What is the main difference between Star Wars: Outlaws and Starfield in terms of planetary exploration?

Star Wars: Outlaws focuses on detailed, content-rich environments, while Starfield offers a vast number of planets with potential concerns about content density.

Why do some players prefer vast, empty spaces in games?

Large empty spaces can enhance realism and immersion, providing a sense of scale and authenticity.

What are the risks of having too many empty spaces in open-world games?

Excessive empty spaces can lead to player boredom and detract from the overall gaming experience due to a lack of engaging content.

Star Wars: Outlaws vs. Starfield - Why Smaller Planets May Win the Space Exploration Game

The world of gaming is witnessing an intriguing rivalry between two highly anticipated titles: Star Wars: Outlaws and Starfield. As the first true open-world Star Wars game, Outlaws has already drawn comparisons to Bethesda’s expansive sci-fi adventure, Starfield. While both games promise vast exploration, they approach it in distinctly different ways, leading to a debate on whether bigger truly means better.

Starfield’s Grand Ambition

Bethesda’s Starfield was marketed as a massive space exploration experience, boasting nearly 1,700 planets, each with unique environments and ecosystems. This promise of endless exploration, however, has been met with mixed reactions. While the sheer number of planets sounds impressive, the execution has left some players feeling underwhelmed.

Woman and creature dodge lasers in lush jungle setting.

The Reality of Starfield’s Vastness

Despite the variety of planets, players have found that many of these worlds feel empty and unrewarding. Using mathematical analysis, it was determined that each planet in Starfield is roughly 5% the size of a real planet. While this still translates to significant in-game real estate, it often results in vast expanses of negative space between points of interest. This emptiness can make exploration feel more like a chore than an adventure, with long stretches of barren land separating small, often unremarkable outposts and cities.

Star Wars: Outlaws – Quality Over Quantity

In contrast, Star Wars: Outlaws has taken a different approach. Rather than overwhelming players with a vast number of planets, developer Massive Entertainment has opted for fewer, more manageable worlds. Each planet is designed to be the size of two or three zones from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, a choice that aims to provide a richer, more concentrated experience.

The Benefits of Manageable Planets

Outlaws’ planets can be traversed in approximately five minutes on a speeder, ensuring that players are never far from the action. This design choice minimizes the risk of encountering vast, empty spaces and keeps the gameplay engaging and dynamic. Additionally, the seamless travel between ground and space without loading screens maintains immersion, a stark contrast to Starfield’s frequent loading screens between zones.

Star Wars Outlaws: A Cinematic Journey Began at E3

Why Star Wars: Outlaws May Have the Upper Hand

The smaller, more densely packed planets in Star Wars: Outlaws could offer several advantages over Starfield’s sprawling but often desolate worlds. Here’s why this approach might resonate more with players:

1. Enhanced Immersion

The absence of loading screens in Outlaws allows for a more continuous and immersive experience. Players can seamlessly transition from exploring a planet’s surface to soaring through space, maintaining the illusion of a vast, interconnected universe.

2. Focused Exploration

By limiting the size and number of planets, Outlaws ensures that each location is packed with meaningful content. Players are more likely to encounter interesting landmarks, engaging quests, and hidden secrets, making exploration more rewarding.

3. Better Use of Space

Smaller planets reduce the likelihood of encountering vast stretches of nothingness. This ensures that players spend more time engaging with the game’s content and less time traveling through empty terrain.

The Challenge of Striking a Balance

While the approach taken by Star Wars: Outlaws seems promising, it’s important to note that the success of this design choice will ultimately depend on execution. If the smaller planets are filled with repetitive or shallow content, they could feel just as empty as the larger worlds in Starfield. The key will be in creating diverse, rich environments that offer players a sense of discovery and adventure at every turn.

Conclusion

The comparison between Star Wars: Outlaws and Starfield highlights a fundamental question in game design: is bigger always better? While Starfield’s ambitious scale offers the promise of endless exploration, it also risks overwhelming players with vast, empty spaces. Star Wars: Outlaws, with its smaller, more manageable planets, aims to deliver a more focused and immersive experience.

As both games continue to evolve, it will be fascinating to see how these different approaches to planetary exploration are received by players. Whether you prefer the sprawling expanses of Starfield or the concentrated richness of Star Wars: Outlaws, one thing is clear: the future of space exploration in gaming is incredibly bright.

Want More Tips?

If you’re enjoying the rebellious life, check out our other guides. If you’re on the fence whether to get the game, go check out our review here.

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