at her opponents' cards because the tournament is being viewed live and also patrolled by eyedroids. She can still palm a second card while drawing from the deck and plant cards on her opponents to get them disqualified, and if she learned each opponent's cheating tell before the tournament she can report them when they cheat and get them kicked out.
- No-Sell: If Kay tries to have Nix plant a card on Lando, he will simply shoo Nix away.
- Not on the List: Kay isn't on the list of tournament contestants, and needs to improvise a way in. She eventually needs to blackmail another contestant to take her place through discovering her dirty deals.
- Plot Hole: Kay's climactic escape in an Imperial shuttle creates a minor one if the DLC is played before finishing the main game, as one of the reasons given for Riko accompanying Kay in infiltrating Sliro's ISB base is that Kay doesn't know how to fly a shuttle.
- Puzzle Boss: The Final Boss of the DLC is an AT-ST. Just like the ones in the main game, it's completely invincible; even rockets will bounce off its armor, and you don't even have access to that level of firepower when you fight it. Instead, you have to trick it into blasting the struts for the landing pad hatch so you can hop into a shuttle and blast it with starship-level firepower.
- Secret-Keeper: Lando knows Kay Vess isn't Zana Gatta, but won't blow her cover.
- Stereotype Flip: The Morenia swaps the standard treatment of droids and organics. It is owned and managed by droids, who lord over their organic underlings, who have been relegated to clerical roles and menial labour.
- The Starscream: Governor Thorden knows the Empire will inevitably fall, and intends to seize control of his own corner of the galaxy in the wake of the Empire's destruction, hoarding supplies and developing superweapons under Palpatine's nose.
- Story Breadcrumbs: Background talk from various NPCs establishes the background of the Morenia and its proprietress EY-E9. She was originally a servant of the original captain who took her on to maximize profits. She decided to follow her programming to the letter and space him, deciding she could maximize profits as the captain.
- The Tell: Every tournament player except for Lando has a specific tell to show when they are cheating. If Kay finds them out prior to the game, she can call them on it and have them ejected from the game to thin the herd.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: The fate of the Morenia's original captain as well as most of his organic crew, after he ordered EY-E9 to find ways to maximize the ship's profits. She decided the best way to do so was if droids were in charge.
- Timed Mission: The player has 10 minutes to raid a pair of Imperial camps and discover the location of the Starfallers' hideout.
- Turned Against Their Masters: EY-E9 was originally owned by the Morenia's previous captain, until he made the mistake of ordering her to maximize the ship's profits. This resulted in her spacing the captain and much of the original crew, as she concluded droids could run the ship more efficiently.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change:
- The Sabacc tournament is played without shift tokens and without the ability to have Nix spy on opponents' hands, though Kay gains the ability to get other players ejected for cheating, either by calling them out when she spots their tells or by palming cards and using Nix to plant them on her opponents.
- The "Listen" mechanic is expanded into "Observe", allowing Kay to eavesdrop on multiple conversations in quick succession.
- Unseen No More: Governor Thorden, the head Imperial authority on Toshara, is often mentioned in the base game but never encountered. Here, he sets Kay into motion by meeting with her personally and forcing her to act on his behalf to win him a moon, the grand prize of the Morenia's gambling contest.
- Unwitting Pawn: Both Kay and the Starfallers are set up by Governor Thorden. Thorden hires Kay to enter and win the Morenia's Sabacc tournament, but she's really just a means to get the Starfallers' assault team on board. Similarly, Thorden always intended to wipe out the Starfallers after the heist, using the cover of a stormtrooper assault to seize the coordinates to Okala V and eliminate any potential loose ends in the process. Afterwards, Kay learns that Thorden intended to use both of their efforts to create a superweapon that could kill billions, making her feel personally responsible - despite being unwitting - for stopping him.
- Villain Ball: Thorden's plan has him betray Kay from the get-go. This is despite the fact if he placed his faith in her for a little longer, she could very well win the tournament and not need to make enemies of Kay, the tournament goers, and eventually the Starfallers when he betrays them as well. This eventually leads to their downfall when Kay and Lando team up to get revenge.
- Villain Respect: Thorden is one of the only Imperial officials who not only acknowledges the strength of the Rebellion, but has full faith that they will inevitably win the war. Rather than join up with the Rebels however, his reaction to this is to intend to use Toshara's remote location, a mountain of stored supplies and a superweapon he was attempting to develop on his own to carve out his own small isolationist government in the chaos of the Rebellion's victory.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Everyone but Lando has a discoverable tell and a compulsion to cheat despite the heavy security. Rather than focus on her own strategy and try to get good hands, Kay can make it to the final hand simply by calling out cheating and having her opponents removed.
