Why was Star Wars Outlaws' reception so bad?

(Note: This review is based on about 20 hours of playtime, roughly halfway through the main story, mostly wandering around and side questing.)

The game has been in my backlog for a while. My expectations were underwater after seeing how it was received initially. But I've been craving a good open-world RPG lately, so I finally decided to dive into my Star Wars backlog. I finished the Jedi: Fallen Order games first and thought they were just okay. Nothing to write home about. Then I started Outlaws, fully expecting to dislike it, but 20 hours in and I'm really liking it. It’s exactly the kind of Star Wars game I’ve always wanted, just exploring the galaxy as a regular person.

The map design shows a ton of love for the lore. I love the fact that you aren't a superhero saving the world. Playing as a relatively normal person dealing with syndicates makes for a nice, laid-back explorer/stealth gameplay.

While the story isn't an epic saga like Mass Effect or hardcore like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, it is still decent enough to keep you engaged. I really don't understand the hate this game received. Maybe people just wanted an epic adventure.

Overall, it feels like Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 had a Star Wars baby.

Pros:

* Great environments and setting.

* Good exploration and stealth gameplay.

* Great, immersive atmosphere.

* Delves into the Star Wars underworld lore pretty well.

Cons:

* Gunplay and combat aren't anything to shout about.
*
* The story is okay at best.
*
However, it makes sense from the character's point of view that combat wouldn't be the focus of the game, and a small-time outlaw story fits the setting well.

Who should play it:

* Star Wars fans who would like to explore the world outside the typical Jedi/Sith stories

* Space and sci-fi fans.

* Anyone looking for a laid-back, atmospheric, and immersive game.

Who should skip it:

* Players looking for high-intensity, high-adrenaline, edge-of-your-seat games.

* Anyone who needs in-depth, hardcore RPG mechanics like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

* Anyone who can't do without lightsabers and typical Star Wars clichés.

* Anyone who wants epic story RPGs like ME, BG3, The Witcher etc..

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

I wish it hadn't been received so badly by the fans; the game could've become great with further sequels and development. I'm not saying it's amazing or the best thing since indoor plumbing, but I don't think it deserved so much negativity. Feels like people were hating not because it's terrible, but because it's not exactly the type of game they wanted it to be.

Bold prediction: I think this is one of those games that will age well, and people will come to like it with time.

Users scores aside, I find it hilarious that the Metacritic of 75 is exactly what you rated it. IIRC there were some bugs at launch in addition to a lot of folks not enjoying some early mission stealth auto-fail states, but most reviewers found it to be a decent Ubisoft open world that was carried my by the charm of the world and being a non-Jedi in Star Wars than having novel mission design or truly interesting gameplay

Take a wild guess

Everything you deemed good to great felt very basic and by the numbers, plus the bad performance issues and bugs/glitches on PC around release time. Combine that with a story that was nothing to write home about and it just felt like a slop game.

Star Wars is one of those things I enjoy more when I dont come across the 'fans' on the Internet.

I need to get back to my playthrough but I really dug having a Star Wars game that lets you just exist in that universe and doesn’t have a big “Jedi vs Sith” narrative angle (at least as far as I saw).

Honestly I think most of the hate was because it’s a Ubisoft open world game and not everyone jives with that. I personally don’t but for the theme I was able to put that aside for long enough to get some solid enjoyment out of it.

Reception was bad because it's below average Ubisoft game.

I haven't played but I think you answered your own question. If the story and gunplay are kinda mid, what's the point of playing this game when there are games out there that have the same pros as this, plus good story and gameplay?

This game improved after a ton of updates that should have been there at launch. In the beginning several negative QOL grievances existed like being unable picking up a gun and carrying it with you, not being able to shoot from the speeder, failing an entire mission if you were caught. Eventually these problems were fixed and other areas were improved as well. This made the experience much better and enjoyable overall but it was too little too late. They released an unfinished product with features that should have been there at launch. The general consensus is that the game is good now.

Its a middling Ubisoft game. It was fine but theres really much better games you could be playing.

The game was in a very different state when it came out than how it is today. They improved/fixed a lot of things and I think it is a solid 7.5 now. But on initial release the game was a mess. I won’t go into the details of it all here since there are plenty of YouTube videos you can watch that reviewed it when it first came out.

I remember looking at buying it a few months after release on sale and people were saying the most recent patch broke the game and enemies no longer behaved properly. I think it might have just been a bad game.

You are playing it now. On release it was a pretty different game. Updates have changed it quite a bit.