Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card DLC review - Lando's here too

Outlaws' first season pass DLC is here, and it's one of the best missions in the game.

Lando's in Star Wars Outlaws, finally. / Ubisoft

I still haven’t finished Star Wars Outlaws. I quite liked the game at launch – and my experience was even better when I turned off RTX DI – but it’s not exactly the kind of game that sucks you in. I was happy to drop into the galaxy far, far away for a couple of hours, and then hop straight back out, but it had been a few months, and Ubisoft talking up the 1.4 update and the Season Pass-exclusive Wild Card story DLC convinced me to jump back in.

I have to confess, as a critic, I sometimes get a little self-conscious. I feel pretty confident in my takes and opinions – if I didn’t, I’d be in the wrong job – but when my peers totally disagree with me, I’d be lying if it didn’t make me second guess a few things. Star Wars Outlaws was divisive on launch, and even though I still don’t know what the latter half of the game might have in store for me, I was surprised. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of the Ubisoft open-world loop for longer than most and I’m not as sick of it, or maybe it’s because my expectations were so low. Still, Outlaws didn’t offend me – unlike Jedi Survivor, which managed to upset me at every opportunity.

Kay Vess could, admittedly, be less of a goofy goober. She’s constantly “adorkable” and a little bit embarrassing, and I’d love it if she were a little more confident and charismatic in public, maybe saving the stuttery, doubting dialogue for chats with Nix or ND-5. She’s an experienced thief who’s been scamming punters in casinos since she was little, after all — you’d hope she’d be a bit better at it by now, instead of acting like a teenager with a crush during every interaction. 

The Sabacc game is the centerpiece of Wild Card. / Ubisoft

But one of the best parts of Outlaws for me is the sense of immersion it gives me. In most games, I need a target, a point, something to work towards. I need a big, distant goal to carry me through all of my various activities. In Outlaws, I just don’t need that. Outlaws gives me the things that I wanted from Starfield. I feel incredibly satisfied just by exploring and navigating the galaxy, having the Trailblazer take off from Mirogana, flying around the surrounding space while shooting down a few baddies, punching into Hyperspace to visit Tatooine, hopping on my Speeder, and racing around the desert. The way I play is aimless, and it feels more like I’m role-playing as Kay Vess, the adorkable rogue.

Of course, that means I get roped into what any rogue would get roped into — a high-stakes Sabacc game aboard a casino ship with a very exclusive guest list. The Wild Card DLC launched alongside patch 1.4, adding a brand new questline featuring Lando Calrissian and a bunch of updates and fixes. Again, I haven’t finished Outlaws, but this is easily the most memorable quest I’ve played in the game yet.

Kay is being blackmailed by an Imperial Captain who has forged evidence of her being an Imperial spy, something that would sabotage all her efforts. The captain wants the grand prize of the Moreno’s exclusive Sabacc game, and it’s up to Kay to sneak aboard the ship, snatch an invite to the game, and come out on top. Of course, things don’t go smoothly.

It's not all espionage and card games. / Ubisoft

Making your way into the Sabacc game is where things are most interesting, and several options get opened up for Kay. You’ll be eavesdropping on and prying information from other guests aboard the ship, stealing keys to open hotel rooms, blackmailing players, and even gathering information on the other players’ cheat tells, allowing you to disqualify them instead of beating them. It feels like one of the more robust missions in Mass Effect 2, if a little more linear. Still, there’s a decent amount of space to get creative and find alternate ways to grab a key or find a location.

The Moreno’s intrigue and espionage is combined with an action-packed race against the clock when back on solid ground — can’t have too much talking without shooting in a triple-A game, after all. It’s a surprisingly chunky DLC pack that could’ve been the Moreno section exclusively, but instead, there are multiple opportunities to interact with renowned rogue Lando Calrissian, in addition to brand new bases to infiltrate and inevitably shoot up. 

With all of that said, I have to confess: I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan. Sure, I watched the movies as a kid, but I think my attention span was just far too small for 70% space politics and 30% lightsabers. Maybe that’s why Jedi Survivor didn’t grab me; I’ve never fantasized about being a Jedi – I’d much rather be a Pokémon trainer. But in Outlaws, Kay Vess is just a normal person doing her best to get by in a harsh and intensely unfair galaxy. Now, that I empathize with.

ND-5 feels like more of a true partner, as opposed to babysitter, in Wild Card. / Ubisoft

I don’t know why Kay Vess’ awkward interactions have endeared me to her, but they have. I just can’t hate Kay, or the rest of Star Wars Outlaws. It’s the kind of game that makes me want to roleplay, to ride my bike into town instead of fast-traveling to the nearest point. It’s not a waste of time, it’s setting the scene. 

A few months on, and Star Wars Outlaws plays better than ever thanks to patch 1.4, and the Wild Card DLC might be the best example of everything this game can be. It certainly isn’t a masterpiece, but when compared to other recent Star Wars or Ubisoft games, I’d much rather be cruising around the Outer Rim in the Trailblazer than be anywhere or anyone else in the galaxy far, far away.

Score: 8/10

Platform: PC