A Pirate's Fortune DLC
- Affably Evil: A good portion of the Rokhana Raiders, especially the named members, are both unrepentant pirates who want to make a living raiding and surprisingly cordial and protective of their own. In the end, they can turn against Stinger with the argument she doesn't have the entire group's best interests at heart.
- Ascended Extra: The Miyuki Trade League were random, eccentric merchants without any relevance to the game, scattered across all planets Kay visits for easy barter. The expansion involves working for them in the main quest, gives them a headquarters and details their goals. Becoming one of their trusted smugglers for rewards (almost like a 5th Syndicate faction) is the backdrop for a lengthy post-game sidequest.
- Bookends: The final cutscene of the mission has roughly the same final exchange of "where to?", followed by "anywhere we want," as in the ending of the base game. This time Kay says the first line and ND says the second, rather than the other way around, to highlight their finally seeing eye to eye as equal partners.
- Brick Joke: Jinnjo Blorgh reappears again, this time having stowed away aboard the Trailblazer to escape Tatooine and wanting Kay's help to formally join Crimson Dawn... only to once again be assigned guard duty, no matter what Kay says to vouch for him. Crimson Dawn will eventually entrust him with spying on the Miyuki Trade League, but by that point, Jinnjo has soured on the Dawn in turn, and will yet again ask for Kay's help in defecting. This time, however, he intends to strike out on his own.
- Call-Back: In a conversation with ND-5, Hondo brazenly brags that he once captured leaders from both sides of the Clone Wars. While this irritates ND, it's completely true: and is in fact how we first met the character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Call-Forward: In one of their datapads, a member of Tash's crew scoffs at the supposed Khepi treasure, joking that they "might as well be going after the treasure of At Attin" at this rate. Little did they know, in just a couple years At Attin would be discovered after all.
- Connected All Along: As Hondo cheerfully points out, both he and Kay have a prior connection to Sheriff Quint. Though, whatever Hondo was to Quint, she wants nothing to do with him anymore. Talking to Quint after the final mission will have her mention having once been a member of Hondo's gang, and describing him as a Brilliant, but Lazy Idiot Savant boss whose occasional flashes of genius ultimately weren't worth his self-aggrandizing and incredibly poor management.
- Cool Old Guy: Hondo's about the same age as Obi-Wan, which would put him about in his 60's at minimum when the game takes place. And while he is a lot more talk than action, he's still a competent pirate captain with a long history in the criminal underworld.
- Cutscene Boss: Stinger Tash either gets killed by the Khepi battle droids she was trying to awaken, or if you manage to convince the Raiders that the droids are way more trouble than they're worth, killed in a Quick Draw duel against Kay (which isn't even animated, as the camera is zoomed in on their faces).
- Divide and Conquer: Hondo spends most of the plot blatantly trying to turn Kay and ND-5 against each other, trying convince Kay that ND is untrustworthy and will betray her, and feeding into her desire for treasure to make her ignore ND's better judgment. The former never actually works, but the latter works in spades and nearly gets Kay killed.
- Dressing as the Enemy: The finale of the DLC has Kay infiltrating the Rokana Raiders by disguising herself as one of them, potentially even managing to convince them to vote Stinger out of leadership and have Hondo take her place as Captain instead.
- Fantastic Slurs: Hondo addresses ND-5 as "clanker." Based on ND's reaction, he obviously considers it a slur.
- Flunky Boss: Just before the final mission, you end up having to fight a significantly tougher-than-normal Varaki beast, which has somehow become the alpha of a pack of Massiffs.
- Kick the Dog: Stinger Tash's first action when introduced is to try and blast Nix, firmly establishing her as a complete heel.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Khepi Civilization was a small but highly advanced civilization with a wealth apparent mystical / Force knowledge as well. Going by the lore Kay can find in their system, they were friendly enough but completely isolationist, and would not join with the Repubilc, interact meaningfully with the Jedi except on their own terms, and their people seemed outright against ever leaving their home system at all. When some kind of massive cataclysm eventually struck their planet the Khepi chose to die rather than leave, resulting in their complete destruction and their civilization falling into ruin.
