10 tips to get started in Star Wars Outlaws

Searching for some Star Wars Outlaws tips? Like most Ubisoft games, Outlaws isn't all that complex—you ride around on your speeder, committing crimes with your cute companion, Nix, and blasting anyone who gets in your way. Stealing and general unlawful behaviour is the name of the game, literally, but Outlaws does have a few more complex systems to contend with.

If you want the best contracts and rewards, you'll need to maintain your Syndicate reputation, which is a careful balancing act of who you backstab and who you help. The abilities system also revolves entirely around discovering experts and unlocking abilities with them by completing a number of tasks. 

If you simply blast everyone regardless of the consequences, you'll quickly find yourself in a tough position where you struggle to get access to Syndicate areas, and enemies are constantly hunting or chasing you. That said, here are ten Star Wars Outlaws tips that'll help you understand the game and how to get going.

Get Nix to steal everything

Nix solves almost every problem in Star Wars Outlaws. Unsure how to get through a locked door? You probably have to send Nix through a small gap to hit a button inside. Confused about how to pickpocket an important item from a guard? You need to send Nix to snatch it. The little critter can also lock down enemies in combat by attacking them, letting you follow up with a one-shot punch. 

Another place where he's useful is in stealing items. If you get caught yoinking some loot in a Syndicate district, you'll lose rep, but if you get Nix to fetch it, no one will bat an eyelid—Outlaws is essentially a game about making a cute creature do crime.

Maintaining good faction rep will make life a lot easier

Good faction reputation is the ideal level you should look to maintain with the game's main crime Syndicates if possible, because this will allow you to enter their city districts and outposts, which makes infiltrating their restricted areas significantly easier. Good rep also unlocks additional missions and intel, since you can access their districts and talk to characters there. If you've acquired a taste for Kessel Sabacc, good rep will also let you play at the card room located in a Syndicate district, giving you a chance to earn more Shift Tokens.

Stealth is the smartest approach

The key to maintaining good rep is making sure that you don't lose any avoidably, like getting discovered in a restricted area, or having a shootout with faction members. You'll often find that you have to enter restricted areas to complete missions, and this is where stealth is important. If you can get in and out without fighting anyone or getting discovered, your reputation won't be adversely affected. 

The same is true of Imperial outposts and bases. Because Outlaws features a wanted system for the Empire that rises as you act against them, things can really escalate if you get discovered. Staying quiet will keep this low and save you trouble in future.

Remove wanted level at Imperial Terminals and outposts

If you do find yourself with a wanted level, the good news is that you can remove it via the Imperial Terminals marked on your map. These are often lightly defended by a couple of stormtroopers. Once you dataspike the door and hack the terminal, you can remove your wanted level completely, meaning Imperials will stop hunting you down and getting in the way.

Crack Syndicate Vaults and use Fathier race tips to earn lots of credits

Credits are especially valuable in Outlaws because of how the ability and crafting system works. While you can find what you need out exploring any of the worlds, you can also straight up buy the necessary materials from a number of the game's vendors. To make lots of credits early on, I recommend breaking into the two Syndicate vaults on Mirogana. 

The Pyke Syndicate Vault is located in their district while the Crimson Dawn Vault is based in theirs. Both require three keycards, but hacking the terminal in the room with the vault marks these on your map. There's also a Fathier race tip in the room with each vault, so make a note of these and use them to earn some extra credits through betting.

Look for yellow signs while climbing

You can turn on explorer mode in settings if you're not a big fan of the whole yellow paint on ledges thing, but it is helpful when working out where you can climb and the routes you can take to scale a massive structure. If in doubt, look for a yellow sign or markers pointing the way forwards.

Search for the sneaky way in

Many of Outlaws' missions take place in restricted areas, but if that restricted area is located in a Syndicate district or an outpost, you also have the problem of how to gain access to that first. If you have a poor reputation with a faction you won't be allowed in, but the good news is there's generally a back way you can take, most often through vents, that'll let you bypass the guards and gain entry. If in doubt, look around near to the entrance to the district or outpost to find your route.

Quest choices affect reputation more than story

You'll be confronted with lots of very scary choices in Outlaws around which factions you want to betray and backstab, but the good news is that these rarely affect the actual story. These decisions are more about your reputation with each Syndicate and as you make those choices your relationship with each faction will fluctuate.  Rather than thinking about story impact, think about rewards, vendors, district access, and which Syndicate you actually want to get cosy with.

Gather intel by eavesdropping or chatting to random NPCs

For extra treasure and intel, it's well worth exploring each district in a city and looking for NPCs you can either listen in on or have a chat with. Eavesdropping on strangers will most often reveal a loot cache somewhere on the planet that you can plunder, while talking to NPCs can result in small missions or location intel. Either way, if you want more side quests and to take your time with the game, explore each district thoroughly. You can even find travelling merchants out in the wild who will sell treasure intel to you.

Progress the campaign before exploring loads

Exploring Toshara is pretty fun, but before long you'll start hitting barriers that you can only overcome with upgrades, such as the Slicing Kit, ion blaster module, the ability to break stone walls, or the Fusioncutter. Progressing the main story will unlock experts and get you a majority of these upgrades so you can explore more fully without hitting roadblocks. If you do decide to explore lots early on, you can use the map to mark locations to return to once you get all your upgrades unlocked.