- Implacable Man: The Khepi sentry droids, constructed of Roxodium, are impervious to all your weapons and abilities, with the most you're able to do is stun them for a couple seconds with an ion blast. The only thing you can do is run away from them. Fortunately, they're limited to a brisk walk and armed only with polearms.
- Impostor-Exposing Test: On a number of occasions when trying to disguise herself or the Trailblazer, Kay gets quizzed about details of whatever faction she's claiming to be working for. For example, when trying to talk her way out of an Imperial inspection by claiming to have a special delivery for the sector's Admiral, she is asked for details on the Admiral's flagship. Later, when trying to infiltrate the Rokana Raiders, some of the pirates will quiz her on the group's code.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: At the end, if you fail to convince the Raiders that Hondo would be a better leader than Stinger, than Stinger succeeds in her goal of releasing the Khepi treasure, which (as she already knows) turns out to be a sleeping army of ancient battle droids. However, since Stinger is not Khepi, her new droids promptly slaughter her and the rest of her Raiders.
- Mythology Gag: The icon for the treasure map uses the design of the Data Disc leading to the Valley of the Jedi in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.
- No-Gear Level: After being captured by the Rokana Raiders, Kay's blaster and all of her other equipment are taken away, and she is forced to rely on Nix, her melee skills, and whatever gear she can scrounge from the pirates until she can retrieve them. Even Kay's clothes are reset and locked to her original, gameplay buff-free ensemble until she completes her escape.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: None of the Raiders can piece together Kay was the prisoner who escaped with Hondo when she dons a disguise in their base. While it does cover her face, she still has Nix with her the whole time. When she starts the charade she bluffs that she "killed Vess and stole her pet" so apparently the Raiders think Nix operates by You Kill It, You Bought It.
- Pet the Dog: R5-P8 tries to kill Kay after hearing she is working for Hondo. Despite this, she recognizes he is frustrated and sad due to having been alone for the better part of two decades because of him, and calls Gedeek to get him fixed up.
- Pirate Song: If you stay in the Rokhana Raiders' tavern for a time during the sequence where Kay is infiltrating the crew in disguise, eventually you will hear the crew break into a somber shanty in Huttese.
- Schmuck Bait: An intel giver recognizes the Trailblazer and not only claims to know where Jet Kordo is, but freely offers the information to Kay, saying he simply wants to give the old smuggler a chance to see his ship again. Kay is skeptical from the start, and should she pursue the lead, said intel giver and a handful of compatriots will show up and demand the Trailblazer for themselves... at which Kay isn't the least bit surprised.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Kay can avoid several battles in the DLC if she has a high enough faction standing with the faction that would normally attack her in that part of the story quest.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Stinger goes on a self-aggrandizing monologue and gloats about being the only one to walk away as she and Kay stand off if you convince the Rokhana Raiders to side with Hondo. You get the option to cut her off and just shoot her fairly quickly, but even if you wait as long as possible, Kay cuts off her final threat to gun her down without remorse.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Despite being betrayed by Hondo and left to rot on Tattooine, we know from his appearance as a background character of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge that R5-P8 will somehow fall back in league with Hondo on Batuu.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The Khepi treasure that Hondo and the Rokana Raiders are searching for turns out to be an army of ancient Khepi battle droids, who promptly slaughter Stinger Tash and the Rokana Raiders upon being awakened. With the droids being way too powerful and numerous to fight, Kay and Hondo just barely manage to escape. If you bring up that the treasure is dangerous in the final segment even Hondo is able to understand this, and if you manage to convince the crew to side with Hondo he ditches activating the treasure and instead decides to just sell the deactivated droids themselves.
- You All Meet in a Cell: Kay meets and teams up with Hondo after both of them get captured by the Rokana Raiders and thrown in jail together.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to the other Rokhana Raiders, this is two-fold with Stinger Tash. She was once an innocent little girl caught up in a pirate attack who survived by stowing away on the pirates' crew - who decided to adopt her. Even after this — or perhaps because of it — the Raiders insist she used to care much more about well-being of them and the crew, and her reforms like the vote system were introduced to make them stronger and fairer... but nowadays, she has become obsessive and greedy, only allowing votes if they will have results she wants and turning murderous and cruel when votes turn against her. Emphasizing this is how Old Bab, apparently one of the Raiders who first adopted her, is found having been thrown in the Brig just for stepping foot in Tash's quarters. If you succeed in getting the Raiders to vote her out the Captain's slot, she abandons them and sets off a trap designed to kill them all.
- "So... Where do we go next?""Anywhere we want, ND."